Good morning. Every Friday, we share a creator-made read, watch, and listen as a thank you to everyone who pressed publish this week.

As a special treat, I wanted to share my non-creator version → 

Read the lyrics for Remi Wolf’s new album Mud, watch the music videos for Remi Wolf’s new album Mud, and listen to Remi Wolf’s new album Mud.

— Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

For the first time ever, creators are being recognized as small businesses by the federal government. Yesterday, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) provided clearer guidance for creators to receive government-backed programs and financing, including loans, contracts, and disaster relief funding.

Behind the change: 

What this means for creators: Loans backed by the SBA generally have lower interest rates, giving creators less risky options when growing their businesses. Beyond the numbers, it’s another step towards legitimizing the creator economy as an industry. 

“This is amazing for middle class creators, which is the vast majority of the creator economy,” Avi Gandhi, chair of government advocacy at the Creators Guild of America, told us. “MrBeast is never going to take an SBA loan, but every single person at The Lighthouse could.”

Yesterday, the Walt Disney Company announced a comprehensive partnership with sports creator group Dude Perfect.

Under the deal, select Dude Perfect videos will be distributed through Disney+. The two companies will also collaborate on live events and consumer products.

Dude Perfect is expected to produce original content inspired by Disney franchises and major events, including the Super Bowl, Star Wars' 50th anniversary, and Avengers: Doomsday.

How we see it: This summer, Dude Perfect’s Squad Games tour sold 180K tickets and grossed $11.4M. The group’s ability to turn its online audience into paying customers across content, merch, and live events makes it a natural fit for Disney’s entertainment business.

Sponsored by Microsoft

Every creator has a day when an edit starts coming undone.

Maybe your export freezes at 98% because the laptop drive is full. Or your battery is dying and the charger’s left at home.

Microsoft created a powerful new device to tackle these headaches. Meet the Surface Laptop Ultra.

With upgradeable SSD storage, work locally and lean less on costly cloud subscriptions.  Multitask between cutting footage and designing thumbnails thanks to up to 128 GB of unified memory.

Nowhere near an outlet? On battery, the Surface Laptop Ultra averaged 99.6% of its plugged-in speed during Microsoft’s tests.

Give your edit the horsepower it deserves. Buy the Surface Laptop Ultra, available now at Microsoft.com or select retailers worldwide.

Creators don’t need huge audiences to make money from brand deals. Just ask film creator Shua Buhangin.

With 20K YouTube subscribers, he’s landed partnerships with Epidemic Sound, Insta360, and Nomatic. Over the last two years alone, he estimates he’s earned $20K–$40K from brand deals.

Here’s how he does it:

He treats story as king. Storytelling is central to Buhangin’s content, whether it’s sponsored or not.

In a recent video, he explores the struggle of staying authentic in an era of hyper-processed photos and videos. To make it happen, Buhangin partnered with a software company that brings the analog aesthetic of film to digitally created content. 

“It feels like people want to connect emotionally with audiences as well,” Buhangin said. “I think that’s why some of the brands reach out to me.”

He charges more for usage rights. Buhangin charges an additional 15% on top of his standard rate for companies that want to syndicate his content through ads. 

He also negotiates how long brands can use his content and requires approval for any re-edits to his footage.

“If you’re thinking about yourself as a brand, you really want to protect your business reputation,” Buhangin said.

Big picture: Brands that partner with Buhangin buy craft rather than reach. For nano, micro, and even mid-size creators, being a good partner can look like demonstrating value in other ways, such as a distinct storytelling style. Buhangin’s story can be a reminder to not sell yourself short when pitching brands.

*Publish partner content

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.