Advisor And Investor
Dover, Delaware Area
Over the last decade we've seen a paradigm shift (several of them, actually) in the production and delivery of visual content. As late as 2000 video was a one-way medium. It was produced by funded content makers, usually big production companies, and broadcast as news or pure entertainment to consumers who paid for the privilege to view it. The closest to video content production the average person ever came was home videos. Now video is a social medium and the lines between entertainment, education and communication are blurred. A professional production is no longer the end point of the medium; a YouTube video discussing a television show may draw more views than the actual episode did in the ratings. Then, several years ago, the concept of advertisement monetization allowed a new class of content creators to emerge, in some cases with content quality equal to that of so-called professional content in execution if not in production budget. This new group of content creators were at first called "amateur" and as their ability to monetize grew, then "semi-professional". Now they refer to themselves and are considered by most players as professionals and businesses in their own right. Unfortunately, the technology has not kept pace with the needs of this new professional group. Content sharing and distribution sites still treat the distributing of content as a free service provided as a courtesy to uploaders as opposed to one half of a business partnership. Obligations of each party to the other are incredibly fuzzy, the power dynamic is lopsided, and for creators even basic communication with the business through which they derive their income is haphazard or non-existent. This new class of independent entrepreneurial entertainers are not going to go away, and their reach is only growing. We saw a need for a service that that treats content creators as artists, businessmen, and most of all, as partners in an enterprise that generates revenue for both parties.