The Real Shift — From "Content" to "People and Relationships"
The essence of this transformation is not simply that "products can now be sold online." What matters more is that fans are now following individual creators — not just their work — and supporting them on an ongoing basis, and this structure has become mainstream.
Creator revenue was once largely limited to advertising, one-time sales, and commissioned work. Today, however, monetization has diversified rapidly — fan clubs, subscriptions, digital content sales, merchandise, crowdfunding, events, and more. This shift has made it easier not only for full-time creators, but also for individuals pursuing creative work as a side project or hobby to earn income.
The most commonly cited motivation for starting creative activities is "wanting to share something I created" — not income. In other words, the expansion of the creator economy is less about a change in career choices and more about monetization naturally emerging as an extension of self-expression and content sharing.
"Oshi-katsu" Culture and the Relationship-Driven Economy
One of the major drivers behind this market expansion is the rise of "oshi-katsu" (fan support) culture. Fans are no longer just consuming content — they are actively supporting creators out of a desire to "cheer this person on" and "help them keep creating."
This represents a fundamentally different structure from traditional content industries. It is a market where the relationship itself has become the value — beyond just the worth of products or content.
Market Growth Across Segments
Similar growth patterns are emerging across literature, music, and gaming.
Key Segment Market Sizes
- Doujinshi (self-published works) — 128.5 billion yen
- Individual creator fan clubs — 50 billion yen
- Indie music — 38 billion yen
- Illustration market — 24.7 billion yen
- Indie games — 21.5 billion yen
What is particularly striking is that growth is not confined to physical events and in-person marketplaces — digital-first markets such as data-based sales and fan communities are expanding strongly.
In the music industry, where I served as head of e-commerce operations, digitalization was more advanced than in any other sector. This was driven not only by platform consolidation by major players like Apple and Spotify, but also by the widespread adoption of TuneCore — an indie-focused platform that made it effortless for anyone to distribute music. The "democratization of music distribution" is accelerating at a remarkable pace.
Challenges That Cannot Be Overlooked
That said, there are challenges that cannot be ignored. One in four creators has experienced online harassment or defamation. Additionally, the creative environment is being shaken by the impact of expression regulations imposed by payment providers, platform dependency, and the redefinition of rights and value brought about by generative AI.
As the market grows, building a safe and supportive environment for creators will become just as important as providing monetization tools.
How Should Businesses Respond?
So how should businesses interpret this shift? The answer is straightforward: stop viewing the creator economy as a peripheral market and start seeing it as a new frontier for customer engagement, IP creation, and co-creation.
Traditionally, businesses have relied on a model of creating products and content in-house, investing in advertising, and delivering to consumers. Going forward, however, there will be more cases where individual creators build communities first and hold highly engaged fan bases.
What matters for businesses is not capturing that energy, but rather how to co-create, how to support, and how to transform it into new value.
Summary
The creator economy is not a passing trend. The number of potential creators is estimated at 22 million, and the market could exceed 10 trillion yen by 2034. The movement — where individuals share, fans support, and communities generate value — will only grow stronger.
What businesses need is the ability to understand this shift that traditional mass marketing alone cannot reveal — and to view the market through a lens that includes "who created it," "who supports it," and "what kind of relationships are being formed."
The essence of the creator economy lies not in content transactions, but in an economic sphere built on empathy and sustained support. The businesses that can accurately grasp where this economy stands today will be the ones best positioned to seize the next wave of growth.
References
- Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting / Survey on Japan's Creator Economy (2023)
- Yano Research Institute / Creator Economy Market Study (2024)