Creator Platform / Revenue Share
The creator economy pricing pattern: subscribers pay the platform a monthly fee for access to a creator's content; the platform retains a percentage as its commission and any payment-processing costs; the remainder settles to the creator on a fixed cadence. Each creator runs their own pricing tiers; each subscriber subscribes individually to a creator. The platform's relationship is two-sided - it's customer-facing on subscriber subscriptions and partner-facing on creator settlements.
Real-world examples. Substack (creators set tier prices, Stripe processes, platform takes 10%, settles monthly), Patreon (multiple tiers per creator, platform takes 5-12% depending on plan, settles monthly), Twitch (subscriber tiers, Twitch takes 50%, monthly payouts), OnlyFans (creator-set prices, platform takes 20%, weekly payouts), Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-fi. Common shape: creator defines 1-3 subscription tiers at price points they pick; subscribers subscribe individually; platform commission ranges 5-50% depending on the platform; settlement is monthly via direct deposit or PayPal.
The shape of the problem
Creator platforms are marketplaces with extra characteristics:
- Per-creator pricing tiers. Each creator defines their own price points. The platform doesn't dictate pricing - it just collects.
- Subscriber-creator subscriptions, not subscriber-platform. A subscriber on Patreon supporting 3 creators has 3 separate subscriptions. Each with its own price, billing cycle, lifecycle.
- Net-of-cost commission math. Most creator platforms quote commission as net of payment processing - "we keep 10%, but Stripe also takes 2.9% + 30c per charge." The settlement has to net both correctly.
- Tax complications. When a US-based platform pays out to an EU-based creator, tax withholding rules apply. When the creator is the merchant of record vs the platform is, VAT treatment differs. This is a real operational concern, not a theoretical one.
- Cancellation flow asymmetry. A subscriber cancelling means: the creator still keeps what they earned through the cancellation date; platform commission is final on those past charges. There's no "claw back paid commissions on cancellation."
- Refund policy. Some platforms allow refunds on the latest month's charge; the corresponding commission gets clawed back from the creator's next settlement.
Kontorion blueprint
| Concern | Kontorion primitive |
|---|---|
| Per-creator tiers | One plan per creator, with multiple tier prices |
| Subscriber-creator subscriptions | Standard subscriptions; creator referenced via metadata.creator_counterparty_id |
| Platform commission | Counterparty commission_rules on creator's settlement |
| Payment processing cost passthrough | Adjustment lines on the settlement (negative for processing cost) |
| Refund clawback | Credit notes flow to negative settlement lines automatically |
| Per-jurisdiction tax withholding | Counterparty withholding_rules keyed on creator country |
Build it
1. Onboard a creator as a counterparty
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Platform takes 10%. The counterparty also tracks the IRS 1099 threshold ($600 lifetime) for US tax reporting.
2. Creator defines subscription tiers
Each creator gets a plan with their own tier structure:
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3. Subscriber subscribes to the creator
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The subscriber starts paying monthly. The creator_counterparty_id metadata is what the settlement runner uses to attribute the revenue.
4. Schedule monthly creator payouts
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On the 1st of each month at 6am ET, the runner aggregates every paid invoice from the prior month, finds each invoice's creator_counterparty_id in the line metadata, and produces one settlement per creator.
5. Inspect a creator's monthly settlement
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The refunded subscription from a prior month creates a negative line on this month's settlement, automatically clawing back the previously-paid commission.
6. Pay out
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Settlement transitions to paid. The creator gets a notification with a link to the PDF statement.
Variations
- Tip / one-time donation. Subscriber sends a one-time donation to a creator. Generate a one-shot invoice with the creator's
counterparty_idin metadata; it flows into the same monthly settlement. - Pay-what-you-want pricing. Subscriber sets their own monthly amount above a creator's minimum. The product price has
min_amountandmax_amount; the subscription'squantityfield carries the chosen amount. - Multi-currency settlements. When subscribers pay in EUR but the creator is paid out in USD, FX policy handles conversion at settlement time with rate IDs pinned per line for replay.
- Creator-of-creators (collectives). A creator runs a publication with co-authors. Use a tiered counterparty with sub-counterparties: settlement runs once for the publication, then automatic sub-settlements split it among collaborators per pre-configured percentage.
- Tier upgrades and downgrades. Standard subscription mechanics - subscriber switches tier, proration applies, the next settlement reflects the new commission split correctly.
- Free tier with paid upgrades. Creator offers a free tier that emails go to. The free tier is a
unit_amount: 0price; only paid tier subscribers contribute to settlements.
What you don't have to build
- Per-subscription, per-creator revenue attribution (metadata flow handles it)
- Monthly aggregation and settlement generation per creator (the runner cron does it)
- Refund clawback that nets against next month's commission (credit notes flow through)
- Multi-currency cross-conversion with FX pinning (FX policy at finalize time)
- 1099 / W-8BEN tax form thresholds (counterparty
withholding_rules) - Per-creator PDF statement (
/settlements/{id}/pdf) - Real-time pending earnings dashboard (filter
/settlements?counterparty_id=X&status=draft)
Next steps
- Subscriptions - subscriber-creator subscription lifecycle
- Custom Fields - creator-specific metadata
- Credit Notes - refunds that flow back into commission clawback