India’s creator economy is booming, but the system around creators is still catching up. Multiple things are patchy, like the payment circles, inconsistent contracts, and many other things are works in progress. As the market is now personalizing, the agencies that put creators first are the ones that are going to be successful in the future. In this blog, let’s look at what is broken and what is changing.
01 Conventional Brand-First Agencies
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The traditional Indian influencer agency operated like a pipeline since its inception. Brands put in a request, and creators are sourced to fit the model. While this model is functional for simple campaigns, it creates a deeply problematic dynamic for the influencer as a creator and causes hindrances in multiple areas.
- Creators as Commodities: In this system, talent is often viewed as something interchangeable. The primary metric is reach, and not genuine connection. Creators are selected from a roster to fit a budget, leading to mismatched partnerships most of the time, which feel inauthentic to the audience.
- One-Time Partnerships: The business model is built on commissions from a brand deal. Meaning, brands prioritize multiple short-term partnerships instead of a longer partnership focused on growth. Pushing creators to accept deals that might dilute their brand equity for a quick paycheck.
- Creator Burnout: The creator is left to handle everything outside the deal, which is content strategy, production, editing, community management, and personal brand building. A talent management agency facilitates the deal, but the creator bears the full weight of the creative and operational burden, leading to burnout, which will affect their future projects.
- Lack of Vision: With no partner focused on their long-term trajectory, creators can get stuck, unable to explore new formats, diversify their income, and build a brand beyond their social media feed, which is what everyone is looking for in the current social media landscape.
02 The New Talent-First Agencies
A talent management agency flips the entire script. It operates on a simple system: if you build the creator’s brand into a powerful enterprise, the brands and opportunities will follow. This is more than just management; it’s a healthy growth partnership.
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- Strategic Architecture: A talent-first agency acts as a strategic architect. They help the creator define their brand, identify long-term goals, and build a roadmap to get there. A brand deal becomes a single tactic within this larger strategy, not the entire goal.
- The In-House Support: They understand that a creator’s time is best spent on creating. These agencies provide crucial infrastructure, from editing to graphic design and content writing, thus freeing the creator to focus on their genius zone.
- Income Diversification: Instead of relying solely on brand deals, a talent-first agency actively works to build multiple revenue streams for the creator. This includes launching merchandise, developing digital products like courses and e-books, and starting podcasts.
- Building Brand Equity: They act as smart decision makers for the creator’s brand, saying no to mismatched partnerships more often than they say “Yes”. They know that audiences’ trust is the most valuable asset, and refuse to compromise it for a short-term payout.
03 Queries Talent-first Agencies Must Solve
Talent-first agencies are the future when it comes to collaborations and brand building. But as always, there are a few pointers to keep in mind when understanding how brand collaborations work. Here are some of the main points that talent management agencies must keep in mind.
- Uncertain payments: Creators and small agencies bear cash-flow risks, and this will not only break trust in certain collaborations, but it will also stretch brand collaborations more than they were originally meant for. In today’s dynamic business world, no one likes wasting time, and the only thing most hated today is delayed payments.
- Opaque deals & rights: Creators often sign brand deals without clarity on how their content or likeness can be used, when, where, and for how long. Contracts may include vague wording like “perpetual worldwide rights” or grants for any future media format without additional consent or compensation. This means brands could repurpose posts for ads, billboards, or affiliate listings indefinitely, leaving creators with no visibility or ongoing control.
- Disclosure & legal gaps: In India, influencers are legally required to disclose paid promotions under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Violations could lead to penalties up to ?50 lakhs or even temporary bans. Yet, due to a lack of awareness, many creators fail to consistently mark #Ad or #Sponsored prominently, leading to risks for both themselves and partnering brands. Creators need training, templated tools for compliant captions, and agency-led audit systems.
- Regional mismatch: A paradox exists in India’s creator ecosystem: brands increasingly want regional reach in Tier 2–4 markets, which leads to 30–45% of campaign briefs now specifying regional content creators, reflecting that over 70% of digital users consume content in local languages. Yet discovery, pricing, and campaign execution in this market are hard to crack. There’s no single, trusted talent index for regional creators.
04 Why India Needs this
The sheer scale and velocity of the Indian creator market make this shift particularly urgent and are the need of the hour, especially for creators who take their job seriously.
- The Creator Pothole: Millions of talented creators in India are stuck in the creator pothole. They have a dedicated following but lack the resources or knowledge to turn it into a full-fledged career. A talent-first model is the only way to help provide this massive segment with the support.
- The Creator Landscape: As more creators enter the space, standing out requires exceptional content quality and a strong brand. If you are a creator who is still operating as a one-man army, it’s the best time to find an agency that supports you.
- The Creator Brand: The next wave of unicorns in India won’t just be tech companies; they will be creator-led brands. Building a brand or a media company requires a team, capital, and strategic expertise, and these are the very things a talent-first agency provides.
Conclusion
India doesn’t just need more influencer agencies; it needs talent-first ones, operations that protect creators’ cash flow, clarify rights, codify compliance, and nurture careers. When creators are treated as long-term partners (not gig inventory), brands get safer, smarter outcomes, and the ecosystem grows. The next wave of winners will be the agencies that build trust into their rails, transparent money flow, auditable rights, regional fluency, and measurable impact.
At Kalakaaar, we are helping aspiring influencers and content creators who want to collaborate solely with a talent-first agency. Whether you are somebody who is just starting or an established content creator, Kalakaaar will take care of all your needs and has ticked all the boxes mentioned in this blog. Connect with us to begin your journey!