Why We're Building ROOT: A New Creative Infrastructure for a New Creative Era

For years, artists have been circling the same questions:

How do I fund the work, make the work, and actually share the work without giving away ownership or the long-term value?

And underneath all of it:

How do I build a sustainable practice inside a system that was never built for me in the first place?

At Starfish, we've heard variations of this across disciplines and generations. After five years of listening, piloting, and building, it became impossible to ignore a simple truth:

Artists don't just need opportunities. They need infrastructure.

Infrastructure that is artist-owned, values-aligned, regenerative, and capable of supporting the way creative work actually circulates today.

That is why we're building ROOT with our partners at Number 0, an open-source framework that reimagines the entire lifecycle of creative work from the first dollar raised to the last ripple of impact.

The Problem We're Solving

Traditional models are collapsing.

Platforms extract value before artists see a cent.

Algorithms distort visibility.

Gatekeepers decide who gets through the door.

The bottleneck isn't creativity.

It's the systems around it.

Instead of patching old pipelines, we asked a different question:

What if every project had its own infrastructure? Its own path to funding, sharing, and sustaining itself?

ROOT is our answer.

ROOT: Each Project Becomes Its Own World

Built on Number 0's lightweight, energy-efficient IROH peer-to-peer technology, ROOT allows artists to publish their work through a dedicated custom mobile app. One project, one world.

Inside that world, everything lives in one place:

• funding 

• collaboration 

• distribution 

• long-term value sharing

The artist sets the terms: how value flows, how collaborators participate, and how the work grows over time. It transforms distribution from extraction into a more transparent and collaborative process.

Digital Editions: A New Funding Layer Built Into the System

Digital Editions are ROOT's built-in revenue engine. They allow supporters, collectors, and early believers to take part at the beginning of the creative process, not years later when the system takes its cut.

A simple example:

A supporter can buy a Digital Edition for $50–$500, and that contribution doesn't just fund the work. It gives them a stake in its future, with transparent revenue sharing built in from day one.

This keeps value circulating within the project rather than disappearing into platform margins. It cuts structural waste and strengthens the relationship between artists and their communities.

Who ROOT Is For

ROOT is built for:

• artists working outside traditional systems 

• hybrid and experimental makers whose work doesn't sit neatly on existing platforms 

• technologists building tools that serve artists rather than extract from them 

• cultural workers designing new ways for art, audiences, and value to connect 

• philanthropic partners committed to resilient, regenerative creative infrastructure

It gives creators a way to fund, release, and sustain their work without surrendering ownership or autonomy.

A Censorship-Resistant, Climate-Conscious Alternative

ROOT grows through trust, community, and direct relationships rather than algorithmic manipulation. It is also significantly more energy-efficient than centralized streaming.

It proves that creative distribution can be aligned with ecological responsibility and artist sovereignty.

Where We Are Now and What Comes Next

We are refining the prototype, building the open-source toolkit, and assembling a braintrust of artists, cultural strategists, technologists, and philosophers to pressure-test the system before the 2026 rollout.

Near-term work includes:

• smart-contract automation for revenue sharing 

• a streamlined interface for simple artist adoption 

• pilot projects with Starfish creators and aligned partners 

• community guidelines grounded in reciprocity rather than extraction 

• long-term maintenance to ensure ROOT is durable and future-proof

This is intentional system-building, not a quick fix.

Why We're Doing This

The current creative economy forces artists into a false choice: visibility without ownership or ownership without sustainability. That is not a real choice.

ROOT exists to make that false choice irrelevant.

It is a system where artists can:

• make work on their own terms 

• share it on their own terms 

• sustain it on their own terms

This reflects Starfish's broader mission. We are not preserving what is dying. We are building what must grow.

Join Us

Artists, technologists, philosophers 

Apply to test the ROOT Beta or join the 2026 ROOT braintrust. 

Funders

Join our current philanthropic partners and support the development of this infrastructure. 

Stay Updated 

Sign up for ROOT development updates and the 2026 launch.