Welcome back to the third public issue of The Publish Press. Colin and I have been reading through your feedback and want to open the doors for all of you to submit stories to the team. If you have a story, tweet it at us @ColinandSamir. Today our resident Gen-Z expert Alice is back to cover three creators who are building longevity with their careers and scaling far beyond their content.

Enjoy and hit reply with your feedback.

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ How to build the biggest song in the world with Bella Poarch

→ Addison Rae swaps the for you page for the podcast small screen 

→ Emma Chamberlain gives us a lesson in setting up shop 

Bella Poarch Makes TikTok History

The third most-followed TikToker makes her musical debut with mega collabs

With 68 million followers in 13 months, Bella Poarch is the third most-followed person on TikTok behind only Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae. She holds the title for the most-liked TikTok of all time, creating one of the biggest trends of 2020 with her M to the B lipsync.  

Now, Bella has turned her attention to music, with the release of her debut single, Build a B*tch. On the day of its launch, the song featuring creators like Valkyrae, Bretman Rock, ZHC and Mia Khalifa became the most-watched music video on global YouTube. Context is important here: Bella released on the same day as Dixie D’Amelio and Olivia Rodrigo, smashing the viewership of both artists. As of today on YouTube, Dixie’s single F*ckboy has 4.5 million views, Olivia’s Good 4 U has 28 million, and Bella’s Build A B*tch has 54 million.

So, how did Bella do it?

• Friends In High Places → Bella spent the past year cultivating relationships with artists like Tyga and Justin Bieber, who saw the value in her platform as a vehicle for promotion. These TikTok cameos provided the perfect segue for Bella’s own music career. She essentially built a hit radio station as a music curator and then used the platform to top charts herself. 

• TikTok Tastemaker → When it comes to distribution, Bella used the TikTok tactic of promoting a snippet of the song weeks before its official release. She’s managed over half a billion views from her TikToks alone. With this ‘head start’, the audio for Build a B*tch has already soundtracked more than 800,000 videos on the platform. 

Our Take 

Future creators will follow in Bella’s footsteps by building recognition through creator partnerships, ahead of going solo. By going into music, Bella and creators like here are developing formats that can be consumed an infinite amount of times by audiences. Ten years from now her fans may not be watching her 2021 TikToks, but they very well may be listening to Build a B*tch.

Addison Rae Launches Video Podcast with Spotify

Why you should care about Addison’s latest venture into podcasting

With 123 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Addison has the midas touch when it comes to being a Gen Z media mogul. After co-founding a beauty company, entering the music industry, and starring in a Hollywood movie, Addison is making headlines again with her podcast That Was Fun? The show is a rebrand of her Spotify exclusive podcast Mama Knows Best, and features celeb guests and a behind-the-scenes look into Addison’s life. But there’s a key difference: the relaunch will be blessing our ears and eyes, featuring a video version of the pod.

So, is Addison setting the creator blueprint for the future of podcasting?

• Format Favors The Bold → Addison’s graduation to video podcast feels indicative of fans’ increasing appetite to get unfiltered access to stars who normally share 15 seconds at a time. Using this format, creators can build deeper connections with true fans.

• Co-stars To Co-Sign → Addison’s rebrand marks a departure from teen-creator and gives a front row seat to her navigating Hollywood as a twenty-something. Plus, the new format gives Addison the opportunity to collab with the biggest names on the internet right now, including TikToker Avani Gregg and singer Olivia O’Brien, who wrote Dixie D’Amelio’s latest single. How long until we see Kourtney Kardashian on the pod.

Our Take 

We see it like this: video + audio is the ‘two birds with one stone’ strategy when it comes to owning your narrative and connecting with true fans. Addison’s move into video podcasting, with backing from Spotify, barely scratches the surface of where this format could take us, especially considering podcast revenue is predicted to hit $2 billion by 2023.

Central Perks With Emma Chamberlain’s Coffee Pop-up

Emma Chamberlain delivers the goods with her LA coffee pop-up

This weekend YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s direct-to-consumer coffee brand hosted its first pop-up store on Melrose Avenue in LA. Launched in 2019, Chamberlain Coffee has grown alongside its founder, who recently surpassed 10 million subscribers on YouTube. Photos on Twitter showed a line that wrapped around the corner.

• Drinking The Kool Aid → If we’re talking about influencers ~influencing~, Emma is at the top of her game. Chamberlain Coffee represents an extension of her relatable lifestyle brand. Emma and coffee are inextricably linked, with Chamberlain Coffee making a cameo in every single video on her channel. If a fan wants to be like Emma, buying her coffee is the inevitable first step.

• These Beans Ain’t Loyal → With Gen Z loyalty for legacy brands at an all time low, there’s a huge gap for creators like Emma to jump in and disrupt the market. Her young fans haven’t declared their coffee allegiance just yet and could become lifetime buyers.  

Our Take 

Content drives commerce. Imagine if back in the 90’s Friends opened up Central Perk coffee shops on every corner. The show could end, but the shops would live on. When MrBeast Burger launched, it made a splash with 300 locations nationwide in the US, on par with Shake Shack and In-N-Out. Chamberlain Coffee is well positioned to dominate as an experience-based brand, just as the world opens back up for IRL creator activations. Creator-led tours, meet-ups, concerts and even hotels may be coming to a city near you. Some may like it hot, but we’ll take ours iced with a splash of oat. 

🔥 In Other News

• Emily Ratajkowski’s NFT sells for $175K at Christie’s

• Kebab anyone? Nick Antonyan (aka “Jonah from the Vlog Squad”) opens a restaurant in North Hollywood

• Gucci partners with Roblox for digital items and experiences 

• Twitch adds Localized Pricing

• Fox embraces crypto

• Hulu teases D’Amelio reality show