This Week's Creator Economy News

Instagram Ends Plans For IG Kids

The pressure from Congress, its users, and the world at large couldn't be a reason why Facebook-owned Instagram is taking the gas pedal off of its planned app specifically for kids.

Considering their own research that's been recently leaked, we'll just say "Bravo"

Facebook is ‘pausing’ work on Instagram kids app after widespread criticism

“It’s clear we need to take more time with this.”

The VergeJames Vincent

TikTok Wants to Help Pair Creators with Brands…And Make More Ad Money

“TikTok executives announced new initiatives meant to persuade companies and ad agencies to buy space on the app during its first-ever TikTok World event on Tuesday, a virtual presentation aimed at the marketing industry. The company said it was introducing an automated system to act as a kind of matchmaker, bringing together advertisers and content creators, giving TikTok a better opportunity to catch up with other social media companies that have generated greater ad revenue.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/business/media/tiktok-advertising.html

Reading List

Twitch Inks Deal with Warner Music Group

Music Industry Moves: Dance-Music Livestreamer Boiler Room Acquired by Dice; Columbia Ups Erika Alfredson and Jay Schumer

Dice, the London-based music-discovery and ticketing platform, has acquired the long-running and influential dance and electronic music livestreaming platform, Boiler Room, which over the past deca…

VarietyJem Aswad

Clubhouse Announces Room Recording and Clipping Features

Clubhouse is giving hosts more editing control with their rooms. With clips, live listeners will be able to extract the last 30 seconds of audio and share it anywhere. Hosts will be able to control whether clipping is allowed. It’s only available in beta to select creators right now so Clubhouse can better understand use cases and avoid any negative issues.

In October, a replay feature will become available so hosts and moderators can record their rooms. Saved recordings will be displayed in a user’s profile.

Clubhouse adds clips, replays for asynchronous listening, better search and spatial audio for Android – TechCrunch

Clubhouse announced today that it is unveiling four new features: Clips, Replay, Universal Search and spatial audio for Android (which already exists on iOS). All of these features will launch today, except for Replay, which will roll out in October. These additions will help expand Clubhouse&#8217…

TechCrunchAmanda Silberling

Clubhouse Creators Need Cash

A report by The Verge shines a light on some of the challenges that once-darling social audio platform Clubhouse has been experiencing. As the article notes, Clubhouse has failed to help materialize any meaningful attention, and more importantly, revenue for the creators in its inaugural “Creator First” program and all Clubhouse creators at large.

This shines a light on three eternal truths:

Cash is and always will be king when trying to divert someone’s time and resources
New formats bring new challenges and Clubhouse still hasn’t figured out how to monetize its format
Execution is all that matters in starts and they’ve continued to move slower than molasses for no apparent reason

Clubhouse needs creators, but creators need cash

Where are the brand deals?

The VergeAshley Carman

Patreon Making Investment in Original Content

"The company is dedicating a significant portion of its most recent investment round to finance original programming for the first time. Patreon’s plans, which haven’t been previously reported, include courting podcasters, video game livestreamers, YouTubers, and major celebrities such as Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez to make content that will appear live on Patreon before showing up elsewhere.”

Chief Executive Jack Conte believes fans will want a single platform that not only lets them run their media business but also publish the content they create.

Patreon to roll out tools to help its adult creators meet Mastercard’s new standards – TechCrunch

Remember when OnlyFans said it would ban explicit content, putting its creators’ livelihoods in jeopardy, then suspended that ban less than a week later? Even though Patreon’s guidelines on adult content are far more limited than those for OnlyFans, the changing standards of credit card…

TechCrunchAmanda Silberling

TikTok Launches First Creator-Led NFT Collection

TikTok’s Top Moments is a collection of NFTs that are produced by TikTokkers and inspired by the trending videos that they create. “TikTok NFTs provide a way for creators to be recognized and rewarded for their content, and for fans to own a culturally-significant moment on TikTok.” These NFTs are available on Ethereum and powered by Immutable X.

Some known personalities on TikTok’s Top Moments include Lil Nas X, Rudy Willingham, Bella Poarch, Curtis Roach, Brittany Broski, FNMeka, Jess Marciante and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Proceeds will largely go directly to the creators and NFT artists involved, providing TikTok and NFT fans and enthusiasts with a way to show support to the creators they love. TikTok will not take any proceeds of the sale. Some fees will be paid to Immutable X and the Museum of the Moving Image, which hosts the NFTs.

TikTok launches first creator-led NFT collection

Featuring Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch, Brittany Broski, Curtis Roach, and more Inspired by the creativity and innovation of the TikTok creator community, we’re exploring the world of NFTs as a new creator

TikTokTikTok

Koji Launches NFT Apps

Koji, a friend of the show and rapid innovator in the creator-deployed tools space, has launched its own Web3 stack enabling developers and creators alike to deploy their own wallet-based applications.

Affirm Plans a Crypto Card; Koji Launches NFT Apps

Affirm, the largest U.S. firm dedicated to “buy now, pay later” online loans, is planning to release a debit card that will allow consumers to hold and earn interest on cryptocurrencies, CEO Max Levchin said at an investor presentation Tuesday.The offering would bring Affirm up to speed with ...

The InformationHannah Miller

Unlock Protocol Raises from Guardian Owner

Unlock is working to tokenize communities for creators. We look forward to having Amber Case, one of their advisors, on later this month so tune in!

Guardian owner invests in Unlock, an NFT protocol designed for subscriptions and memberships – TechCrunch

Monetization for the creator economy continues to be a huge issue and opportunity, but creators mostly have to lock themselves into platforms like Patreon to realize their value. A better method would be to have a membership system for creators which sat across several platforms. Now, GMG Ventures …

TechCrunchMike Butcher

XRP Token Maker Ripple Launches $250 Million Creator Fund

Ripple’s new fund will invest in NFT digital artists and developers. The company is in discussion with NFT marketplaces and creative agencies to figure out who will have first access to Ripple’s Creative Fund.

Ripple Joins NFT Boom With Launch of $250M Creator Fund - Decrypt

Ripple is betting on XRP Ledger’s sustainability and lower transaction costs to open up new opportunities in the NFT space.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

Twitter’s First Experiment for NFT Verification Revealed

Twitter Shares Sneak Peek of Its Ethereum NFT Verification - Decrypt

Twitter verification is coming for NFTs. An engineer with the company has shared early, experimental glimpses of the feature.

DecryptJeff Benson

Deep Dive

This week we took a deep dive into the emerging creator marketplaces and how they stack up.

How Creator Marketplaces From Social Networks Stack Up

For more than a decade, when advertisers wanted to reach the young audiences of popular internet personalities, they reached out to marketing agencies to broker deals or just contacted the creators directly. In the past two years, TikTok, Snap and Instagram have stepped into the fray, rolling ...

The InformationKaya Yurieff