A player-centric content creation, distribution and consumption method is disclosed. A computer implemented-content authoring tool (CI-CAT) is distributed to a content creator. The CI-CAT includes an identification function for embedding control information, such as a content owner identifier, in a content created using the CI-CAT, to facilitate compensation of a developer of the CI-CAT. A computer implemented-content player (CI-CP) is provided to a consumer. The CI-CP includes a recovery function for recovering the control information from the content when the content is rendered by the player, and a reporting function for reporting rendering of the content using the recovered control information. During operation, the content is received by the consumer, and rendered using the CI-CP. The control information is recovered, and rendering of the content, using the recovered control information, is reported by the CI-CP, to facilitate compensating the developer(s) of the CI-CAT.