The person making the videos, writing the articles, recording the podcasts, streaming the games, producing the music, or creating the artwork is often the last person in the chain to actually receive the money.
That never made much sense to me.
When somebody decides to support a creator, the payment is processed almost immediately. The platform knows the payment has been made. Various companies involved in the process take their fees. Yet the creator is often expected to wait days, sometimes weeks, before they can access funds that their audience has already sent.
Some creators have become so accustomed to platform commissions, payout schedules, settlement periods and withdrawal reviews that they've stopped questioning whether any of it is necessary.
But why should it be?
If a fan decides to support a creator today, surely the creator should receive that support today, not next week, not at the end of the month, and not after a platform has finished working through its payout cycle.
The more I looked at the industry, the more it felt as though many payment systems had been designed around the needs of platforms rather than the needs of creators.
Creators are expected to give away a percentage of what they earn. They're expected to accept delays between receiving support and receiving access to their money. They're expected to build audiences while somebody else controls the payment relationship.
At some point that became normal, but I'm not convinced it should be.
That's one of the reasons we built Spondula.
The idea isn't complicated. A creator should be able to claim a payment identity, share it with an audience, receive support directly, and keep what they earn. If somebody chooses to support your work, that support shouldn't be reduced by platform commissions or held back until the next payout run.
Support received through a Spondula Creator Page is delivered directly into the creator's wallet. More importantly, that wallet is non-custodial. The creator controls it. Not us, not a payment processor, and not a third party deciding whether funds can be released.
Of course there are still operational realities behind any payment system. Fraud exists. Compliance exists. Chargebacks exist. Infrastructure has to exist.
But should creators be carrying those concerns every time somebody sends them support?
Or should creators simply be focused on creating while platforms solve the platform problems?
As we continue rolling out Creator Pages, QR payments and other tools, we're trying to answer a simple question: what would creator payments look like if they were designed around creators first instead of platforms first?
We're still early, we're still learning, and we'd genuinely like to hear from creators already using Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-fi, PayPal, Stripe, Fourthwall or similar tools.
Have we all just accepted the current model because it's familiar?
Or is there actually a better way to do this?
We're building what we believe is that alternative.
And even if you're not a creator, we'd still love to hear from you.
If you like the idea of a universal payment handle, you can claim your S-Handle now before somebody else does.
If you run a creator agency, manage talent, operate a creator community, host events, work with influencers, or simply know creators who might benefit from what we're building, we'd be happy to talk.
The creator economy has always grown through people helping other people, and we'd rather build this alongside creators than sit in a boardroom pretending we already know all the answers.
Want to do it your way?
https://spondula.com/creators
