Traditional pictures of artists and creators are often painted as bleak portraits with blotches of constant struggle and turmoil in the quest for economic survival. In contrast, promising indicators in the Re:Create Coalition’s second annual report reveal the ability to thrive in the New Creative Economy.
According to this study, 16.9 million independent, American creators earned a baseline of $6.8 billion from posting their music, videos, art, crafts and other works online in 2017.
Building on last year’s study, the updated report found the number of new creators grew by 2.4 million (16.6%), and total revenues grew by 14.8%. Moreover, these results cover only nine leading online platforms for Americans participating in the New Creative Economy: Amazon Publishing, eBay, Etsy, Instagram, Shapeways, Tumblr, Twitch, WordPress and YouTube.
Platforms With the Fastest-Growing Number of Creators and Earnings
Platforms with the fastest-growing number of creators and earnings include:
- Tumblr
- Twitch
- YouTube
Independent creators earn billions of dollars each year online through website ads, sponsorship/influencer compensation, social media traffic, direct sales and other methods.
This study analyzed only one revenue-sharing model per platform. Although many creators have multiple streams of income, the availability of data allowed the study to capture only the leading revenue-sharing method for each platform.
Creative Economy Activity Across the Country
Members of the New Creative Economy are located across the country in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. States with the fastest growth in the number of new creators include:
- California (21%)
- Utah (18.3%)
- District of Columbia (17.5%)
- Louisiana (17.1%)
- Georgia (17.0%)
The wide geographic diversity of these states shows that the New Creative Economy is evident across the country, even in states not traditionally associated with the tech or creative sectors.
For the full report, visit here.
Share Your Creative Economy Success Stories
Are you an artist, creator or innovator who has enjoyed success harnessing the power of online media? Would you like to share your tips to help others learn from your experiences thriving in the New Creative Economy? Post your story now!