PAY4PLAY is an international and interdisciplinary research project investigating the policy challenges and industry practices of the creator economy, based at Aarhus University (DK). Our approach combines cultural, technological, and regulatory perspectives. This means we work with many kinds of data, including social media content, platform trace data, policy documents, interviews, and ethnographic observations. To identify the factors shaping opportunities and risks within the creator economy, we compare mainstream content creators, adult content creators, and creators working at the cutting edge of technological developments like VTubers.

Join us as we conduct the first large-scale comparison of the industrial conditions of monetized content creation, create methodological tools for cross-platform research, and develop policy recommendations that integrate creator perspectives.

The project is funded by the European Research Council through a Starting Grant. Read the full grant proposal and reflections on the application process here.