Creator Coins: The Next NFTs?
First…the setup.
I’m going to take you back to the year 2020. Specifically, the month of March.
I was working on the follow up to my first novel, The Will to Die. After spending 20 years in marketing and publishing, I planned on becoming a full-time novelist. That’s right. I was going to be a writer. James Patterson here I come.
But personally, I was struggling. Let’s just say that I wasn’t taking the pandemic in stride (just ask my friends).
Then I received an email from a close friend who had just been downsized from her job. She wanted to know more about the Content Inc. model from my 2015 book.
Two days later, another friend reached out. Then another.
It was strange to say the least. Was this a real thing or just a coincidence?
To make sure, I did some investigating. I found that sales of the five-year-old book tripled in two months, and my old Content Inc. podcast downloads started to pick up, even though I wasn’t producing the podcast any longer.
It seemed that for reasons of unemployment, desperation or newly-found passion, individuals were taking content creation seriously.
I began to feel I could do more good helping struggling content creators than by just writing thrillers.
And just like that, I pivoted.
By the end of March I restarted the Content Inc. podcast. On April 9th I reached out to McGraw-Hill to discuss a second version of Content Inc. By August we started interviews and sometime in the Fall, I decided to launch another business.
(The new business is called The Tilt and we begin next month. It’s a 2x per week email newsletter to help writers, podcasters, YouTubers and more build and grow [and even sell] their content empires.)
That’s too much information for now, but here’s the point…I became infatuated with creator coins.
As a reader of this newsletter, you know how much I’m into Bitcoin. And, of course, last week we covered NFTs or non-fungible tokens.
Well, about six months ago I fell down the creator coin rabbit hole. I wanted to know what they were and how they could be used by content creators.
What are creator coins you ask?
A creator coin is a cryptocurrency that helps creators run their own virtual economies. Just like the US has the dollar and France has the euro, a podcaster or YouTuber or Twitch/TikTok star can have their own currency.
Actor Terry Crews launched his own currency for his fan base. So did rock band Portugal. The Man, which uses its creator coin, called $PTM, to reward fans and provide exclusive fan experiences.
Will this be a thing? Honestly, I’m not sure, but I think it will.
I believe that creator coins can enable content creators to build their own mini-economies inside their networks and fan bases. I already know creators who are using their coin to give access to exclusive Discord groups and provide for one-on-one calls or consultations. They are also using coins for tipping (rewarding super fans) and giving to moderators (like moderating a Clubhouse group, for example).
And yes, we launched our own coin, called $TILT coin, with the help of Rally.io.
We are going to integrate $TILT coin into our referral program, merchandise, and exclusive content offers (for starters). I have 10 other ideas, but I’m going to hold off right now or the amazing team at The Tilt will get mad at me.
I’d like you involved in this…so…anyone who completes this form before midnight EST on Friday, March 12th will get some free $TILT coin. To get some, you need a Rally.io username first. It’s pretty easy to set up.
Currently, companies like Rally, Roll and Blockparty are launching creator coins on an invite-only basis, but soon they’ll open it up to thousands of creators. My prediction is that some will boom and many more will bust (just like regular cryptocurrencies).
But just like the mania of NFTs, creator coins will take off, but not yet. It is VERY early days (we are luck to have $TILT coin be one of Rally’s first 100-coin launches).
Seth Godin is Mad
Seth went off on NFTs last week. He makes some valid points, including buyers and creators getting caught up in the mania as well as the use of electricity to power NFTs (although it is a very complex issue).
Mania? Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet for $2.5 million. Taco Bell sold out of their NFTs in 30 minutes. Even Rob Gronkowski is putting over 300 NFTs for sale. God help us all.
Yes, it’s crazy. And Seth may be 100% right. But I don’t believe he is.
This moment of time for NFTs, right now, reminds me of the late 90s/early 2000s in Internet stocks. I remember TheGlobe launched a record IPO and went bankrupt not long after. Remember pets.com? Now that was a mania. A lot of people lost money. And jobs.
But we also had Amazon.com, eBay and Priceline.
So yes Seth, NFTs are getting out of control. We should be careful. But at the same time, this is actually a thing and we are very early days.
People Buy Your Why
One of my friends was struggling with his business planning. Watching this video from Simon Sinek helped (I’ve watched this a dozen times).
The core: people don’t by what you do, they buy why you do it. Why do you do what you do?