Kickstarter cofounder Yancey Strickler unveils a radical new economic model that could transform how creative people build sustainable careers, amass collective wealth and escape the burnout of hustle culture. Hear his vision for how artists can pool resources, share profits and own their work in a new kind of economy, as he poses a tantalizing view of the future: What if the next Disney wasn't a corporate giant but an artist-owned collective?For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Streaming platforms, corporate gatekeepers, and now AI have eroded the power of artists. And today, creative people globally struggle to earn a living. Is it possible that an artist-powered revolution is on its way?
For writer, entrepreneur, and former Kickstarter CEO, Yancey Strickler, the answer is yes. In his talk, he shares his idea for a radical new legal structure, which he calls the Artist Corporation, that could give creators real economic and organizational power on their own terms. Coming up.
So if you want to understand how challenging the future could be for creative people, just look at what's happening with musicians right now. Up until the late 90s, people either listened to music for free on the radio or by buying a physical copy to listen to at home. But then the internet happened, and now Spotify and other streaming services give us access to an infinite catalog of music.
We don't own anything, but we can rent pretty much all of it. So people pay less money, which means musicians make less money, but the platforms make a lot of money. Recently, researchers have discovered a new type of song on Spotify, a ghost song by a ghost artist.
These are unnamed, uncredited musicians who are paid to make music that sounds like what the Spotify algorithm says people want to hear. In recent years, some of Spotify's most prominent playlists have seen real songs by real artists replaced with ghost songs by ghost artists. Real songs have to be paid real royalties. Ghost songs don't.
Something like this dynamic is playing out across every creative industry. Maximize profits by minimizing creator compensation. Now add AI, and the ghost artist doesn't even have to be human anymore. A future of art without artists. Now, I'm not an expert on AI, but I have spent the last 25 years working as a creative person and making tools for creative people.
I'm the son of a musician, and my career began writing about music for Pitchfork and The Village Voice. I started a tiny record label, and I'm one of the co-founders of Kickstarter, which gave creative people a way to bypass the gatekeepers and go straight to the public with their projects.
Before Kickstarter, so many amazing projects had no chance to exist because they didn't fit some preexisting business model. After Kickstarter, millions of people have exchanged billions of dollars in support of new ideas. Where there was a wall, we built a door. But despite what you hear about the creator economy, the reality for most creative people is stark.
It's estimated that 85 percent of visual artists make less than $25,000 a year, and that just 13 percent of creative people earn a full-time living from their work. So we're not talking about aristocrats and rock stars. We're talking about people working hard, trying to make a living by doing what comes natural to them. a musician, a craftsperson, a community theater director, a potter.
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