What Is a Pre-Information Market?
June 2, 2026
A pre-information market is a market on a creative work before it is public, where capital moves first: creators publish locked content, bonders stake confidence, and backers fund release.
Pieces is the pre-information market for locked digital content. A pre-information market is a market on a creative work that exists before the work is public. Capital moves first: creators publish locked content, bonders stake confidence, and backers fund release.
Why the category exists
The internet broke the economics of selling information. The moment something can be seen or heard, one person with a download button can copy it forever. So creators give the work away and try to monetize attention later through ads, streams, or sponsorships.
A pre-information market inverts the order. Instead of release, then hope to get paid, it is get funded, then release. The work does not exist publicly until a crowd funds it, so it cannot leak or be pirated in advance, and the creator captures value up front.
The three roles
A pre-information market needs three kinds of participants, and Pieces gives each a clear role:
- Creators lock a Piece with a funding goal, a deadline, and a kickback percentage. Get paid if it funds, or it stays sealed, never released for free.
- Bonders stake a bond on a Piece they believe in, up to a fixed bond target. The bigger your share of the pool, the bigger your share of the kickback when it funds. Their stake also signals confidence that the Piece will fund.
- Backers fund the goal to unlock the content. If it funds they get the content; if it does not, they get every dollar back plus a share of the forfeited bonds.
Why it is a market, not just a store
In a plain content store, a price is just a price. In a pre-information market, the bond pool and the backing on a Piece are a live, money-weighted signal of how much people want the work to exist before it is released. Supporters who stand behind a creator help fund the release, and backers can use that signal to decide what to fund. The result is real demand for creative work that has not been released yet, which is something the old internet never had.
This is the foundation under everything on Pieces: the dominant assurance contract is the settlement mechanism, and it is what makes the pre-information market possible.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pre-information market? +
A pre-information market is a market on a piece of information or creative work that exists before that work is made public. Capital moves before the content is public: creators publish locked content, bonders stake confidence in its outcome, and backers fund its release. Pieces is the pre-information market for locked digital content.
What are the three roles in a pre-information market? +
Creators publish locked content with a funding goal, supporters (bonders) stake money to stand behind the creator, and backers fund the goal to unlock the work. If it funds, the content is released publicly and the creator is paid.
What does Pieces mean by capital moving before content is public? +
It means a creator can be paid for work before releasing it. The work stays sealed and uncopyable until backers fund a goal, so the creator captures value up front instead of giving the content away.