Over the past year, several platforms have revised their agreements with creators. Twitch slashed its streamers’ revenue share from 70% to 50%. Substack canceled creator health-insurance stipends while lowering guaranteed payment amounts. Meta got rid of its creator bonus program for Reels altogether.

Chronicling it all is Avi Gandhi. A longtime digital media talent agent and former head of creator partnerships at Patreon, Avi now consults for companies that want to form lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with creators. He also writes his own newsletter, “Creator Logic,” about how the top names in the industry choose platforms, organize their operations, and maximize monetization.

In this episode, we talk about what platforms need to understand about how creators make decisions, what Silicon Valley gets wrong when investing in creator platforms and tools, and how creators should protect themselves in a shifting platform landscape.

(00:00) Episode Preview

(02:09) Avi's background in the creator economy: WME, Wheelhouse, and Patreon

(06:42) The knowledge vacuum around creators and their stacks

(09:58) The path forward for the creator economy

(18:32) Building for creators: opportunities and innovations

(23:47) Building a creator partnerships function

(35:23) Can a creator middle class ever exist?

(44:54) Tensions between creators and existing platforms

(47:14) Creator economics and audiences

(57:49) AI creators vs. human creators

(61:45) Avi's recommended resources