We've got some changes around here. Formerly known as Talking Growth, this newsletter is getting renamed to Creator Crew to better fit in with other parts of the business.

Today's Highlights:

• MrBeast and Night Media get into the venture game.
• Facebook, Spotify, and Shopify CEOs discuss the creator economy.
• What would happen if Spotify acquired epidemic sounds?

📰Talking Creators

MrBeast’s management company, Night Media, has a new venture fund that’s backed by creators

Night Media, the management company behind MrBeast, ZHC, and other top YouTube just announced their move into the venture business with a debut fund of $20M.

The company hopes to grow and accelerate companies started by their talent roster while also investing in businesses they believe have the opportunity to scale.

This the beginning of a new trend where the VC firms of tomorrow might look more like talent agencies. If done correctly, talent agencies have multimedia distribution networks (e.g. the audience of the roster members) where they can leverage their talent roster's audience.

Source: Tech Crunch

The Press Club with Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook), Daniel Elk (CEO of Spotify), and Tobi Lütke (CEO of Shopify)

Some days there's a Clubhouse guru that makes you want to throw the app into the abyss of your iPhone. Other days, you decide to keep the app after hearing the top CEOs of popular consumer apps congregate and discuss the ever-evolving and opportunistic Creator Economy.

Josh Constine of SignalFire, and Clubhouses the Press Club, dove into the opportunities and ripple effects of the fast-growing creator economy will have on platforms and the future as a whole.
Source: Constine.Club

🤳Talking Social & Platforms

Creator economy founders spar as Gumroad raises $5M

Sahil, Founder and CEO of GumRoad, raised $6M in hours after a new SEC regulation passed which allows crowdfunding. Rather than go the VC route, creators, entrepreneurs, and investors scrambled at the opportunity to invest in one of the top companies powering the creator economy.
Source: Crunch Base

YouTube can now warn creators about copyright issues before videos are posted

Few moments of frustration can be matched like uploading a video to YouTube just for it to be flagged after the fact. To curb the feeling of wanting to send your computer through your 4th-floor walkup, YouTube announced the rollout of a new tool named, "Checks", which tells a creator prior to upload if their video contains copyrighted material and if it's compliant with advertising guidelines.
Source: The Verge

Clubhouse promises its accelerator participants either brand deals or $5K per month during the program

The platforms that prioritize creators will win the creator economy. Clubhouse success can be combined through a mixture of quarantine and stellar creators.

To drive continued growth while supporting creators, Clubhouse has announced various updates including monetization capabilities and their new accelerator program. The accelerator program will help with everything from equipment, guest booking services, babysitting, and anything a creator needs to be successful.

Clubhouse will also work to match creators with brand sponsors, but in the event that s creator isn't able to match with a brand, Clubhouse will pay $5k per month to the creator.
Source: Tech Crunch

Why Facebook is getting in the newsletter game  

Facebook wants in the newsletter game as they aim to compete with Twitters Revue and Substack. In a blog post entitled, "Supporting independent writers" the company announced their effort to help writers build and grow their business through a suite of tools for monetization, nurturing communities, and driving sales in-app.

It's a similar playbook being applied across platforms (e.g. Twitter, Instagram and TikTok) to give creators more ability to build and monetize their audience.

While Facebook's ties with media have been rocky to the say least, it'll be interesting to see how many creators leverage Facebook's expansion into the newsletter space.
Source:The Verge

☂️Talking Creator Drops

Soundtrack the world: M&A of Spotify x Epidemic

Fresh off a $450 million round of funding, Packy McCormick of Not Boring, dives into what would be possible if Spotify acquired Epidemic Sound. It's an impressive and thought-provoking take on how the acquisition would help unlock new growth for Spotify.

Source: Not Boring

🧨Talking Creator Marketing & Monetization

The Coming Era of Tokenized Essays
The old model where writers monetize via memberships and sponsorships is shifting with the rise of NFTs. In the post "The Coming Era of Tokenized Essays", Tom Critchlow highlights the potential new monetization models writers will be able to leverage through ownership and crowdsourced funding of essays.

Source: Tom Critchlow

🏄Things you want to know

• Does Amazon make more from ads than AWS?
• Super Nintendo World is officially open for business.
• Retail is betting on live streams.
• Kanye's road from $53 million in debt to a net worth of $6.6 billion?

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