$1 Billion

Last week we said we’d give a Publish hat to anyone who followed @ThePublishPress on Twitter. Congrats to @SabrinaStangler for the win, she’s now one of four people with the hat. This week Max is on vacation and Alice is recovering from England’s loss to Italy in the Euros, so Colin and Samir are filling in.

→ How creators can get a piece of Facebook’s billion dollar offer

→ What Nas Daily’s $11 million raise means for creator education

→ How a creator is using crypto to open source her voice

Creators can get paid to grow new audiences and test new features

In an effort to compete with YouTube and TikTok, Facebook announced plans to pay creators $1 billion before the end of 2022. The money will be distributed across Facebook and Instagram via a “bonus program," which will dole out funds to creators for using certain features and hitting various milestones. Sign up for Facebook’s in-stream video ads or go live with another account on Instagram and you’ll get a bonus payment.

On Reels, creators will see bonuses for performance just as they do via Snap’s Spotlight and the TikTok’s Creator Fund. A piece of the $1 billion dollar pie will go directly towards funding exclusive content from creators on some of Facebook's newest products, including: 

OUR TAKE

“Cool” is one of the most valuable currencies. TikTok and YouTube have it, and Facebook wants it. The billion dollar spend is an effort to regain relevance with creators in hopes that advertisers follow. From a creator’s perspective, the power of Facebook is in the groups and communities that are already thriving there. 1.8 billion people use groups every month with the help of over 70 million active admins. TLDR: Don't launch an audio room, a newsletter, or a podcast into obscurity, find the groups that are already there and create for them.

Creators are educating the next generation of creators 

According to a report from investment firm SignalFire, over 50 million people identify as creators. The path to 1 billion may be fueled by creator Nassir Yassin aka Nas Daily, whose startup Nas Academy just raised $11 million dollars with the goal of teaching people how to be creators. The platform helps creators build on-demand classes as well as live courses.

Nassir told TechCrunch “we think there are another 100,000 creators who will never get asked to make a MasterClass,” and “Internet skills are low in supply and high in demand.” As Nassir said in our interview with him, “we want to empower creators to become educators because knowledge is the only thing that increases when you give it away.” 

OUR TAKE

A lot of people with a lot of money have a vested interest in creating more creators. Nas Academy's clients already include corporations like Singapore Airlines and even government bodies, both of which are looking to work with creators to help build and share their narratives at scale. The $11 million shows that creators are capable of raising capital to shape the future of the creator economy as they see it.

A musician is using crypto to give ownership of her name and likeness to fans

Musician and composer Holly Herndon launched Holly+, a digital version of her name and likeness. She’s utilizing a new technology that allows fans and creators to make music and audio projects using her voice. All of the earnings that come from these new creations will be owned by the Holly+ DAO, a decentralized community of Holly+ token holders, and distributed amongst its members. 

OUR TAKE

Crypto is revolutionizing the relationship between creators and their communities by blurring the line between consumer and creator.

This week we released an episode of The Breakdown covering Call Her Daddy’s $60 million dollar deal with Spotify. Coming soon are interviews with TikTok creator Victoria Paris, musician Tai Verdes, and founder of Twitch, Justin Kan. Stay tuned and let us know what you think about us being back in the car.

Spotify’s subscription business relies on attracting new subscribers and keeping them paying longer. For reference, Spotify has about 158 million paying subscribers. Assuming they all pay $10, that’s $1.58 billion dollars a month. Shelling out $60 million over 3 years is a drop in the bucket.