10,000 creators can’t be wrong! Time for the creative industries to take them seriously?
In its new Creator Consultation Report, YouTube has called for greater recognition for the creator economy, worth over £2 billion to the UK economy, and which supports more than 45k jobs. The report, compiled through feedback from over 10,000 UK creators, calls for more recognition from the Government, greater representation in the Creative Industries Taskforce and better skills and training.
When BEYOND Studio first explored the Creator Economy for this year’s BEYOND Conference, we were surprised how little research existed to test our working hypothesis – the Creator Economy is a significant and hugely dynamic part of the creative industries.
This data demonstrates that creators feel ‘seen’ by policymakers, “56% of respondents think that UK creators… do not have a voice in shaping government policies and regulations that impact their work.”
Or the wider creative sector, “43% of respondents think the value of UK creators is not recognised by the broader creative industry.”
Good research raises as many questions as it answers, some of which we’ll explore at BEYOND in November including: collaboration between established creative industries and creators, creator skills and academia, the role of GenAI and how the TV & Film establishment is changing, reacting and morphing as the lines between “traditional” and creators blur.
We’re also planning to undertake some further research before the conference in November exploring the opportunities to support and collaborate between the creative industries and creators with a view to shaping future research. If you’re interested in supporting this work, we’d love to hear from you!
We’ve summarised the recommendations from YouTube’s report below, but it’s worth a full read (only 12 pages and easy to skim!) if you have a few minutes.
We’ve summarised the recommendations from YouTube’s report below:
➤ Policy
* The Creator Ecosystem as a sub-sector of the creative industries
* Briefings for government comms on how to collaborate with creators for messaging
* Ministerial / government dept responsibility for Creators particularly at DCMS and DBT
➤ Representation
* Creators should be represented on the Creative Industries Council
* More collaboration with cultural heritage institutions
* National and global representation and trade bodies including Digital Creator Association
➤ Skills
* New accreditation for modular creator training with Growth and Skills Levy support
* Advice platforms connecting freelancers with creators for business guidance
* Launch of Creator Incubator with National Film & Television School (announced today)
➤ Finance
* Access to grants via Innovate UK and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
* Access to existing support eg. British Business Bank Start-up Loans
* Better support from financial services firms for creators
➤ Infrastructure
* Simplify filming permits and clarify rules around public space usage for creators
* Increase access to affordable, creator-friendly studio spaces and recording facilities
By Sam Michel, Director, BEYOND Conference
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References
- UK Creator Consultation Report
- Alison Lomax (Google MD) Linkedin post
- NFTS launch Creator Incubator
- Photo by Collabstr on Unsplash