In the modern economy, money follows attention.

To boil it down: get attention, keep attention, monetize attention. People will send forms of payment (USD, crypto, etc) to the creators that transfix their attention, transmit visual value and create or augment thoughts, emotions and even beliefs.

We’re seeing an exciting evolution in the creator economy as the new open-source internet, or Web3, gains adoption. In the past, creators have settled with the leftovers after generating immense value for the platforms they posted on. The YouTube, Instagram, Meta Middlemen all took the lion’s share of the monetization from the views, while creators were left with the challenge of building and maintaining an audience they didn’t own. And let’s not even get started about censorship…

Web3 creates a more effective incentive system.

Recently, and more so over time, it becomes more obvious that these legacy Web2 platforms are NGMI. Creators deserve and will increasingly demand to keep more of the incentives and consumers should decide how their attention is rewarded. We’re seeing the beginning of that battle take place as both sides of the market adopt into the open source world of Web3. The platforms of the future will take a much smaller and likely more direct finder’s fees than the traditional platforms. Due to that, we’re going to see the proliferation of individual content creators that want to go their own way. And sure, the long-tail implications are incredible but can you imagine how big the NFT drop from Mr Beast will be!?

Yuga Labs is arguably the most prolific and well-known Web3 company. The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT release became a cultural phenomenon as both an icon of the digital art movement and a significant status symbol in the Web3 community. And critically, it’s one of the clearest examples of content creators being able to initially generate unique art online that funds a larger roadmap to build out an ecosystem and the relevant operational structure required to grow and maintain collective attention. They continue to benefit from their IP’s cultural relevance as people invest into what they are building. They have created a resilient community centered around this both this digital art and the meta of the movement.

NFTs are the key to ownership in an open-source, digital world.

One of the more interesting aspect of NFTs as assets is that they function as an appreciable asset on the blockchain and also introduce quasi ownership in individuals/projects/companies. If the creator is able to capture more attention, the assets within the NFT projects they are associated with will likely pump. If you need an NFT to be able to game access to content, experience or opportunity, price of that underlying asset probably goes up. Creators that understand how to build community and create direct incentive structures and reward their most fervent collectors.

We think that the next wave of NFT adoption will continue to capture more of the attention economy. Writing, listening, thinking and more. Creators will continue to come to Web3 to more controllably build community and directly benefit from the fruits of labor. And utilize NFTs as a tool to fund growth that they can fully own.