Editors Note:

Welcome back to Creator’s Digest. Going thru a bit of a rebrand here so bear with me (this is a one man operation btw).-Shardul 

The Pre-Roll

✊🏾 Juneteenth: Highlighting Creators

📸 Ryan Trahan's Penny Challenge Pushes him past 9M subscribers

🏢 Spotify acquires AI voice company Sonantic

📱TikTok Creator Revives Vintage Fashion

🎵 Soundcloud hires new head of creators

Juneteenth: Highlighting Creators

Happy Juneteenth to everyone - Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Juneteenth marks the anniversary of the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas.

There are many things you can do to celebrate Juneteenth today. Here’s a few:

1. Go learn about Juneteenth. Find a book, article or podcast.

2. Search for local black-owned restaurants or shops

3. Watch content from Black Creators. This is a great watch from director Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah.

Juneteenth is the celebration of emancipation but it is not just relegated to one day. Actively look at your content and spending diet and adjust accordingly.

Ryan Trahan’s Penny Challenge continues (Day 20/30)

If you haven’t been following, YouTuber Ryan Trahan has been on a mission to deliver a penny to Mr. Beast in North Carolina. He set out from LA with nothing but a penny and has to make enough money to travel between states doing jobs like uber eats deliveries, walking dogs thru WAG, mowing lawns and even re-selling waterbottles. Whatever jobs he can make enough from to buy a plane ticket to a city closer to Mr. Beast.

The daily video series also has a charity component to it as it is for raising money for Feeding America, a charity working to end hunger. 1 meal = 1 penny. Trahan had a goal of raising $100K for the charity when the challenge started. He’s now $892K raised in less than a month! There is a twist to the challenge too. Something called The Great Reset where if someone donates $50K to the charity, Trahan’s daily balance goes back down to a penny.

Why This Works: Like with any show, there is an element of a roller coaster ride or a “will they/won’t they” with this series. It also works because of Ryan’s charisma, upbeat attitude and the music and small bits such as him talking about a Game Plan or slapping a Chipotle burrito before eating it have become staples in this daily vlog.

Trahan will likely raise over 1 million dollars for Feeding America thru this series which is absolutely incredible. Social metrics wise he’s already gained 1.5M subscribers and climbing. He’ll most likely cross 10M subscribers before the challenge is over.

Takeaway: As a creator, sometimes you don’t need fancy equipment to consistently tell a good story. Use your phone (Ryan uses cinematic mode often) and he has 1-2 people following him sometimes so he can keep his hands free. It’s a rag tag filming crew that have revived the daily vlog in a way that no one expected. And it’s all for Feeding America, a great charity looking to end world hunger.

Spotify acquires Sonantic, the AI voice company behind Val Kilmer’s voice in Top Gun

Spotify has announced plans to acquire Sonantic, a London-based startup focusing on making realisitic AI-based voices for gaming and entertainment. Sonantic and Spotify didn’t disclose the financial agreements of the acquisition but the tech looks promising. For the new Top Gun movie, Sonantic was tapped to recreate Val Kilmer’s voice (as he’s currently battling throat cancer and is unable to speak). The producers actually wrote that part into the film knowing that they could use Sonantic to create an AI version of the voice without the real actor.

Why This Matters: Spotify acquiring an AI text-to-voice company can only mean two things. 1) They are doubling down on the audio space. They already have some of the biggest podcasts in the world (Joe Rogan & Call Her Daddy) signed to their company and are investing more in creator tools for audio-first creators. Bringing in a company like Sonantic can replace a traditional host or even have a current host interview their favorite celebrity who might have passed. Imagine an interview between Tupac and Joe Rogan. Based on Sonantic’s AI technology, that could very well be possible.

TikTok Creator Gabrielle Jones recreates vintage fashion

Gabrielle Jones (@gabis_vintage) has been making waves on TikTok by bringing back vintage fashion. She’s inspired by her grandmother’s vintage clothing from the 1940s to 1970s and has taken a liking to finding what works and pairs well together. She’s taken it upon herself to a TikTok every day for a year bringing back vintage fashion. She’s currently on Day 151 and counting making content to her over 415K followers on TikTok. Furthermore, she also provides some history behind each article of clothing that educates the viewer about fashion from that time period.

For example, some of the garments from 20th century fashion have three labels for the retailer, designer and manufacturer. Something that is quite cool when you think about how many garments you have in your closet where all you know is the retailer.

The hashtags #vintagefashion and #fashionhistory are also great sources of education and content as both have over 700M views each. What’s old is cool and what’s cool is on TikTok as the saying goes.

Why This Matters: Jones is another example of a creator who is using something unique to provide a joint value prop to her audience. She has access to her grandmother’s and great grandmother’s closets and is able to create engaging fashion content from those for her audience. The education part also makes the viewer feel like they’ve learned something as well making every TikTok she makes engaging and fun. She’s on Day 151 right now and only time will tell where she goes from here!

That’s it for today’s Creator’s Digest! Thanks for reading! Consider sharing this with a friend below.

You can also support my new Patreon if you want - I’ll be posting more content there in the coming days/weeks.

Thank you for your paid support of Creator’s Digest! I’ll continue to include one paid article in each edition as well as exclusive paid articles on a monthly basis.

Onto today’s paid article:

Soundcloud has hired a new head of creators

Tracy Chan, former Head of Music at Twitch is joining Soundcloud heading up a new creator division at the company. Head of Soundcloud Eliah Seton called the move “a game-changing addition to the executive team at Soundcloud”.

Soundcloud itself has seen it’s numbers fall drastically as more and more music gets pushed thru TikTok and Spotify, but they have a stranglehold on independent music and remixes that go viral. Most songs that have more than two or more main tracks will never make it to Spotify due to IP issues or label issues, but they can make it to SoundCloud.

Chan joining Soundcloud means two things:

1. Soundcloud is going heavy on trying to get creators to post more

2. Partnerships with labels are incoming for Soundcloud

Chan has deep experience with working with music labels such as Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group thus making the hire a great get for SoundCloud. Soundcloud is squarely focused on being a major player in both the music economy and the creator economy and this hire is one step in the right direction to get everyone on the same rhythm.