TOGETHER WITH

It’s Monday and YouTube is saying goodbye to “Hello” (and other beloved Adele songs) as it goes head-to-head with the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers.

🗞️ Today’s News 🗞️

• 🎵 Indie artists take their music straight to TikTok

• ⚽ A soccer star attracts 700K subscribers with a new documentary

• 🚨 Streamers want answers after a wave of TwitchCon harassment

• 🎞️ The Tribeca Festival deepens its relationship with creators

• 🎙️ This week on the podcast…

MUSIC ECONOMY

25% of indie artists now post their music straight to TikTok—no label required

The report: According to MIDiA founder Mark Mulligan, record labels have shrunk to become “the smallest segment of the music creator economy”—and TikTok has a lot to do with that recession. MIDiA’s latest music economy report found that a full quarter of musicians now upload their songs directly to TikTok and other platforms, completely bypassing distributors, labels, and streaming services like Spotify.

The reasoning: Many of those artists fall into a segment Mulligan calls “the lockdown cohort”: the 50% of musicians who released music in 2023 without having at least five years’ experience in publishing songs. A good chunk of those creators got into making music while constrained by COVID, and—like their video creator counterparts—seem to prioritize the instancy and direct-to-fan connection of platforms like TikTok over the slower, less personalized process of traditional distribution.

That focus plays into what MIDiA describes as a growing dissatisfaction among creators with music streaming services. Part of that dissatisfaction is, of course, how little services like Spotify pay artists per stream, but royalties aren’t actually their main issue anymore. Instead, Mulligan says artists “are becoming critical of streaming’s ability to further their careers, focusing on the medium’s closed door between them and their fans.”

The context: TikTok isn’t the only fan/creator-focused platform drawing artists away from traditional distributors. YouTube and Twitch have also seen surges in content from musicians over the last few years—meaning record labels, distributors, and streaming services have a lot of work to do if they aim to woo back indie artists.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Applications for Artlist’s $100K Fund are now open. Are you ready to bring your wildest dream to life?

We all have that one passion project we’ve always wanted to create—but the opportunity to make it happen rarely comes along.

Until now.

As part of their mission to empower brands and creators, Artlist is relaunching its biggest creator fund ever—a once-in-a-lifetime grant that offers one visionary creator $100,000 to take their boldest idea from concept to reality. Artlist is seeking projects that represent authentic stories, unique perspectives, and the diverse world we live in. 

Last year’s winner, Sent Into Space, conquered outer space by filming the Northern Lights from 100,000 feet above Earth. What could you create with $100K?

It only takes 3 steps to find out:

1. Dream up your $100K concept. Will you finance the video of your dreams, launch a new YouTube channel, or accomplish something completely unique? Submit your wildest, craziest creative dream. Dare to go further.
   
   

2. Post a video about your big idea on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok—and keep your clip to 90 seconds tops.
   
   

3. Submit your application on the Artlist $100K Fund website.

Applications are open now until October 24. Hit the link below to get started:

Submit your $100K idea today →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Soccer star Jude Bellingham has attracted over 700,000 subscribers in less than a month after using his personal YouTube channel to distribute a documentary called Out of the Floodlights. (Tubefilter)
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• Fellow Meta-owned app Threads is taking a page out of Instagram’s book by allowing users to tag locations in their posts. (The Verge)

• A recent report from Backlinko found that 33% of U.S. weekly listeners now prefer to consume video podcasts. (Backlinko, Wired)
  
  

• Meta has followed X’s lead by blocking links to the leaked J.D. Vance dossier on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. (The Verge)

HAVE YOU HEARD? 👂

Have you heard? Streamers want answers after reports of harassment at TwitchCon

The column: Every week, we hunt down some of the hottest headlines in the creatorverse—and September’s final roundup is one to remember. Keep reading for info on the latest Kick fiasco, Meta’s creator chatbots becoming self-aware, and more.

Creator commotion: Reports of harassment and stalking at this year’s TwitchCon have triggered criticism of the Kick community from streaming bigwigs like Valkyrae and Tectone. Twitch star Felix “xQc” Lengyel—who was among those targeted at the con—wants Kick to mete out “real repercussions” for the troublemakers. Will the platform take action?

The biz: TikTok is proving to be a major moneymaker for Chili’s. Mukbang-style clips featuring the chain’s new appetizer (aka the Triple Dipper) reportedly accounted for 40% of its growth during the previous quarter.

Tech talk: Meta’s creator chatbots are becoming self-aware. At the Meta Connect event, the company revealed it’s adding generative video to the chatbots it’s building alongside creators, celebs, and public figures. We’re still skeptical that fans will be cool with an AI avatar replacing a human creator on messaging apps, but these developments have the potential to automate repetitive interactions.

Check out the full column here to find out why TikTok is making moves in South Korea and discover the identity of Simu Liu’s favorite streamer.

FESTIVAL CIRCUIT

The Tribeca Festival is introducing its very first Creators Forum

The program: Something new is coming to Tribeca Festival. The 2025 edition of Tribeca Film’s annual event will include a Creators Forum featuring talks, roundtables, and networking opportunities designed to support influencer filmmakers. Those offerings will be spearheaded by industry leaders, indie hitmakers, and innovators, who will touch on topics that bridge the gap between the social media world and Hollywood, as well as festival strategy and distribution.

Tribeca says the “broader filmmaking community” will be served by the new forum, which will span multiple days during the June 4-15 festival:

The context: This isn’t the first time Tribeca Film has presented itself as a support system for creators. The production house’s Digital Creators Market opened doors for YouTubers like Grace Helbig and Jon Cozart following its 2016 debut, and emerging formats like short-form video and VR have also been embraced by the festival. Several films related to the creator landscape have also held their premieres at Tribeca, with Alex Winter’s 2022 documentary, The YouTube Effect, being the most recent.

Check out the Tribeca Festival website for more details on ticketing and the 2025 event.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

YouTube's Global Head of Creators Tells All: This week’s special guest is Kim Larson, a ten-year Google vet who took on the role of YouTube’s Global Head of Creators in 2022.

Check out the latest episode of Creator Upload on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to hear Larson weigh in on YouTube’s latest features—nine of which were announced at September’s Made On conference. Also on the pod: everything revealed at this year’s Meta Connect event.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.