What does it mean for content creators to “go onchain?” We’ll learn how this movement to take financial power back from closed-off social media platforms could give creators a kind of freedom that they’ve struggled to hold onto for centuries.
For centuries, creators have given up a big share of their earnings for a chance to reach audiences. In 18th century England, authors’ desires to break free of censorship and exercise the power of the written word led to the growth of modern copyright law, a key pillar of the creator economy. But to this day, publishers and distributors of content have enormous power over how creators make money and grow with their audiences.
What if that didn’t have to be the case? What if, by “going onchain” through blockchain-based apps and platforms, creators could gain complete ownership over their content and create new revenue models, where they (not publishers or platforms) could set the terms?
We’ll examine what it means to create, consume, and connect onchain — and find out how this next evolution of the online world could rebuild the creator economy as we know it.
Every day, billions of people share their creativity online. But when their creative work goes viral, who benefits?
Imagine a young woman, a dancer with a modest social media following. One morning, she comes up with a new dance at the kitchen table, and posts a video.
Her followers don’t just ‘like’ it and scroll on…
…they start imitating her moves and posting their own versions of the dance…
…and big media channels get a ready-made story, by covering the viral craze. There’s even a cheeky SNL skit.
The platform she originally posted on is benefiting from the traffic and ad revenue – and they decide exactly how much of the pie she gets.
But does it have to be that way?
What if new technologies could give creators complete ownership over their content, earn exponentially more money from their fans, and create new revenue models — rebuilding the creator economy as we know it?
Welcome to a new season of Evolving Money, from Coinbase and Bloomberg Media Studios. I’m your host, Maggie Lake.
On this podcast, we’ll continue to take a different look at cryptocurrency. It’s been cast as a radical departure for the monetary system. But what if it wasn’t radical at all?
This season, as we’ve seen more and more businesses, institutions and consumers adopt cryptocurrency, we’ll dive deeper into the newest applications of blockchain technology — as we explore how money has changed over the centuries, and look for lessons that might predict its next evolution.
In this episode, we’re looking at how blockchains might revolutionize how people post, interact with, and profit from, original content online.
Most content creators know that the handful of social media platforms who distribute their work have enormous power over how much they earn.
This isn’t a new problem. Artists and thinkers have always had to deal with gatekeepers, fighting for the right to own their work and its proceeds.
But can blockchain technology really disrupt the walled-garden landscape that shapes the flow of art, ideas, and money in the twenty-first century?
To find out, I’ll talk to Jesse Pollak, Creator of Base, and Julian Holguin, CEO of the Web3 entertainment company Doodles – two leaders who are charting a new path forward, by bringing creativity and content onchain.
Let’s go way back to 1694.
Perched at his desk, writing a protest letter by candlelight, is philosopher John Locke — you remember him from history class!
Locke's been wanting to publish his writing on religion, but he’s been blocked from doing it. You see, after the invention of the printing press, a single group controls all publishing in England: The Worshipful Company of Stationers.
What a name, right?
DR. ADRIAN JOHNS: The Stationers are everybody who's involved in the making and distribution and sale of books. So, printers, binders, typefounders, booksellers, the people who sell the books to the public.
That’s Dr. Adrian Johns. He chairs the History Department at the University of Chicago, specializing in the histories of science, the book, media, and information.
This group of publishers, the Stationers, have a royal warrant to print. And this warrant protects the Stationers from competition.
DR. ADRIAN JOHNS: It was essentially a monopoly, a kind of cartel that looked after the whole trade.
Locke is one of the loudest voices in a chorus of thinkers, writers, and printers calling for an end to the Stationers’ monopoly. And eventually, in 1695, the Crown lets its royal warrant with the Stationers expire.
DR. ADRIAN JOHNS: When that Act lapses, there's no legal sanction anymore against pirating books. It's a kind of golden age for literary piracy. So whatever you write is free game, for anybody. This period of anarchy lasts for about 15 years, until 1710, when Parliament passes a new act: The Statute of Anne.
Now, if any other person who isn’t explicitly approved by the author to print or reprint their work tries to reproduce it, the author can basically say, “Hey, stop! That’s mine,” and ask a court for an injunction.
This was, in essence, the birth of copyright law. Sounds like a big improvement, right?
But the publishers respond by forming cartels, called congers, to reclaim their power.
DR. ADRIAN JOHNS: In practice, if you have the 12 biggest publishers in London, all collaborating on this, they have enormous power, so, de facto, these congers kind of act to preserve the same kinds of rights that the Stationers’ company had always registered before.
So the vast majority of writers still don’t have real control over how their works are made public… or what they’ll earn from their ideas. The same dynamic continues, in some form, to this day.
DR. ADRIAN JOHNS: So we've seen notoriously through various mergers and so forth, the development of sort of super media firms that hold the publishing houses together.
This idea that the commanding heights of the literary culture are held by a relatively small number of very powerful commercial operations… You know, it feels a little bit uncomfortably like we're back to that.
As the world has moved online, so have the same issues around consolidated power and ownership rights that have plagued creators for, quite literally, centuries.
JESSE POLLAK: I think if you look at the last twenty years… with the creation of the Internet, we've seen the emergence of these incredible platforms that have connected people all around the world.
That’s Jesse Pollak, VP of Engineering at Coinbase, and Creator of Base.
JESSE POLLAK: But I think at the same time, one of the big challenges has been that as people have brought their creativity online, they've predominantly brought it into these platforms that they don't control or own.
Base is a platform that people can use to build all kinds of apps with blockchain technology.
Jesse told me he created the platform because he wanted to help content creators and small businesses take true ownership of their work — by building more direct relationships with fans and customers, and deciding how to earn money through those connections.
JESSE POLLAK: So let's say you're a creator and you make a video. You take your video, you put it on a platform, and then it gets distributed, kind of based on an algorithm that you can't see or understand. You get paid whatever that platform decides to pay you, which is a total black box…
But if you’re a web creator, it’s not like there’s much choice.
JESSE POLLAK: And if you say, “Hey, I want to take my distribution somewhere else,” you don't actually have that option.
You are stuck in the existing system.
And so the creator is left making whatever money the platform offers them. Jesse estimates it’s about 5 percent, and the platform keeps the rest.
Then the creator has to pay transaction fees and face delays in getting paid…
JESSE POLLAK: And that's a thing that I think just in the last few years, people are waking up to as they see, “Oh! I feel like I'm getting scraps, when these corporations are making hundreds of billions of dollars.”
And I think that collective awakening is kind of bringing us to a new moment where we're realizing, “Hey, maybe we need better tools. Maybe we need better platforms. And maybe we need a better internet that actually puts creators first.”
That phrase — “a better internet” — Jesse means that literally.
He thinks that blockchain platforms can bring the essential tools for communication, purchases, and analytics outside the walled gardens of today’s social media.
This wouldn’t just shift the places where content goes viral. It would also shift where people make money, and how new revenue models can take off.
I asked Jesse to walk me through this transition – starting with the difference between going online to going onchain.
MAGGIE LAKE: So what do you mean when you say “onchain”?
JESSE POLLAK: Onchain is the next generation of the internet that's built on blockchains like Base. And it's a powerful internet where everyone everywhere has the same access and is on a level playing field where they're able to build and use new apps that are 10x better.
MAGGIE LAKE: So how will that look? What change will that mean for creators, when it comes to things like owning my art, and getting paid for it, and reaching my audience?
JESSE POLLAK: You do the exact same thing. You take your music, you take your video, and you put it onchain. But now, all of the algorithms are open. So you can actually understand what's going to lead to more distribution versus less distribution.
And if you want to take your network to another app because you're excited about trying something new, you can just take it with you. ‘Cause it's yours!
So the creator retains control over the distribution and monetization of their work.
And as more creators see that benefit and take their work onchain, the enormous slice of revenue that they’re used to handing over to social media platforms could fuel a new network of businesses.
JESSE POLLAK: That network that you're distributing to is not controlled by one company. It's open and accessible to everyone who wants to build on it.
And so what that means is we're actually gonna have a Cambrian explosion of people who are building on that graph and that network.
And it's a new internet that's going to put creators, musicians, videographers, small businesses first and gonna make it so businesses have to serve them and have to help them be successful on a new open platform where everyone can win.
The musician example caught my ear, because I'm always keeping tabs on my favorite artists — and trying to see if I can catch them at a live show.
Jesse showed me how my relationship to my favorite artists could be much more personalized, if each step were brought onchain.
JESSE POLLAK: I think the thing that's really powerful about the new onchain platform is that these creators, these musicians, they can actually build a deeper relationship with the people who care most about them.
Because those folks are going to be able to have a relationship where they say, “Hey, I want to support you. And I'm gonna mint your song.”
And then that's going to be this kind of, like, historical record of how I participated with you in a new platform.
And that record is going to span across everything that you do.
Say I buy an album. Then buy some merch. Then watch their livestream. If this all happens onchain, the artist will be able to directly track all of those interactions between us, across any app, and use that to personalize or deepen our relationship.
JESSE POLLAK: The artists are then going to be able to look across all that and say, “Oh! Here are the people who've listened to me on this app and that app and showed up at my show and now I'm gonna say, okay, let's give them a targeted experience.”
For instance, let's make it so that they can be first in line for purchasing tickets. Or the artist could send me personalized messages, exclusive setlists, or invite me to a post-show meetup with other superfans.
JESSE POLLAK: With this new on-chain infrastructure, we're actually gonna be able to build more customized, more human, more direct experiences that let artists and creators reach their most important, most connected fans, give them better experiences, which will make that relationship deeper and really be a win win for both the creative side and the consumption side.
This new onchain world isn’t just theoretical — it’s here now.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: We believe that we're building a next generation entertainment company.
That’s Julian Holguin. As the President of Billboard, he transformed that brand, from a music trade magazine to an international, multi-platform experience.
Now, Julian is the CEO of Doodles, a digital entertainment platform that’s built entirely onchain.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: We're basically what a modern day cartoon franchise might look like. We make short films. We make original music. Those often come with music videos, animated music videos. We do digital comics, illustrated posters, we really use humor in all of our content…
But Doodles is also a social community. In the Doodles universe, when users sign up, they create a digital avatar — a Doodle — which they can customize however they want.
Because the avatar is onchain, it’s completely unique to the user.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: People use avatars to communicate constantly. They make gifs, they make stickers, they make short form animations — and what we're basically letting people do is take our IP, our brand, customize it to fit whatever they want their digital likeness to be...
That avatar also has something Julian calls a “collector’s profile” — where they can pay for videos, illustrations, and animations from the Doodles universe.
So they get to create a permanent identity, and show off their fandom, with content they truly own.
Doodles recently collaborated with Pharrell Williams and Lil Wayne to produce Project Gray, a short film hosted on the Doodles network.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: A twenty-minute short film that would ultimately set the foundation for all the storytelling that we wanted to do in our universe.
During the making of Project Gray, Doodles included some of its users’ onchain avatars in the actual film.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: They can say to their friends and family like, “Hey, I'm in a Pharrell music video!” Like, this is a really kind of novel concept that doesn't exist in any other form of media…
That moment pointed to the future of immersive content, where every viewer had a concrete stake in the story they were watching. The film ended up premiering at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: The audience… They were blown away — like there were people crying. There were people, like, it gave them chills, because…
It's truly becoming a community. It's truly becoming part of the IP and the brand, versus just a passive participant.
Doodles posted the short film on YouTube for everyone to see, like all of its original content. But Doodles also allowed people to buy tickets for the film onchain, and users could add the film to their collector's profiles.
In the end, they sold more than 50,000 tickets.
JULIAN HOLGUIN: And that concept right there is unheard of for most creators. “Wait, you can sell content and people want to own that content? They're willing to pay you a dollar, 50 cents, 30 cents to own, collect that?”
And the answer is yes, and I think the more and more people start learning about distributing content onchain, the more people are going to be drawn to it.
And a lot of that really boils down to: How can you have fun with your friends on the internet?
Going onchain can give economic power back to creators and help them create stronger relationships with their fans. And this community-building aspect of the technology goes beyond the digital economy.
Like… if you’re dining out in New York City anytime soon, you could check out an onchain app called Blackbird. Here’s Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak again:
JESSE POLLAK: They're building a new product onchain that lets restaurants build that more direct relationship with customers.
Blackbird is kind of like a traditional dining rewards program. But by going onchain, the app gives restaurants a direct, transparent connection with every customer who’s using it — to make a reservation, check in, or pay for their meal.
JESSE POLLAK: So when a customer goes in, they just tap their phone. The restaurant now knows who they are. They can kind of customize the experience around them…
This creates an easy-to-see history for every Blackbird customer at the restaurant. A personal profile that follows every interaction you have, which really matters to restaurants who thrive on building a community of local diners.
JESSE POLLAK: And then over time, as you show up more, you're actually building kind of who you are, what you love,
which you can then choose to also take to other restaurants, which means you're gonna have a more intimate experience at every next restaurant that you show up at.
There's now hundreds of restaurants in New York City that are using this platform, to make it so that they can have more direct relationship with their customers.
Companies like Blackbird and Doodles are trailblazers today…
But as more businesses create closer relationships with their customers, by going onchain... these kinds of apps could become the new normal.
JESSE POLLAK: And so what I think we're starting to see right now is almost this exponential ramp. Where people are seeing, “Whoa, this thing is new, and it might look small right now, but if I opt into it, I can live a better life. For my small business, for my music, for my art, for my day to day living as a consumer in the American or global economy.”
And I think as more people see that, we'll kind of see this transformation where the world shifts from online to onchain.
And it won't happen overnight. But it will accelerate faster and faster and faster, until the entire world's onchain.
In 18th century England, publishers did everything they could to maintain control and profit off author’s original works.
These guys were classic gatekeepers, setting the rules for how ideas and voices could be heard. Centuries later, we're still living with that model.
But every time a prolific writer, or a local business, or any of us goes onchain... we could be ushering in a new era in history.
Where there's no gate, no wall, that keeps creators from having control over their work, earning money from their fans, and growing with the community that matters most to them.
Thank you to Adrian Johns, Jesse Pollak, and Julian Holguin.
This is “Evolving Money,” a podcast from Coinbase and Bloomberg Media Studios.
If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave us a review.
I’m Maggie Lake, thanks for listening.