We’ve looked at the future of AI and it’s flirty, breathy, and sounds veeeeeery similar to Scarlett Johannson’s voice from the hit AI romance movie Her.

And ScarJo ain’t having it.

This following Drake’s voice getting ripped by AI for the TikTok hit 'Heart on my Sleeve’ only for Drake to then use AI to revive Tupac for a diss track.

This is getting messy fast.

So what do we as creator reps do in a world of AI cloning and plausible deniability?

NEWS:

ScarJo Voices Discontent

OpenAI asked Scarlett Johannson to use her voice.

She said no.

They released a voice that sounded similar.

She blasted them.

And her rep at CAA, Bryan Lourde, had a measured response:

So does this mean AI companies are going to start focusing on ethical licensing to avoid bad press?

My point of view: No, no, not in a million years, no.

It’s been well-established that big tech is going to move fast and break things.

Including the law.

When you have a multi-billion dollar company on its way to becoming a multi-trillion dollar company, there’s never been an issue with pushing the limits and paying the fine.

Remember when Meta paid a $1.3b fine almost exactly a year ago today for violating EU data production rules?

Probably not, as the stock is up a whopping 89% since that was announced.

AI companies will use every trick in the book to muddy the legalities of using your clients’ name / image / likeness, up to and including:

• We just hired an actor that sounds just like your client!

• It’s satire / parody / transformative! That’s protected by fair use!

• Want to sue me? Try me. We have so much money we’ll bleed you dry with legal fees. (note: I’ve gotten this one multiple times both implied and outright)

It’s on us, the creator reps, to continue fighting for the rights of our clients.

And our clients deserve to be fairly compensated when any part of their brand is used, monetized, or otherwise exploited.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Battling wasted influencer marketing ad spend with EarnOS

If you’ve pitched influencer marketing campaigns to any brand that doesn’t have an influencer strategy, you’ve surely heard complaints about bots.

In other words, if your videos get one million views, how do we know how many of those are actually human?

And let me shock you by saying this: they’re 100% right.

In 2022, 47.4% of web traffic were bots. That’s up from 42.3% in 2021.

Luckily, there are really smart entrepreneurs working to solve this issue. They are encouraging more influencer marketing spending from risk-averse brands and allowing creators with real, strong fanbases to monetize better.

I had the pleasure of catching up with Wayne Hughes from EarnOS, with a goal of eliminating wasted ad spend using a verification system.

They operate on a ‘cost per result’ system, which is smart. It's no different from TikTok Shop, which only pays you if you sell a product, which provides far better monetization than a regular view.

Plus, it’s super creator-rep-friendly. Your percentage is paid above and beyond revenue from your talent by onboarding them.

Is it powered by blockchain? Yes. But don’t let that scare you. Blockchain is a wonderful backend technology. It isn’t all monkey pictures and influencer scams.

Dive in at the link below (note: this is an affiliate link, but I do genuinely believe this is a smart product for our industry).

SOCIAL OPTIMIZATION:

What’s happening with Facebook!?

Facebook monetization is one of the best-kept secrets on social media.

But it shouldn’t be a secret.

Facebook just did a poor job teaching creators how to use it, clarifying their backend technology, being friendly to creators in general, and so on, and so on.

Facebook's move to a creator fund model instead of a CPM model late last year was another blow to the face.

And revenue dropped. Hard.

But remember creator reps: something is better than nothing.

If you can clean up your creator’s workflow or do offshore editing and posting on Facebook and ensure the content is right for the platform (high viral potential, repurposed comedy, political stuff, heart-wrenching vids), you can still do well.

Plus, you’ll get another high-conversion audience on a platform most creators ignore.

And always…ALWAYS make sure your effort levels match the revenue potential.

INDUSTRY HIRING:

Red Light Management needs a Director, Digital Marketing and Strategy. Tell Dave Matthews I said, “Yo.”

2K is looking for a Director of Global Digital Marketing, and you’ll be thanking yourself for applying when they launch a hit Bioshock TV show (please do it soon!!!)

The Lobby seeks a General Manager: Influencers as they keep pushing the idea of ‘free shopping’, which I absolutely condone.

MEME ZONE:

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this edition, give it a share and if you get someone to sign up, I’ll send you my ‘10 Rep-Friendly Ways to Monetize Today!’ deck!

Until next time, protect yo rep.