Archive | The Creator Rep

FaZe RiZes Again 👷🏽‍♂️

The FaZe Clan is dead. Long live the FaZe Clan. Er...I guess I mean CORE, the new name with the same game. After a disastrous negotiation where FaZe's ownership attempted to get the team to sign contracts taking 20% of their whole books of business, the team had an epic group quitting, only to reform last week as CORE. Are all talent-led lifestyle brands doomed to suffer the same fate?

What Happened at a VIP Dhar Mann Event? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Attending the Brand Innovators Creator Economy Summit at Dhar Mann Studios wasn't just an honor, but I felt like I was invited into a space where people like me generally aren't allowed. This was elite creators like Adam W, Nic Cannon, Jordan Matter, our client Devan Key, and Dhar himself, along with brand leaders who control massive influencer marketing budgets. But what happened on stage wasn't the story. We've seen those panels. What happened in the hallway convos is where the magic happened.

Coachella is the Internet Now 🎇

Didn't get tickets to Coachella this year? Don't worry. You could watch every second of every stage for free on YouTube, with concert-film-quality streams. Or if you're in it for the vibes, you could tune in to the hundreds of influencers streaming, story-ing, and good old-fashioned vlogging the two weekend concerts. And this year the shows felt even more 'internety'. Coachella is driving youth culture, so let's dive into what creators, brands, and publishers can learn from it.

R.I.P. Link-in-Bio? 💀

Meta's Head of Global Business, Nicola Mendelsohn, said something at Shoptalk Spring that we've all been feeling: link-in-bio tools were useful solutions to platform problems. Now, Mendelsohn actually said the words "the era of link in bio is finally over." Reminder: Linktree has raised $166m for their link-in-bio solution, and there are a slew of similar companies with respectable funding and traction. Let's look into the status of link-in-bios, where platforms are honing in on their business, and what the future may be for these companies.

Meta and Google Lose Lawsuits ⚖️

Losing a $6 million lawsuit for companies like Meta and Google is a rounding error of a rounding error, like when the guys in the movie Office Space stole fractions of a penny per transaction. But, also like the guys from Office Space, this could have disastrous impacts as a bellwether ruling. If one 20-year old can sue them and win for their product causing depression, and there have been strong academic studies linking social media time to increased depression and even suicide, this could be the first domino to fall. Does this mean Congress will finally leave their lobbyist-sponsored lobster dinners and do something?

I Vibe-Coded My Job 🤖

There's been a two-year debate in the creator rep community about whether or not AI will take our jobs. The most common answer, "No way! What I do is so unique and special and valuable that it can't be done!" I may have even been one of those people. So I decided to spend this weekend being a terrible father and to spend 20 hours in Claude Code vibe-coding three of my most time-consuming tasks: adding value to our creators, pitching brands, and building businesses in the creator economy. How did it do? The answer will shock you! Maybe!

What is 'Creator TV'? 📺

Spotter, perhaps best known as a creator investment company that holds the sales rights for many of the top YouTube creators' catalogues, held its second annual 'Spotter Showcase' in NYC last week. The theme? Creator TV. But wait, you may be saying, haven't we just witnessed two decades of 24/7 creator channels on Pluto TV, dozens of digital-first premium platforms from go90 to Quibi hit the advertising market, not to mention Tubi, Amazon, and Netflix buying creator shows left and right? So what does Spotter mean by 'Creator TV' and how is it different this time?

Can Gambling Be Insider Trading? 🤔

MrBeast's editor bet on the wrong horse. He won over $5,000 on Kalshi by betting (or, as they call it, 'predicting') with insider info. He was forced to pay the money back plus a $15,000 fine. But this just shows the flaw we all know about these 'prediction markets' as they legally have to call themselves: almost every non-sports-related bet has someone who has knowledge of or can impact the outcome. And there have been accusations from creators to the White House. Since there are so many creators playing and being sponsored by these prediction markets, is this an FTX-sized scandal waiting to happen?

Another Creator Investment Bubble? 🫧

Night Media announced a $70 million raise shortly after Fixated announced a $50 million raise (transparency note: I was their founding COO). Both said in their press releases that these funds will be used for M&A in the creator economy, signaling that huge, moneyed interests believe the industry is too bifurcated and ready for a massive roll-up. But this is the second time we've seen this. The first: the end of the MCN era. So is it doomed to be another creator economy bubble destined to burst, or is this what is needed to finally stop all of the 'Wild Wild West' analogies?