TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and a theater in the U.K. has put out a statement reminding A Minecraft Movie viewers that they will be ejected from the premises if they engage in “antisocial behavior.” If theater operators think that loudly shouting memes is bad, wait until they hear about Dream SMP.

Today’s News

TWITCH DRAMA

Twitch users want refunds after paying for subscriptions to banned accounts

The problem: Twitch has run into an issue at the intersection of its moderation efforts and its subscription system. After several users noticed that they were still being charged for subscriptions to banned accounts, the Amazon-owned hub started sending out refunds to aggrieved customers.

Streamers who receive a ban on Twitch cannot use their accounts for as long as they remain banned. According to the platform’s terms of service, any permanent bans result in a loss of monetization for the offending creator, so subscriptions are supposed to stop autorenewing after the sentence is handed down.

The findings: A report from Dexerto uncovered multiple instances in which Twitch appeared to change for subscriptions to accounts that had already been permabanned. That’s what happened with a streamer named Tempest in 2022, and Incoxicated noticed a similar phenomenon at the start of this year.

When asked about those discrepancies, a Twitch spokesperson said that Tempest and Incoxicated were “edge cases” the platform would “quickly resolve.” Sure enough, some Twitch users have already received emails notifying them that they would be fully refunded for the errant subscriptions.

The findings: The internet-famous lawyer Attorney Tom believes this story is far from over. He says that Twitch engaged in “deceptive trade practice” by continuing to split subscription revenue with banned creators. He said that a class action lawsuit can be expected “very shortly.”

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Today’s major reveal: The next big thing in music management and distribution just dropped

Introducing Enterprise AI Solutions for Music Companies: a new AI offering designed to revolutionize content creation, audience growth, fan engagement, and rights management. 

Announced by global industry leader RHEI, the solution draws its power from Made—a first-of-its-kind AI platform that equips music companies, labels, and artists with AI agents capable of producing high-quality content, optimizing metadata, curating predictive playlists, and more.

RHEI’s AI solutions are already delivering transformational results for some of the industry’s biggest labels:

• 291% Growth in Monthly Revenue: RHEI’s AI optimization strategies have led to triple-digit revenue increases for niche-focused music channels.
  
  

• 3.7x More Views Per Viewer: Audience-first channels have built habitual viewership and stronger fan connections.
  
  

• Tens of Billions of Views Generated: RHEI’s AI solutions have dramatically expanded reach for artists across multiple genres. 

RHEI’s Enterprise AI Solutions will allow music companies to scale like never before, bridging the gap between artists and fans.

Learn more about Enterprise →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• It’s not all bad news for Twitch this week. The Amazon-owned hub has been dropped from a lawsuit filed by X over alleged anticompetitive practices in the ad sector. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Ethan Klein of h3h3productions will have to face defamation allegations after his attempt to throw out a suit filed by Triller backer Ryan Kavanaugh was struck down. (Dexerto)
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• If you’d like to escape to the metaverse while 35,000 feet in the air, Meta is bringing Quest headsets to more airlines. I wouldn’t recommend playing Flight Simulator, though. (Road to VR)
  
  

• TikTok Shop vendors can now sell authenticated, pre-owned sneakers. Come get your kicks! (Social Media Today)

STREAM TEAM

Vimeo is becoming a one-stop shop for creator subscription services

The product: Say hello to Vimeo Streaming, a turnkey subscription service builder that is already powering some of the world’s top creators.

Vimeo Streaming users can build multiple tiers into their streaming services to put premium content and other perks behind paywalls. Additional features include piracy protection, analytics, and AI translations.

So far, Vimeo Streaming has been applied on more than 5,400 apps, generating $429 million in annual revenue. Notable users include The Try Guys and the Dropout crew.

The history: Vimeo has operated a few different subscription-based products in the past, including early 2010s hub Vimeo On Demand and the Vimeo OTT product that emerged from the platform’s acquisition of VHX.

Across those efforts, Vimeo has encountered a recurring question: How does a platform known for its artist-friendly qualities turn on the monetization faucet without forsaking its identity?

The current era: Now is the right time for Vimeo to bring a subscription service builder for the creator economy. Influencers are making Hollywood inroads on streaming hubs and selling their premium content at upfront presentations. Many of them are looking to level up — and that’s where Vimeo Streaming comes in.

WATCH THIS 📺

CoryxKenshin is America’s next top mangaka

The author: CoryxKenshin returned from a YouTube hiatus with a big announcement: He wrote a manga. The gamer born Cory DeVante Williams has now released the graphic novel, titled Monsters We Make, and it’s putting up some eye-popping sales figures.

Monsters We Make sold 200,000 physical copies during its first week on the market. To put that in perspective, One Piece–one of the most popular Japanese manga of all time–sold 1.9 million copies in the United States through all of 2023 (for an average of 158,000 copies per month). Clearly, the creator is off to a promising start.

You can check out a trailer for Monsters We Make via the CoryxKenshin channel.

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