Good morning. Thank you to everyone who replied to our Wednesday edition to let us know that Callux was technically the first creator to drop an original sneaker.

It inspired us to learn all about creators and footwear. Did you know Rhett and Link released their own Mythical Shoe in 2010? We unearthed that and a whole lot more right here.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Spotify Reveals TikTok Lookalike "Discovery" Feeds

In what Spotify has labeled its “greatest app evolution yet,” the company has revamped the homepage on its mobile app—prioritizing TikTok-inspired vertical “discovery” feeds for music and podcasts.

Read the room: The move, which was announced at Spotify’s Stream On event Wednesday, appears to signal its commitment to strengthening its tools for music and podcast creators.

Spotify also unveiled a redesigned podcast dashboard, a partnership with Patreon that lets patrons listen to paywalled content on Spotify, and a deal with Markiplier that will see his Go! My Favorite Sports Team and Distractible podcasts launch video versions exclusively on Spotify.

"We’ve found that the next generation of listeners craves better ways to sample audio before fully diving in," the company said of its new tools. Prior experiments with the platform’s Canvas video format—the short, looping video clips that run while music plays in the app—have increased streams, shares, saves, and adds, Spotify said.

Here’s what the new discovery feed looks like:

The podcast feed will look similar, with previews featuring video and audio snippets and real-time transcriptions.

Some context: 

• Last month, we covered how Spotify is building advertising technology similar to YouTube’s AdSense in a bid to become the go-to distribution platform for any and all podcasters.

• With this new vertical feed, Spotify is doubling down on its efforts to improve creator discovery—it’s no coincidence that the feed mimics TikTok’s FYP, creators’ most effective tool for finding new audiences.

• The vertical feed is also a new surface for ads, a feature in keeping with Spotify’s expected ambition to boost revenue sharing with creators down the line.

Big picture: While Spotify has struggled to define its original content strategy—and faces strong challengers in YouTube and TikTok when it comes to music and podcast discovery—its recent moves suggest that Spotify is cooling its massive spend on big names in favor of reinvesting in tools for audio creators of all sizes.

Anthony Padilla Signs Caroline Klidonas to YouTube Development Deal

This week, Pressalike Productions, the production company founded by long-time YouTuber Anthony Padilla, signed comedy creator Caroline Klidonas to a YouTube development deal reportedly worth nearly six figures.

Why Klidonas?

Over the last three years, Klidonas has built an engaged following by sharing comedy skits with her nearly 400,000 TikTok followers and 4,000 YouTube subscribers.

Pressalike’s investment will allow her to go full-time into content creation, providing her with 1) working capital to create more long-form video and 2) content strategy insights from Padilla and the Pressalike team.

Zoom out: Padilla is among a growing number of established creators mentoring the next generation. Streamer SypherPK’s Oni Studios recently signed up-and-coming Fornite streamer Reckz to help build out his gaming content, and Jay Shetty’s House of 1212 talent agency is investing in wellness and “purpose-driven” creators.

Would you want to grow your career working with another creator? Colin and Samir shared their insights on what it’s like to work for YouTubers in this recent episode of Creator Support.

Sponsored by Creator Empires

How this YouTuber Built a 6-Figure Online Education Business in 3 Months

Arieh Smith—aka Xiaomanyc—amassed over 5M YouTube subscribers through his engaging videos, exploring the world as a polyglot who has studied dozens of languages.

Last year, he partnered with Creator Empires to build a language courses ecosystem, Street-Smart Languages.

“[Creator Empires] literally 10x’d my course business. I started with just a single language course that I made myself, but they took that as the basis for Street-Smart Languages and built an entire course ecosystem around it that’s now close to generating 7-figures annually,” Arieh said.

In this case study, you’ll learn:

• The 3-step process the team used to catapult the business

• The growth tactics and channels they used to bring the course to market

• How they plan to scale to 7-figures and beyond

Want to get started building your business like Arieh? Creator Empires provides free personalized reports to break down how much revenue you could drive with courses. Go here to check it out.

TikTok Launches "Series" Feature

TikTok is expanding its suite of creator monetization tools with Series, a new feature that lets users post “Collections” of videos available for purchase behind a paywall.

The details:

• Each Series can include up to 80 videos with a max duration of 20 minutes each.

• Creators name the price for each Series, and for a limited time they'll be able to keep all of their Series revenue, minus processing and app store fees.

• TikTok hasn’t disclosed what the revenue split with creators will be long-term.

Series content can be purchased via direct in-video links on a creator’s profile. It’s currently only available for a select number of creators.

Big picture: Creators we’ve spoken to say TikTok is key to building distribution, finding an audience, and shaping culture—but it’s not very lucrative. This move suggests that TikTok aims to be more than a megaphone, it wants to instead be integral to creators building careers off their content.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Susan Wojcicki gets her own Barbie doll.

• YouTube updates its profanity policy for monetization.

• Amelia Dimoldenberg has Shania Twain on Chicken Shop Date.

• A healthy dose of inspiration from Casey Neistat.

• QTCinderella’s Streamer Awards are this weekend.

• Would you date a podcast bro?

• Fiverr is seeking to collaborate with creators in their new influencer program. Enjoy perks such as Fiverr credits and a flat rate while creating engaging content about Fiverr services. Apply here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

📚 Thank You For Pressing Publish

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

• “The age of growth hacking is coming to an end,” Daisy Alioto writes for Dirt. “The first ten Mr. Beasts will be profitable, the next ninety won’t.”

• Has your FYP been taken over by the Hailey Bieber–Selena Gomez drama? Vox writer Alex Abad-Santos explains why their beef says more about entertainment culture than it does about them.

• As media distributors go through cycles of dramatic bundling and unbundling, what is “premium” anymore? Former media execs Troy Young, Brian Morrissey, and Alex Schleifer discuss on a recent episode of People vs Algorithms.

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