BuyMeAStorage: The Arweave Application Aiming To Give More Power To Content Creators

In August, when X (formerly Twitter) announced a new round of ads revenue sharing, many users across the world were elated. Excited users of X gladly displayed how much they had received, for them, X’s revenue sharing could be a regular source of passive income.

Earning from one’s work is not limited to X. Other platforms such as TikTok, Youtube, Facebook, Spotify and Instagram also have some arrangement that allows users to earn some revenue determined through ads or through engagements with their posts.

Web2, the opportunity to earn is encouraging more people to become creators of content like still images, videos, music and talk shows and audience size has been especially from the time of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic when there was lockdown in many countries in the world, leaving many to turn to social media to cope with boredom and others to express themselves.

There is a dearth of information on the specific amounts platforms pay creators. However, Youtube said in 2021 that it had paid over $30billion to 2 million users in three years. Facebook and instagram also said in 2021 that they would be paying $1billion to creators. As of 2023, there are 50 million people contributing to the creator economy which is globally estimated to be worth $104.2 billion dollars and which analysts at Goldman Sachs said has the potential to rise to $480 billion by 2027.

But despite the huge sum of payouts by platforms, some have observed that there is little transparency in the way the revenue programme is managed. This issue spurs concerns that platforms were ripping them off.

Beyond the monetary incentives that creators get from Web2 platforms, there are major concerns that bother on censorship which could result in creators’ works being removed from the platform or being limited from promoting their works on the platform.

Poor transparency and censorship are issues particular to Web2 companies. These companies’ centralised nature puts an individual or a few people in charge of decisions made sometimes under pressure from socio-economic and political forces, advertisers and statutory organisations. Centralised setups also make online platforms vulnerable to attacks, natural disasters that could result in down times.

These challenges are particular to Web2 platforms and have solutions in Web3 and one of the projects using the blockchain, the technology underpinning the third generation of internet, to solve them is BuyMeAStorage.

Built by three developers, Pawan Paudel, Bishal Sunuwar and Mikma Dorje Tamang during the Arweave Community Hackathon, BuyMeAStorage uses decentralised technology to solve challenges creators face on platforms where they upload contents.

“The motivation behind this project was driven by the limitations of existing platforms. Many platforms that support creators also come with significant drawbacks. Creators often have to give a portion of their earnings to the platform, and these platforms are usually controlled by a single entity, which can lead to censorship and limitations on creative freedom,” one of the developers, Paudel told this reporter in an interview.

BuyMeAStorage solves two of the major pain points of content creators by using Arweave. With BuyMeAStorage, content can be monetized by users on their own terms instead of terms made by the platform as it is done by Web2 companies. Paudel said the project guarantees creators transparency, control and security.

“Unlike traditional platforms, our decentralized approach ensures that creators keep most of their earnings and maintain control over their content, without the risk of censorship by a central authority. Arweave's robust infrastructure further enhances the security and permanence of the content shared on our platform,’ he said

Paudel and his team members used Universal Data Licence to build the system in their project which allows creators to monetize their content by embedding a licence which is enforceable in the real world. Other things creators have the power to decide by using the UDL is length of licence term; desired currency for payment; fee.

BuyMeAStorage uses Arweave’s decentralised storage system to give users protection from censorship. On Arweave, data is stored permanently through a process that distributes stored information across a network of computers called nodes. Nodes are incentivised to save old and new data and serve them. These nodes, in hundreds, who are spread across the world cannot be censored at the same time.

The hackathon that facilitated the creation of BuyMeAStorage was organised by Only Arweave in partnership with Arweave’s research and development company, Forward Research; Arweave-focused software development company, Community Labs; Bundlr; Kwil; Ar.Io; Art by City. BuyMeAStorage emerged second place winner for the best use of UDL; second place winner for incorporating Community Labs’ ArweaveKit; second place winner for the integration of ArConnect.

The beta release of the UDL in June, may have triggered the race among projects to incorporate the feature in the products. Paudel, explaining what makes BuyMeAStorage unique, said that the project is user-friendly as it allows effortless sharing of works; Arprofile user handles that allows users to have enhanced user experience and content discovery; opportunity for creators to get direct support from the users of contents.

Paudel, who is from Nepal and has worked on 26 tech projects so far, described the team’s experience during the hackathon as “incredibly rewarding”. It allowed them to have deep understanding of protocols in the ecosystem and explored tools such as ArweaveWallet Kit, GraphQL, ArweaveJS and Stamp Protocol. He said they had challenges in encrypting and decrypting images and ensuring access only to rightful owners.

On how hackathons can be improved to achieve more, Paudel recommended that participants should be provided with necessary tools, data and resources as it would enhance the quality of solutions developed during the hackathon. The developer also wants a post-hackathon follow up because “exciting” ideas and prototypes often emerge after the hackathon and feedback should be collected from the participants at the end.

“Some projects may be suitable for further development, funding, or integration into the organization's operations,” he said, adding that there should be clear judging criteria “Transparency in the judging process is essential”.

The hackathon is over but the team is not abandoning their project. Paudel said the roadmap for the application will expand by adding more features that allows video and music creators to add their contents. The team will also be exploring the UDL to do more than what it is known for by fine tuning it to distribute revenue to stakeholders of a project such as distributors, managers, sponsors instead of only creators. It is also looking to improve the protection of the intellectual property rights of creators.

“Overall, the hackathon was a journey of growth and learning, and it was immensely satisfying to build something meaningful alongside a talented group of individuals who shared our passion for innovation,” Paudel said.