Overview
Vodra is a project to create a platform for audiences to directly compensate content creators. Sites like Patreon come to mind. The goal is to have no fees and to avoid censorship with decentralization. They have introduced their own Vodra ERC-20 token. They currently have an airdrop ending 10/28 and an upcoming IDO on 10/25. Public content creator signups are estimated in Q1 2022.
Problems to Solve
Unfair compensation
Advertisers influence content
Censorship
Algorithms
The whitepaper mentioned several issues that the project is trying to solve. There are already sites where a fan can go tip their favorite content creators. These sites can take a large percentage of that tip for their own purposes. Patreon was estimated by Vodra to take 8% while YouTube and Twitch were estimated to take 45%. Patreon CEO Jack Conte is aware that there will be growing competition between these types of platforms. That may help to keep the percentage lower but it will never be 0% which is Vodra's goal.
Another issue that was mentioned is that advertisers can directly or even indirectly influence the content that gets created. Creators work hard, want to get paid, and may up tailoring their content in order to get more advertisement income. Vodra will address this issue by connecting fans directly to the creator. Some sites like Patreon already do this.
Censorship is a tricky issue. I certainly don't want to see certain things on the internet and the same goes for my kids. But right now, the big platforms make the decisions about what content to censor. If the content is legal, then what if some of us don't agree that it should be censored? However, I have always liked when NSFW content is kept separate. That way, I can be comfortable viewing my favorite sites without worrying about hiding my screen from others. Vodra is relying on the decentralized power of crypto to eliminate censorship.
Many sites use algorithms that control what we see. We get introduced to new content that an algorithm predicts will keep our interest. That way we stay on the site, view ads, and put money into the pockets of the site owner. So, we end up seeing similar viewpoints because we generally do not like to read about things we don't agree with. We get stuck in these online content bubbles and echo chambers.
Vodra Uses
Fans will be able to send donations via platform integrations (like seeing a Twitch tip on the live broadcast)
People will be able to vote and fund upcoming projects
Fans can schedule monthly donations
Creators can reward audiences with exclusive content including NFTs
Tokenomics
The token will initially be distributed to content creators based on their audience size. The amount that gets distributed will decrease over time. They will use existing social media accounts like Twitter to determine the number of followers that a creator has. They are aware of various challenges (more on this later) such as:
Validating that the creator is actually the person they claim to be
Some social media accounts can have numerous fake followers
Token Distribution:
30% of the supply will be for creators and growth
8.75% is for fund raising (seed + private sale + public sale)
25% in reserve
16.5% for the team
Remaining 19.75% is for liquidity and staking
One of the graphics also showed that some tokens will be used as a bonus to encourage creators to continue to use the platform. After the initial distribution, the token will be used for platform activities like donations, projects, and votes on platform upgrades.
Challenges
1. No fees but...
There is a cost to maintain the platform. Someone has to pay to keep the lights on and compensate the team who will work on and maintain the platform. Maybe the platform will not take a direct cut out of the donations that fans send to creators, but I am left wondering how the project will cover maintenance costs. After reading the whitepaper and the tokenomics paper, I am still not clear about it and would like to see the team's plan.
The other part of this is that many creators will still want to be paid in fiat so that they can pay their bills and buy yachts (we all deserve a yacht because why not). Vodra will use a layer 2 solution to eliminate gas fees while using the network. But there is still a gas/transfer fee when removing the token from the platform. Also, exchanges will take a small cut. Regardless, let's say a savvy creator is able to minimize these indirect fees... perhaps keeping it at 1%. While it is better than 8%, it is still not 0%.
2. Buying tokens
The initial supply will be held by creators, investors, and the team. Fans will need to buy the token. The whitepaper did not address this but it would be a barrier for some users that are not into crypto. Perhaps Vodra could look into an easier way for fans to buy tokens, such as with a credit card. Fans will also pay a small indirect fee to convert fiat (or a different crypto) into the Vodra token.
Creators are incentivized to use the platform because of the initial sign up bonus, other possible bonuses, and maximizing their compensation. But what is encouraging fans to use the platform? Vodra mentions that audience members will be incentivized by exclusive content, making sure their creator gets maximum value, and they can vote via tokens. But that may not be a strong enough incentive if other sites are easier to use. Fans can already get exclusive content from their creators on sites like Patreon and OnlyFans.
3. Competition
The whitepaper talked about Vodra's advantages compared to some other competitors but it will still be challenging. Some competitors were missing from the list, notably OnlyFans. I also think there is opportunity for some sites to tailor their platform towards specific content, such as a music site that lets fans pay the artist directly. This would have an advantage over Vodra because that site will have platform features that let the user find and listen to music. I don't think Vodra is designed to host content and I didn't see anything about how Vodra would help users find content. The later could certainly be added though.
Existing competition will certainly try to keep their creators. They will be able to incentivize the creator to stay; perhaps by lowering fees, having better features, or having exposure to bigger audiences. If the fees are lowered just enough, then creators and fans will be tempted to stay because of ease of use and inertia. Of course, some creators may use multiple platforms.
4. Initial distribution
Vodra claims they will be able to address the challenges in signing up content creators to receive the initial distribution of tokens. But the challenges are tricky and I imagine it won't be perfect. Sometimes it is okay to not be perfectly accurate and maybe this is one of those times. It would be nice to create a platform where creators get better compensation. But will it be accurate enough?
For example, in the whitepaper they mentioned that if they determine that a creator has too many fake followers, then they may reduce the number of tokens that initially get distributed to that person. Two questions arise:
How to determine the number of fake followers?
How to determine how many tokens a creator gets if they have some fake followers?
The second question may actually have an easy answer, if they accurately know the percentage of fake followers. If a creator has 80% real followers and 20% fake, then the creator could just be given a number of tokens = number of followers * 80% * a reduction based on how many total tokens have already been supplied. The whitepaper did not give specifics in order to make it harder for people to game the system, but it is really hard or even impossible to get an accurate number of those fake followers. Vodra mentions they will compare things like number of likes, but that will differ based on the type of content that is created. Finally, they will manually review and verify the sign ups which means it will come down to human judgement.
5. Enforcing the vision
One of the goals is to eliminate censorship but does Vodra control who is allowed to sign up and use the platform? While it may not host content, are NSFW content creators allowed? Illegal content? If the profile pages allow pictures, can creators upload and display nude pictures? Vodra will need to carefully answer these questions while remaining true to their vision.
Creators will be allowed to promise projects, exclusive content, NFTs, and other rewards, but what if they fail to deliver their promises? Is there a punishment system? Will there be smart contracts that enforce some of it? And if Vodra does implement something, who determines if the creator failed to deliver their promise?
6. Making investors feel secure
What incentive is there to keep team members working on the project after the token has gained value? Along with a plan to cover maintenance costs, I think Vodra needs a plan to incentivize team members to continue working on the project, even after the token has value.
Summary
I hope we all get rich, own yachts, and can live out our lives in retirement. I hope platforms like this succeed to give more compensation directly to the people who work so hard. There are several important topics that Vodra still needs to address so that I can be more comfortable with the project.
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