Is This the New IMDb for Creators?

Issue #212 | February 15, 2024

In August 2023, amid ‘Hot Labor Summer,’ the Creators Guild of America (CGA) made its debut with a lot of promise, attracting high-profile members like YouTuber Justine Ezarik and TikToker Mitchell Crawford. The CGA claimed to be “the” up-and-coming “nonprofit organization that protects and promotes the interests of digital creators.”

Despite its “guild” title that is reminiscent of labor unions like the Writers Guild, the CGA made clear it is not a union — and will therefore not collectively bargain against corporations (like tech platforms, talent agencies, production studios, etc.) on creators’ behalf. Instead, it is a “service organization,” joining together like-minded individuals (including people working with the aforementioned not-so-labor-friendly corporations, like Triller, Microsoft, and Disney) to provide several professional resources for those working in the creator economy.

Specifically, the organization aimed to eventually become the “IMDb” for digital accreditation. For context, in traditional Hollywood productions, rolling credits at the end of movies, TV shows, and video games list out the names of the cast and crew. These credits populate IMDb, an online database of notable entertainment productions.

Most people in the industry know these official credits are hard to come by (shoutout to all the production assistants in the audience). Still, getting an IMDb credit is a stamp of approval. And a flex. Once the review team at IMDb approves your credit, you can show everyone online that you’re legitimate.

But these kinds of traditional credits don’t exist in the creator age. Much of the work of video editors, producers, artists, designers, and other creators goes completely uncredited on brand campaigns, TikToks, YouTube videos, and live streams. Not only that, but creators’ work often gets plagiarized or ripped off.

Occasionally, a responsible creator or brand will list the folks who worked on a video in its description. But most of the time, they don’t. (When did you last see a cast and crew listing on a MrBeast video?)

The idea of a public ledger of creator-made work — verified by a team of independent fact-checkers — seems largely beneficial for the creator ecosystem. So, this week, the CGA sent out an email letting members know that it is partnering with one of its sponsors, Mosaic, to try to offer this service. CGA members will now get free lifetime memberships to Mosaic.

Mosaic, currently in a beta testing phase, is a social media platform used to publicly acknowledge and “authenticate” projects. Users can create “blocks” that contain descriptions of creative work completed, dates finished, and the company or brand you did it for. Someone from that company (with an official company email address) must then approve that block and say you indeed did the work.

“We utilize three layers of authentication,” Mosaic co-founder and CGA’s creative director Joshua Hoy told Passionfruit. “The first is a company email address. The second is human peer-proofing. The third is a root authentication with the company, which we have not surfaced yet in our beta.”

Mosaic opened its doors to the public on Feb. 12 for beta testing. The platform is currently free for anyone to use. Eventually, however, it plans to add monthly fees as it adds new features over the “coming weeks and months,” according to its FAQs. All accounts created before paid memberships launch will have a “free subscription for life,” (although it’s unclear if this is just a free tier, and certain features will be paywalled off.)

It currently appears that the service only covers work with companies or brands — so an ad campaign, or social media work done by a larger media company. There are no steps currently available to authenticate independent art or social media projects, which is, you know… what a lot of creators are known for.

When I asked a Mosaic representative whether they plan to introduce authentication services for independent content productions, they declined to comment. But they hinted the company will be announcing new features soon.

Mosaic’s functionality is also quite limited for the time being. For example, I tried out its search bar and couldn’t find anything or anyone on it (including the accounts it advertises on its homepage.) When I reached out to a representative for Mosaic, they declined to comment on whether this was a site-wide issue or just an issue on my end. They didn’t share when search and discoverability features would become available.

So, at least for the time being, the service isn’t exactly the “IMDb Pro For Everyone.” But maybe one day.

THE COMMENTS SECTION

“The way we work has changed. It’s become much more creative and collaborative. At Mosaic we’re convinced that a more effective method could be developed for individuals to document project-based work and highlight their achievements, with authenticity at its core.”
— Mosaic co-founder Joshua Hoy.

Most of us can get behind the idea of organizing on behalf of creator rights and recognition. However, eventually, Mosaic will become a paid service, so it’s probably good to be skeptical of the dollars you put in.

And while CGA members get a “free lifetime membership” to Mosaic, the CGA membership itself isn’t cheap. It costs $99 a year to join. In addition, to join the CGA, you must meet the following eligibility requirements:

10K followers across 3 or less platforms
25K or more monthly active website visits
1 verified platform (excluding Twitter/X)
Paid activations valued over $15K (1 year or less)
5 confirmed “created by” credits

You might be asking yourself, what are “confirmed” creative credits? Confirmed how, and by whom? Will these credits need to be confirmed through Mosaic?

Back in August 2023, these were the same questions we had. The organization told Passionfruit that “accreditation will recognize content and bodies of work that qualify under the CGA’s code of credits (CCC) to be announced very soon.”

The organization hasn’t announced the code of credits yet. In a November 2023 blog post on the CGA website, board member Chris Green said the code would be announced “before the end of the year,” but it has yet to come to fruition.

It seems the website is developing an accreditation page, with a “coming soon” button leading to the Mosaic beta testing page. It also has an alternative form creators can use to submit projects for CGA accreditation. This form includes non-branded, independent work. It’s unclear how exactly the two accreditation services will combine. (The CGA did not respond to our request for comment.)

On a positive note, the CGA plans for accreditation to be free. “While it’s tempting to make certification an exclusive benefit of membership, it’s more important that our database cast as broad a net as possible,” Green notes in the blog post. “A bigger database is a better database, and if CGA accreditation is going to serve the creator economy the way that IMDb does the entertainment industry, we can’t limit our data to the subset of creators who choose to join the CGA.”

So, in summary, is this the new IMDb for creators? Not yet. Both Mosaic and the Creators Guild currently have limited functionalities and pretty low social followings.

But hey, they are brand new, and at least a few notable leaders in the creator economy are trying to create something to give creators more credit for their work. While guilds like the Internet Creators Guild and the YouTubers Union fizzled out, mostly due to low membership and a lack of interest, if this new guild can actually produce tangible tools for creators, perhaps they will have more luck.

“Having been a freelancer for over 10 years and rarely recognized for the vast majority of the work I do, I’m happy there is a platform that champions creative ownership and visibility,” freelancer Joanna Lawn said in a statement on the Mosaic website. “As an independent designer that worries about plagiarism and brands ripping off my work, I feel safe knowing Mosaic verifies the origin — me.”

– Grace Stanley, Deputy Editor

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UPCOMING EVENTS

The Streamer Awards, a streaming awards ceremony, will be held on Feb. 17 in Los Angeles.
The Academy Awards ceremony will be on March 10 in Los Angeles.
South by Southwest, a tech, film, and music conference, will hold its “Creator Economy Track” from March 11-15 in Austin, Texas.
The Information’s Creator Economy Summit takes place on April 2 in Los Angeles.

TIKTOK MADE ME DO IT

This creator made a really interesting video on the etymology of the “influencer accent.” Check it out!

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