MARCH 28, 2024
The Creators Guild of America (CGA) today launched its accreditation service, paving the way for formal recognition of professional creators whose work appears on content platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Patreon, and others.
Open to both CGA members and the creator community at large, the CGA accreditation service allows digital creators to register and verify their work with a neutral, non-profit entity, one operating independently of the platforms that otherwise are the only source of such information. The regulations governing the standards required for certification by the CGA are included within its Creators Code of Credits (CCC), accessible via the guild's website. The data platform Mosaic, developed and licensed specifically for CGA use and currently in beta, provides the underlying technical architecture that allows creators to submit their work for certification by the guild.
"Credits are your professional currency," states CGA President and Founder Daniel Abas. "The first and most essential step in establishing creators as professionals is to give them access to that currency, by enabling them to build a persistent, comprehensive, accurate record of their work. A professional in film or television can point to IMDb.com to provide their credentials. A creator working today has no such resource. That's one of many things we hope the CGA can help to change."
Designed by the CGA’s Advisory Council and Board–drawn from established creators and thought leaders across the creator economy–the Creator Code of Credits aims to define and protect a single credit, "Created By", and asks users to select up to three roles (e.g. influencer, editor, producer) that apply to the duties the applicant performed in the creation of the work. In the 1.0 edition of the CCC, the roles recognized as eligible for accreditation are: Creator, Influencer, Gamer, Podcaster, Entertainer, Writer, Brand, Community, Videographer, Photographer, Editor, Designer, Founder, Co-Founder, Producer, Developer.
"The creator economy is bigger than just the people who appear onscreen," notes CGA Board member Justine Ezarik, creator of acclaimed tech channel iJustine. "Almost every creator relies on a partner or team to generate content and keep audiences engaged. The CGA is unique in its focus not just on the ‘faces’ of social media, but on the entire team that's required to put out material that's fresh and exciting. And it was important to all of us that we create a system that could accommodate those contributors, and give them the credit they deserve."
In order for credit to meet the standards required for certification, it must represent work paid for by a platform, brand, agency or subscriber base. Furthermore, the work must have been distributed on one or more of the guild's recognized platforms (see below for full list) and have reached 10,000 or more combined impressions, or downloads, or registered users. The work also must be free of copyright infringement or artificial modification, have secured all required legal releases for its distribution, and be in compliance with all rules native to the platform on which it appears.
"This system was intentionally designed to benefit professional creators," reports CGA Board Member, Nick Rizzuto. "That's why the Code requires accredited work to be monetized in some way–whether that be via a brand-sponsored activation or a recurring revenue stream directly from a creator's audience. In the future, the CCC may be amended from its current 1.0 version to include other kinds of creators, but for the moment, we are focused on content native to the creator economy."
As cited in Kajabi's recently released “State of the Creator Economy 2024”, a full 83% of top creators (defined by Kajabi as those with revenues of $100K+) indicated that they would join or are open to joining a labor organization that would define, protect and promote the creator profession.
“Creative professionals in digital media have struggled for years with finding a true 'home base' oriented towards their native issues and concerns,” observes producer John Canning, a member of the CGA's Advisory Council and a former Vice President for New Media at the Producers Guild of America. “The creator economy has evolved on its own terms, and creators’ work should be assessed on its own terms. The system needs to be designed for creators from the ground up, and that's precisely the challenge that the CGA has undertaken with its accreditation system.”
“Accreditation is the foundation of the home we're building for creators. Based on that foundation, those creators are going to continue to change the world—and be fairly recognized and compensated for the value they create,” asserts Abas.
About the Creators Guild of America
The Creators Guild of America (CGA) is the non-profit 501(c)6 professional service organization established to protect and promote the rights and interests of digital content creators. Launched in 2023, the CGA offers a variety of benefits to creators, including its accreditation service, its monthly Conversation series covering essential topics in the creator economy, networking and information-sharing opportunities, and advocacy within the media industry and in time, at the state and federal level. The CGA maintains an aggressive agenda for 2024, including appearances at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April and at VidCon in Anaheim in June, as well as the introduction of its CGA Shield standards and the debut of its creator screening series, the first big-screen exhibitions programmed specifically for digital creators and their work. The CGA is led by its admin team, Board of Directors, Chairs and Advisory Council, populated by established professionals drawn from content creators, platforms, service providers and thought leaders from within the creator economy.
Platforms Recognized for CGA Accreditation
Amazon Music, Anchor, Apple App Store, Apple Podcasts, Baidu, Behance, Cameo, Castbox, Circle, Clubhouse, ConvertKit, Deezer, Discord, Facebook, GitHub, Google Play Store, Google Podcasts, Gumroad, iHeartRadio, Instagram, Kajabi, Kakao, Kick, Ko-fi, Line, LinkedIn, Mastadon, Meta Store, Medium, Microsoft Store, Oculus Store, OnlyFans, Overcast, Patreon, Pinterest, PlayStation VR, Pocket Casts, Podbean, QQ, Reddit, Snap, SoundCloud, Spotify, SteamVR, Stitcher, Substack, Teachable, Telegram, Threads, TikTok, Triller, Twitch, Tumblr, TuneIn, Udemy, Unity, Viber, Viveport, Website, Whatsapp, WeChat, X, YouTube
