Unlocking Creator Opportunities

How I Got Started in the Catch+Release Marketplace

I’m continuously scouting for fresh opportunities to convert my videos into cash. Recently, it was suggested that I join the Catch+Release Creator Community marketplace. I took a deep dive into their creator community content and was impressed with what I saw.

The landing page is informative yet simple enough, telling me that joining the community wouldn’t eat up my time before I uploaded a single asset. Halfway down the page I located the CTA button to join the community.

Add content

Create a profile and add content. You can import content from TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, or upload from your phone or computer.

Everything you publish to Catch+Release is immediately discoverable by brands.

Creating a Profile

After reading and accepting the terms of the Creator Community Agreement, which I found to be standard and easy to understand, the first step in becoming a creator was to create my marketplace profile.

Other than a brief description under the page’s heading that describes the importance of a profile to showcase my content to potential brand buyers, I found that the page lacked a bit of information that stalled my progress.

For instance, when asked what Display name and what Handle I preferred for my profile, I was left stumped for an answer. After unsuccessfully attempting to add my Instagram URL to the Handle option, I dropped the URL altogether and opted for a simple name that I use for my YouTube account, which was accepted.

I uploaded my portrait to my profile and decided on my birth name as my Display name, which I think lends itself to be more authentic anytime I upload my work for better visibility. Additionally, I added a bio that included respected brands that I’ve produced content for to showcase the legit work I’ve accomplished over my career.

Check out my creator profile.

Licensing Preferences

Setting up my licensing and pricing preferences represents the most important feature in joining a content marketplace. It’s also at this stage of the process in which you determine whether you join the community or abandon the proposition altogether.

Pricing is broken down into three tiers: Competitive, Standard and Premium. Over the years of having worked in the content industry, I have acquired a better than average insight on competitive pricing among the marketplaces and can quickly assess a fair royalty rate.

That said, I chose the Standard pricing tier for a couple of reasons. Although the Standard tier is recommended as the sweet spot by the company, which I can respect, I was attracted to the royalty fees based on usage that represent an extremely better deal than most offerings from the marketplaces that I’m familiar with.

All Future Offers

I have a loaded schedule which consists of my home life, working with creators and producing my own content; therefore, I accepted the option that allowed Catch+Release to make future licensing deals on my behalf without having to notify me beforehand. In addition, my content is more likely to be selected by brands as long as they can license it right away.

It’s also worth mentioning that a client may want to license my content exclusively in which case my permission will be needed.That’s one request that I wouldn’t mind receiving no matter how busy I was considering that an exclusive video clip or photo can bring a heftier fee.

Finally, before I can become a creator in the community, I was prompted to agree to the terms that I had chosen, which were Standard pricing and accepting all future licensing offers.

Additionally, I was asked to affirm that I wasn’t a member of a talent union. In other words, if I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) or any other related talent union, the prospective user of my assets would need to deal directly with the union affiliate.

Also, I’m told that if the acquirer is a SAG member and it’s a US production, they may or may not make the content usable. If they are not a SAG member, but the production is under SAG jurisdiction, there are client-side consequences.

Not only do I cast non-union talent, but I also have them sign a talent release, which is extremely easy to do on my phone with the Easy Release app.

With my tasks completed and an email confirming my agreement to the company’s terms and pricing, I was ready to upload.

Uploading Media

Other than uploading your best content to the marketplace as stated on the Creator Community page, there are no technical requirements for supported file formats, file size or compression that I’m aware of. Therefore, I continued to the upload page unfazed by the absence of submission guidelines.

Comprehending what subjects and themes clients are looking for to support their narratives is key to producing content that ensures your efforts are worthwhile and that your content is sellable.

Fortunately, I keep a tally of my best-selling videos in other marketplaces and chose a couple of those clips and a handful of others that have sold moderately to test the upload speed, which was less than a minute for a 70 MB clip. These clips were reviewed and published extraordinarily fast on the marketplace the same day. The keywords and descriptions were provided entirely by Catch+Release , which is in my opinion a game-changer.

What are brands looking for?

Brands look for unique ways to market their products and tell interesting stories. That said, there are certain content themes that will always be needed.

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* People using a product or brand
* People doing a viral trend or challenge
* People doing a fun activity together
* People experiencing funny or rare moments

The Creators Side Hustle

It’s imperative to keep your expectations in check otherwise you’ll be greatly disappointed when you haven’t sold an asset in a day, a week or even six months. Eventually, your work will sell and there’s nothing that quite equals the feeling you’ll receive when it does.

As a content creator, I can’t think of a better side hustle than to sell your content from a content licensing marketplace. After all, the best commute to work that you could ever wish for, is the distance from your bed to your computer, opening your messages and finding money deposited into your bank account while you slept.