Good morning. As things heat up on Love Island USA, everyone has an idea of the season’s villain. But one eliminated contestant is using his newfound fame for good. 

Jeremiah Brown started a book club on Instagram, getting over 100K of his followers to read The Song of Achilles with him. Have you ordered your copy yet?

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Here’s your rundown of the most impactful platform headlines from the last week. ➡️

YouTube is improving its monetization screening process in an effort to crack down on what it calls “mass-produced and repetitious content.” Starting on July 15, channels that reupload other creators’ content will have to change it significantly to qualify for monetization. 

Amazon is incentivizing creators to sell through its Amazon Associates program as social media-based ecommerce (read: TikTok Shop) gains popularity. 

This month through July 20, Amazon Prime is increasing commissions on select sales made through creator affiliate links—coinciding with Prime Day, which starts tomorrow. Commission on jewelry and power tools will double, and payouts on sales in 11 other categories like toys and beauty will jump, too. 

Zoom out: Last year, Amazon’s sales increased by 136% during Prime Day, bringing in $14.2 billion over two days. This year, Prime Day will last four days, with over 900K creators participating as creator affiliates. 

Substack is doubling down on livestream video with a feature that automatically generates clips from livestreams and shows performance metrics like video plays in real-time. Creators can also connect their YouTube channels to upload Substack videos directly as Shorts.

Musical comedy creator Kyle Gordon—known best for his parodies of musical genres—just finished a 26-stop nationwide tour, where he sold out almost half of the shows. 

How he got here: 

“If you saw me in 2022, it would have been me and an acoustic guitar at the Chuckle Hut in Indiana,” Gordon told us. But now—because of the audience he has grown on TikTok and Instagram—he tours with a full band, selling out 400-person venues.

So why does a live tour work for Gordon’s niche? “There's this group of people that really enjoy my music that react differently in person than they do as, like, a blob of [online] numbers,” Gordon said. Live shows ensure that creators like Gordon have a more tangible connection to their audiences.  

Big picture: By promoting the tour alongside new singles and music videos, Gordon simultaneously increased fan interest and sales. It’s a play that works for other creators too—like Trisha Paytas, who timed song releases with live events to sell out theaters on tour.

Creator, writer, and actor Lilly Singh debuted her coming of age movie, Doin’ It, at SXSW last year—now, it’s coming to theaters across the US starting September 19.

The details: Singh co-wrote, starred in, produced, and financed the movie in partnership with Arizona-based film company Camelback Productions. Aura Entertainment, a US-based distributor that launched earlier this year, acquired the movie from Camelback as one of its first acquisitions.

Big picture: Singh recently returned to YouTube after three years of working exclusively in film and television. Now, she’s hosting a connected TV game show, creating a YouTube interview show, and vlogging.