This New Creator Network Wants To Fix What’s Broken In The Influencer Industry—Especially For Black Creators

If you’ve been paying attention to the creator economy lately, you know it’s been facing a few challenges (to say the least). Among a few of them are the fact that brands are funding campaigns without cultural context, creators are chasing overdue payments (um, what the heck is net90), and too many activations end up feeling inauthentic. And we’re not even going to talk about the fact that Black creators aren’t getting paid their worth.

Well, Live Nation Urban wants to do something about that.

Yesterday, the company announced that they’re launching the Live Nation Urban Creator Network, and this one has my attention, and it should have yours too. They’re partnering with Breakr, the creator payments platform, to build what they’re calling the “largest network of Black creators in the industry.”

“Creators have long been an integral part of how we market our tours and festivals,” says Live Nation Urban President Shawn Gee. “But the demand from our brand partners pushed us to think bigger—to move beyond treating creator marketing as an internal tool and instead build a business model around it.”

The difference here, and perhaps their biggest advantage, is track record. Live Nation Urban operates Roots Picnic, ONE Musicfest, and Broccoli City Festival, which means they’ve already got years of experience creating cultural moments that actually connect with audiences. That coupled with the fact that Breakr’s platform has over 75,000 creators and 55 million data points, means Live Nation Urban can actually match brands with creators who make sense instead of just whoever has the most followers.

“In just five years, creators have gone from supporting cast to the headliners of our growth story,” says Live Nation Urban’s Vice President of Marketing Malcolm Gray. “Today, we’re opening the doors to an exclusive creator network—pairing brands with unrivaled cultural capital and turning influence into record-breaking results.”

Live Nation Urban is positioning this as a year-round cultural strategy tool. So if you want to activate around Juneteenth? They can handle that. Planning something for an HBCU homecoming? They’ve got creators for that too.

But it’s the creator side of this, which is what they need to work the most. Anyone who’s worked in this space knows that getting paid on time is… well, let’s just say it’s been a problem. Live Nation Urban is promising payments within 48 hours through BreakrPay, which could be a game changer for creators who are tired of chasing checks. Plus, they’re offering VIP festival access and partnerships with major brands like Hulu, STARZ, and BET. 

Now, will this actually work? That remains to be seen. The creator economy (which is currently valued at $250 billion and is projected to reach $480 billion by 2027) is littered with platforms that promised to revolutionize everything and then… didn’t. But Live Nation Urban has something most don’t, and that’s actual cultural credibility and deep pockets.

They’ve also been putting their money where their mouth is through their Black Lilly Capital Investment Fund, which has been investing in companies like Breakr. So if Live Nation Urban can actually deliver on the promise of culturally-embedded campaigns that feel real instead of forced? That could change how brands approach Black audiences entirely. And frankly, it’s about time someone with actual cultural authority stepped up to the plate.

To learn more or apply for the 2025 Creator Class, visit: https://creators.livenationurban.com/

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