TL;DR:
The price cap is gone. What you can charge no longer depends on your membership tier. Everyone gets the top rates.
A limit on how many new models you can monetize each month replaces it. Each calendar month you can put a price on a set number of new model versions: Free 3, Bronze 10, Silver 25, Gold unlimited.
Once a price is set, it stays. The limit is about setting prices on new models, not a limit on how many things you can have monetized.
Changing a price you already set is free, any time, and costs you nothing from the monthly Monetization Activation limit.
This is live now. If you had a price stored above the old cap, it is charging that price as of today.
What changed, and why
A couple of weeks ago we put up a proposal about creator compensation and licensing fees, and asked what you thought. You told us, at length, and a fair amount of it disagreed with us. The biggest thing we changed our minds about is in the title.
Previously, your membership tier limited how much you could charge, so a free creator with a model people loved was capped somewhere below what it was worth. Several of you pointed out that this is a strange thing for a marketplace to do, and you were right.
So the cap is gone. You set your price.
What replaces it
Every calendar month you get a fresh set of Monetization Activations, and you spend them on new model versions:
Free: 3
Bronze: 10
Silver: 25
Gold: unlimited
For example: A free creator monetizes three model versions in August, and three more in September, and the ones from August carry on earning the whole time. Unused activations do not roll over.
It counts model versions, not models, so pricing five versions of one model spends five activations. And changing a price you have already set is free, any time, without touching the current month's allowance.
Membership decides scale, not permission. A free creator can charge top-tier prices on their best work. What a membership buys is how fast you can roll prices out across new versions. And you can now buy a membership with Buzz so you can use the Buzz you're earning to be able to monetize more things as you grow.
Questions
What is considered a Monetization Activation?
A Monetization Activation is anytime you set a paid access cost, early access cost, or licensing fee on a model version that currently doesn't have one.
If I remove a price, do I get the Monetization Activation back?
Yes, as long as nobody has bought or been charged for that version yet. Price something, look at it, change your mind, and it costs you nothing. Once it has earned or the month ends, the activation is spent.
Can anybody monetize?
You need a creator score of at least 10,000 (you can see this at the bottom of the account settings) to set a licensing fee or put something behind paid access. That came out of the proposal, where several of you were worried about brand new accounts arriving and immediately monetizing work.
What if I have already put a price on things?
The prices you set stay. The monthly monetization limits only apply going forward.
What happens to the prices I set before, when there were caps?
Any cap that was applied to them has been removed, and you are now charging what you originally asked for. If you set 5,000 Buzz for paid access and were capped at 1,000, your price is 5,000 as of today.
What happens if my membership lapses?
Your monthly monetization activation limit drops back to the free rate. Nothing you have already priced changes or stops earning. If it lapses mid-month, the activations you have already spent count against the lower number, so if you were Bronze and had used four, you are done for the month.
Why limit how many things can be monetized at all?
Because we do not want the whole site to become paid overnight. A monthly rate keeps adoption steady, and it gives you a reason to scale up as you grow rather than all at once on day one. Now that a membership can be bought with Buzz, scaling up is something you can do from what you earn here.
Thanks
Thanks to everyone who presented ideas and pushed back during the proposal. The cap coming off is a direct result of that, and so is getting your monetization activation back when nothing sold.
We will be watching how this lands and will continue adjusting.