The Version Economy: Why Every Creative Work Is the Beginning of Something Else
The internet gave us distribution. It never gave us participation. The Version Economy is what happens when every creative work becomes the foundation for what comes next—and everyone who contributes can share in the value created.
The global derivatives market is worth hundreds of trillions of dollars.
The creative world has derivatives too.
Not financial ones. (yet)
Creative ones.
A song becomes a remix.
A remix becomes a mashup.
A mashup inspires another producer.
A producer inspires an artist.
An artist inspires a movement.
That’s how culture spreads.
Through derivative works.
The difference is that finance built systems to track value as it moves.
Creativity never did.
That’s the infrastructure gap.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from music, it’s this:
Creative works rarely end where their creators intended.
The internet didn’t make this happen.
Humans did.
The internet just made it happen faster.
I watched this happen to my own song.
Overload didn’t stop at the original.
For years the industry's treated creative works as finished products.
I think that’s wrong.
I think every creative work is a starting point.
A piece of source material waiting for someone else to build on top of it.
That’s how culture actually moves.
Not through isolated acts of creation.
Through versions.
Think about how much of modern culture is derivative.
Remixes.
Samples.
Covers.
Adaptations.
Edits.
Sequels.
Spin-offs.
Reaction videos.
Memes.
Collaborations.
Brand partnerships.
Creator economies.
Even athletes and celebrities are now building businesses around versions of their name, image, and likeness.
The world is becoming one giant version economy.
The problem is the economic infrastructure never evolved with it.
Not because the value isn’t there.
Because nobody built the systems to track where creative value came from, who contributed to it, or how it should flow back through the chain.
The internet gave us distribution.
It never gave us participation.
A remix can create value for the original.
A creator can create value for a brand.
A fan can create value for an artist.
But most of the time there’s no system connecting the two.
No shared ownership.
No shared incentives.
No way for value to flow back through the chain.
Just attention moving faster than the infrastructure underneath it.
That’s the opportunity.
Not just in music.
Everywhere.
What if creative IP worked more like Lego?
Build something valuable.
Let other people build on top of it.
And share in the value of what comes next.
Not because of a lawsuit.
Not because of a takedown.
Because the infrastructure was designed that way from the beginning.
That’s the idea behind vers1ons.
Today we start with music.
Remixes.
Alternate versions.
Derivative works.
But the vision is much bigger.
Creating new economic relationships between source material and everything that comes after it.
Because creativity isn’t linear.
It’s collaborative.
Always has been.
Applications for the vers1ons private beta are now open.
For artists, producers, remixers, and rightsholders who believe collaboration deserves better infrastructure.
Apply at vers1ons.com/apply
Next: Why every remix should pay.
I'm David Johnston.
Founder & CEO of vers1ons.
The next era of music will finally work for the people who actually make it.