Is It Time For An Influencer Union?
he SAG-AFTRA building, home to the US labor union that represents film and television actors, ... More singers, and other performers, is seen in Los Angeles, California, on July 13, 2023.
In late April, SAG-AFTRA announced the creation of a new influencer committee in an effort to provide 'guidance and leadership' in the shifting media industry. The board of the union unanimously voted to create the digital creator committee. New York-based lifestyle influencer Patrick Janelle has also been tapped as committee chair.
The Hollywood Reporter quoted the national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland as saying, 'During the theatrical strike, creators of influencers stepped up in big ways to stand by our members on strike… I think that just really cemented for us the obvious connection and nexus there.'
Janelle adds, 'I am confident that with the weight of this organization … we can make significant contributions toward ensuring that creators are able to build more stable, safe and sustainable careers.'
This isn't the first time SAG-AFTRA has ventured into the digital marketplace. In 2021, they introduced an influencer agreement and waiver. These agreements cover work in branded content; however, they do not include original creative content.
Online content is a huge media form but it is also largely unregulated or at very least, de-centered. The nature of digital content creation makes it a hard industry to unionize. Creative content is made on multiple platforms all with different pay structures and creation guidelines. While many platforms (and even the FTC) have now imposed rules when it comes to branded content and content guidelines, historically, moderation has been loose in many cases.
Part of the appeal of making social media content for many, is its freedom. Almost anyone can film and upload content. Many creative industries are hard to break into. However, online content creation is different. While it takes skills to successfully monetize online content, the barrier to entry is extremely low. The industry's accessibility is at the root of its growth and it is growing, quickly.
Axios recently published that 'The number of people with full-time equivalent jobs as digital creators in the U.S. jumped from 200,000 in 2020 to 1.5 million in 2024.' This is a huge population. For comparison, SAG-AFTRA currently has around 160,000 members. Researchers from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that 'Creator media revenue is growing five times the rate of the traditional media sector' and 'The internet-supported economy of $4.9 trillion accounts for 18% of U.S. GDP, up from 2% in 2008, and is the leading driver of GDP growth, according to the report.' The content creator industry is simply getting too big to ignore and this may mean, it is also time for more protections and security for influencers.
In an article for Vogue Business on the 'Creator Economy Battleground,' Lucy Maguire and Madeleine Schulz quote a 2024 survey of Patreon creators where '53 per cent said it's harder to reach their followers today on mainstream social media than it was five years ago.' Creator saturation, discovery algorithmic feeds and changes in monetization affect creators directly and often influencers have very little control of the settings of the platforms they are on.
In such a varied and large industry, a traditional union is a difficult task. However, the SAG-AFTRA committee feels like a worthwhile first step to help better protect creators, especially with potential bans to big apps like TikTok and a possible recession on the horizon. Even if a formal union does not materialize, having more support for digital creatives seems like a positive step for such an important, growing industry.
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