Welcome back, last night we stayed up too late watching Bo Burnham's new Netflix Special. Have you seen it yet? Don’t forget he started out on YouTube over 14 years ago. Masterpieces take time. Today Alice digs into history repeating itself. Enjoy ✌🏻✌🏽.

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ Why TikTok is the new radio

→ How a 65-year-old music competition is making people learn Italian

→ What you can learn from Emma Chamberlain’s partnership with Levi’s

TikTok Radio Is Just For You 

Radio meets its Gen Z match with a SiriusXM and Pandora partnership

Last week, TikTok announced an exclusive partnership with Pandora and SiriusXM to create ‘TikTok Radio’, a digital radio station that will “feel like a radio version of the platform’s ‘For You’ page.” Launching this summer, the new music channel will broadcast trending sounds through the SiriusXM app and a series of playlists hosted by creators. Publish Press favorite, Bella Poarch, is kicking off the partnership with her own ‘TikTok Tastemakers’ playlist where her record-breaking Build a B*tch makes an appearance. P.S. did you see her billboard in Times Square? 👀

• Creators to Curators → TikTok creators actively create culture through their curation of trends, sounds and songs. A curated TikTok radio feed is the perfect example of using existing content to find favor with new audiences – especially Gen Z consumers, who potentially have never tuned into the radio before.

• The Internet’s Best Incubator → Spotify’s Viral Hits is a direct line to trending sounds on TikTok at any given time. The music partnership shows the industry's belief that TikTok can pull people off-platform and make them pay.

Our Take

By working directly with services like Pandora and SiriusXM, TikTok is further cementing their influence on music and culture. But the question that remains is do you think Gen Z audiences will pay for the new service? Or is radio a format they don’t care to bring back?

Eurovision Finds Favor With Gen Z

The Eurovision Song Contest wasn’t the only thing Italy won this week 

Anyone else feel like suddenly learning Italian? Well, you aren’t alone. Last weekend, Duolingo reported a ~56% increase in new learners taking up Italian, following Italy’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest – an international song competition where artists perform original songs and compete for Song of the Year. The competition drew 183m viewers across 36 markets. It’s no mean feat given broadcast TV is dying - let’s not forget this year’s Oscars became the lowest-rated ceremony in history, with a 58% drop compared to last year.

Zitti E Buoni by Italian rock band Måneskin won the competition, becoming Spotify’s most-streamed song in Italian and charting in 30 countries. The competition, powered in large part by public voting, saw a surge in fan support for the band and sent Måneskin to top spot.

So, how did they do it?

• The Power of TikTok → The song began to gain traction on the platform as early as March, cementing the track’s popularity long before it was performed at the Eurovision final. This interest has translated into the group’s first ever entry on the UK’s Top 20 chart, plus two entries on Spotify’s Global Top 50. 

• By the Numbers → Måneskin flipped the script on a traditional broadcast competition, using TikTok to create buzz before the show even aired. Gen Z fans came through for the band. Zitti E Buino has been used to soundtrack 83k TikToks, with more than 1.1 billion combined views for #maneskin and #måneskin and 581m views for the band’s frontman, Damiano David.

Our Take 

The UK saw its largest Eurovision viewership (8.4m peak) since 2014. Similarly, Switzerland recorded a 182% increase in viewership, with Iceland reporting an 80% increase, that’s almost half of the population watching. In the same week, Olivia Rodrigo became the youngest solo artist to top the UK album and singles charts at the same time. It’s clear that digital-native fans have the power to influence institutional formats in big ways.

Sip While You Shop With Emma Chamberlain

Emma’s latest pop-up is the best of digital and IRL for brands

It feels like just yesterday that we were spilling the (coffee) beans on Emma Chamberlain’s first ☕ pop-up in LA. Over the weekend, she dropped another, this time in partnership with Levi’s to celebrate its 148th birthday, alongside six other “original voices” for the brand. The pop-up ran from May 29-31 and featured a handpicked selection of vintage and second hand Levi’s curated by Emma, with Chamberlain Coffee to “sip while you shop”. 

• Exit Through The Gift Shop → Emma’s latest venture with Levi’s is the perfect example of the meshing of digital and IRL. Just last week, Emma hosted Coffee Talk with Hailey Bieber on Levi’s YouTube channel for the brand’s 501 Day. Creators like Emma are the digital bridge for brands to reach audiences online.

Our Take 

The content → creator → commerce relationship is the gift that keeps on giving. Following the success of partnerships like Travis Scott x McDonald’s, creator-brand collabs are on the rise. Charli D’Amelio’s partnership with Dunkin’, saw a 45% increase in cold brew sales. Both Emma and Travis have something in common: you’re not just buying a product, you’re also participating in a fan experience. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt (literally). We think creators will continue to transition from “link in bio” merch to meaningful experiences in partnership with major brands.

🔥 In Other News

• BTS partners with McDonald’s

• Poparazzi tops the app store

• White House teams up with Snapchat to encourage Covid vaccinations

• Bo Burnham’s self-produced “deranged masterpiece” lands on Netflix 

• Jake Paul announces next boxing opponent, fight set for 8/28 on Showtime

👉 Keep your eyes out for Friday’s edition where Max will be diving into Khaby Lame’s wild creator story of gaining 2m+ TikTok followers per day. Our prediction: by the next Publish Press, he’ll have knocked Bella Poarch off the spot as the 3rd most-followed TikTok creator in the world. Watch out Addison and Charli, you’re next!