At Index, we think of the creator phenomenon in three parts: (1) creation tools, (2) distribution, and (3) monetization. In other words: how creators make stuff, how creators reach an audience, and how creators get paid.

But what has emerged from this strategy is a highly skewed distribution of income where a few creators make millions and most of them make barely anything at all. A good deal for platforms and a handful of creators; a bad deal for everyone else.

But for content platforms, the move to digital content hasn’t been correlated with a burgeoning long tail: the top creators are massively successful, while long-tail creators are barely getting by.