How Content Creators Will Earn Up To 10X More With The AXEL Exchange AXEL Follow Aug 10, 2018 · 7 min read

The image above cost us $1.98 on a popular stock photo site.

Its creator made $0.25.

This isn’t rare.

The overwhelming majority of content creators barely make any money.

It doesn’t matter what they’re selling. Photos. eBooks. Music. Videos. They all face the same challenge — getting paid for what their work is worth.

Here’s the bizarre thing… consumers ARE paying a fair price for the content they consume. They recognize and reward great content. But creators aren’t seeing that reflect in their paycheck.

Why?

It’s because….

Most Of The Sale Gets “Eaten” By The Guy In The Middle!

Sell a gorgeous photo on a site like Shutterstock? The platform will take 87% of that. Here’s a few cents ol’ chum… thanks for your hard work.

Create riveting content on Twitch and gain followers? Half of all subscriber revenue sounds like a fair deal, right? After all, you only did all the work.

Want to sell music on iTunes? Here’s what your songs are selling for — no negotiating. We’re taking 30%. Oh, and you’ll need to follow this 5 page list of regulations to gain any visibility whatsoever.

At AXEL, we think this is CRAZY (and unsustainable).

Creators who spend their time, effort, and ability to create great content should be the ones rewarded — NOT the people in the middle.

THEY should decide what they want their content to sell for. THEY should keep full command over how its distributed. THEY should be reaping all the results of their hard work.

The way things are done now just isn’t good enough.

AXEL Is Building A Decentralized P2P Content Market Where Anyone Can Sell Content — Without The Strings Attached

Pictures. Music. Videos. Documents. Programs.

Any kind of digital content.

We believe we can make it the largest digital marketplace in the world.

Ambitious, yes.

But here are five reasons to support that:

It’ll be easier than any other solution. It’ll be cheaper than any other solution — with no startup costs. There will be fewer restrictions than any other solution. Creators will have full control over every aspect of the selling process. It’ll be global, and open to anyone from anywhere.

Based on blockchain and our proprietary technology, the AXEL Exchange will be a decentralized approach to content. And we have a history of making innovative technology popular.

Our AXEL platform has millions of users. We have unique patented technology that can’t be replicated. And we have over 100 team members — including a senior team with a track record of entrepreneurial success.

Ultimately, the AXEL Exchange will break down…

The 3 Biggest “Walls” To Start Selling Content

1: It’s hard (and expensive) to start.

Sometimes near-impossible, depending on WHAT creators are selling. Generally, the easier it is to get started… the more they take out of the cut. Platforms that let creators start selling just by uploading their files can charge upwards of 87%.

That can be avoided — but only if sellers set up their own online store, which requires expensive development work, time, and monthly fees.

The AXEL Exchange will be ONE place for all digital content, and starting takes minutes. No startup costs.

2: Platforms take so much of sales that it’s not worth it.

Platforms charge ridiculous fees of 30%-87% of sales. This is ON AVERAGE. Pay a buck for a photo? Expect the photographer to earn pennies. Spend $1 for a song on iTunes, its creator gets 70 cents. Streaming is worse, if anything.

How many can actually make a living on these numbers?

The only people who do well in this system are those who naturally sell A LOT of content AND don’t mind earning cents on the dollar. Most creators are neither of these things… so they can’t participate.

Creators can expect to keep 95% of everything they earn on AXEL.

3: Creators are locked into arbitrary and restrictive rules.

Every niche has its own dominant “middleman” platform. Each of these has its own set of rules, its own restrictions on what people can sell. Some require you to apply. Others control what you price your content at.

Others still restrict not only whether you sell music, video, imagery — they also restrict certain other types of content WITHIN that classification. It’s a confusing patchwork that’s explicitly designed to benefit platforms — not creators.

AXEL lets creators sell ANYTHING, without arbitrary and niche-specific rules (as long as it’s legal).

However…

AXEL’s Biggest Advantage: It Addresses The Root Cause Of Exploitation

These are just symptoms of a deeper problem.

Surprisingly, the issue isn’t just with the platforms. Because there ARE great ones out there trying to make things better for content creators. They don’t make up for the bad actors — but they do exist.

The REAL issue is the commonly accepted dynamic between seller, buyer, and platform. It is completely unfair as it currently exists.

Platforms are able to exploit creators because creators are essentially handing over control of their content (and the process) to get access to potential buyers.

As long as platforms control the means of distribution, they have ALL the power in the relationship. Which leads to things like THIS.

It’s unhealthy.

With AXEL, Content Distribution Will Be Powered By A Decentralized Network Of Users Via Blockchain

AXEL is a functional commitment to the belief that the only people who have any business affecting (and having knowledge of) a transaction are the buyer and seller.

Period.

That’s why the AXEL Exchange will work ONLY as a location to facilitate direct peer-to-peer file transactions.

It’s also why any transaction through the AXEL Exchange will eventually be executed on our own AXEL Blockchain and Token.

Files won’t have to be stored on our servers. Our technology lets content go from one device straight to another. The data exchange itself will eventually be powered by a random network of miners on the AXEL Blockchain.

Ultimately, this is what makes AXEL’s model unique…

At No Point In The Selling Process Does AXEL Need To Have Access To What Is Being Sold.

That means that creators retain FULL control and ownership of their content.

They sell what they want. Price it how they want. Sell it to whom they want.

The AXEL Exchange will simply provide an audience interested in buying their stuff.

Buyers, in exchange, will be able to visit a single website that contains all kinds of digital content. It’ll have more content — because the barriers to entry are practically non-existent. And it’ll probably be cheaper — because the guy in the middle isn’t grabbing all the cash.

It also won’t spy on you.

The AXEL Blockchain will utilize a unique dual-chain structure that ensures the broadest strokes of each transaction is verified and documented, but that private details stay private.

So people’s business stays their business.

In essence, the AXEL Exchange doesn’t just make things easier, cheaper, and less restrictive…

It Transforms The Relationship Between Seller, Buyer, And Platform To Allow For A More Natural Dynamic

This is all quite complicated…

So let’s illustrate with an example.

The Way Things Work Now:

An amateur photographer decides she wants to sell her photos. She looks for a website that sells photography. She applies and is accepted to one. She hands over her photos to the platform by uploading them.

At this point she has given up control of her content. Her involvement is essentially over.

The platform will decide the pricing. Where to put it on their site. Whom to market it to. How the payment and distribution works. Buyers who come to the site come to buy from the PLATFORM, not the creator.

On a subscription, the buyer pays $1.98 for an image they like. Of this, the platform will take $1.73.

The seller would earn $0.25.

The Way Things Will Work With AXEL:

An amateur photographer decides she wants to sell her photos. She installs the AXEL app. Then she simply selects the photos on her computer or phone she wants to sell.

She chooses what they’re priced at. What tags it has. And all the details about how it should be distributed.

She clicks submit — and all her photos are instantly available on a worldwide marketplace.

A buyer pays $1.98 for an image they like. The platform takes $0.10.

The seller would earn $1.88.

Basically, With AXEL, The Platform Becomes Secondary To The REAL Relationship…

The one between buyer and seller.

Because people don’t visit a website just for the sake of it…

They go to buy awesome stuff that other people have made.

So let’s put the people that MATTER in the driver’s seat.

We want a content marketplace that is built to cater to CREATORS, not to the platform itself. One with as few barriers as possible so anyone that wants to participate, can. One that gives them full control over what they sell.

If you can create great content that people are willing to pay for, you should be able to make a good income from selling your work.

It should be easy. It should be cheap. And it should be free of arbitrary restrictions.

That’s what we’re doing with the AXEL Exchange.

We’ll be posting more details on how this will all work right here on Medium (or our Reddit and Telegram channels), so stay tuned.

Liked what you just read?

Do you share our vision of making life easier for people WITHOUT compromising their privacy?

➞ Click the 👏 below to CLAP for this piece.

➞ SHARE our story with people you think will benefit from it.

➞ Get the latest updates — FOLLOW our blog, Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter.

We’re working hard to bring you great content. If you have something you want us to write about, let us know in the comments below!