Good morning. Music review site Pitchfork is launching a subscription service for the first time, allowing users to rate and review albums for $5 per month.

But no need to pull out your credit card—if you want to fight about who has superior music taste, just reply to this email and Syd will do it for free.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Teen entertainment creator Alan Chikin Chow is launching an original scripted series on Netflix.

Context: Chow—whose YouTube channel, Alan’s Universe, boasts 99 million subscribers and 59 billion views—announced a partnership with entertainment company HYBE America last April to find talent across YouTube Shorts. The resulting series, originally set to launch on Chow’s YouTube channel, is now debuting on Netflix as a continuation of the Alan’s Universe brand. 

Worth noting: HYBE America led the formation of the international girl group KATSEYE, and the Korean branch of HYBE created K-pop groups like BTS and NewJeans. 

“With a proven visionary like Alan, who is at the forefront of the creator ecosystem, we’re setting out to produce a groundbreaking series that expands audiences, possibilities, and how fandom is built from day one,” James Shin, HYBE America’s president of film and television, told Variety. 

Chow will produce, showrun, direct, and star in the series, which centers around an aspiring group of K-pop artists.

Big picture: Netflix has displayed an increased interest in creators—like its partnership with Mark Rober and foray into podcasts. Given the explosive success of KPop Demon Hunters (with 325 million all-time views), Netflix is bringing together two popular verticals (creators and K-pop) with the series.

Finance education creator Hannah Williams recently sold her business, Salary Transparent Street (STS), to media company NowThis in a seven-figure deal.

Catch up quick: Over the past four years, Williams built an audience of over 2 million by interviewing strangers about their salaries. Beyond short-form video, STS expanded into a podcast, job site, and salary database—all designed to increase pay transparency.

Why sell now? Williams said priorities shifted as the business grew. “A couple years ago, I would’ve said ownership was incredibly important, but I think now more than ever, creator support is what’s needed to sustain a life in the creator economy,” Williams told us. As CEO and head of brand partnerships, she was stretched thin and wanted to refocus on content.

The fine print →

With NowThis handling production and ad sales, the duo can focus full-time on content while supervising NowThis original programming.

“Before the sale, I was doing 90% of our brand partnerships,” Williams said. “Now we have a dedicated sales team that can help us better monetize and scale.”

Zoom out: Creators are often likened to athletes— high-output, high-performance, short careers. But partnerships with larger media companies can offer longevity. For Williams and other creator-media collaborations like Macy Gilliam and Dan Toomey with Morning Brew, the infrastructure and backing of a larger brand can unlock a more sustainable future.

Today, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan outlined his priorities for the platform in the year ahead. 

Here’s what creators need to know →

Deepening streams of revenue. YouTube is improving its creator partnerships hub for brands to connect with creators and promoting “fan funding features” like subscriptions and gifting.

Prioritizing education while keeping kids and teens safe. “Our goal is to ensure YouTube remains a place for exploration while empowering parents to guide the journey,” Mohan wrote. YouTube recently rolled out AI-powered age verification to some users and has plans to expand the program over time.

Building stronger AI transparency. Mohan encourages AI use in both long- and short-form content (from auto-dubbing to generative tools), but he said that YouTube will encourage correct labeling of AI content and improve its likeness detection feature so creators can control whether AI videos of them appear on the platform.