Holy formatting Batman! Did you happen to catch that last week’s newsletter was in all italics?

Full italics? 

Now that’s what I call dramatic.

Hello creators!! Welcome welcome and happy Wednesday; I hope everyone is feeling in the holiday spirit this week and preparing themselves for no one to answer any messages for like three weeks.. Send help (and email responses) 😅

Well if your inbox is particularly dry for the next few weeks, I’ll still be here for ya, churning out the news that makes you want to get back to creatin’.

Speaking of creating, we have some super exciting new updates coming to CreatorPad! I dropped an opportunity at the end of last week’s issue, but this week I’m going to pop it right into the intro. 😎 

If you want to see what we have going on with CreatorPad 2.0, and you want to be among the first people to see these incredible transformations and have a profile on the site, reply to this email and I’ll share the next steps. 👀 

Don’t wait on this opportunity, we have less than 40 spots left!!

-Luke

A College (Campus) for Creators 📖 

If you’re deep into the space, I’m almost positive you’ve heard of this insane announcement from creator management company, Whalar. The brand has announced “The Lighthouse,” which are two (soon to be three) campuses conceived specifically for creators to connect, learn, create, and grow in a college campus-esq ecosystem. Let’s dive into the details!

What & Where:

• Launching their first two campuses in Brooklyn, NY, and Venice, CA, these campuses are set to offer educational resources, and spaces to produce content such as studio spots, editing rooms, and beyond.

• They also plan to launch a London campus in 2024!

Sounds great, what’s the catch?:

• Membership is application-based and as of now, and slated to cost $5,750 per year.

• While I believe this is an awesome initiative, I can already foresee the gatekeeping through applications and the price tag.

• Seems like this will primarily be a space for more established creators… But F it, we ball. Just walk in and pretend that you’re supposed to be there like I used to do with WeWork, it’s freeeeeeee! 🙂

What’s under the hood?:

• There’s gonna be a lot of goodies that come along with your membership, check ‘em out below.

• Lecture halls for classes on topics like e-commerce, AI, taxes, and legal matters. It’s like LinkedIn but with no annoying algorithm.

• You’ll get access to private offices and production spaces for shooting and editing (hopefully not in a fishbowl-like WeWork scenario).

• There’s gonna be dining areas and outdoor spaces for its members to hang out (and not procrastinate, definitely not procrastinate).

• This one is the most interesting to me, so no jokes here; they’re going to potentially have courses and certifications, it’s like a BOCES for creators and I believe it will create some great opportunities for backend creatives to have more credibility and land more gigs!

• Another super interesting angle that the membership mentions is the possible collaboration with universities and colleges for credit opportunities.

As a creator who believes that education, connection, and collaboration are keys to success in the industry, I believe that this opportunity for creators is incredible.

From a place to get “standardized” education on content creation, to having a space to meet with local creators in your community, I believe Whalar and The Lighthouse just changed the game.

What do you readers think? Do you believe that this will be a space that allows for more connectivity in the space, or will it create a further divide between those who can afford and those who cannot?

Let me know your thoughts by replying to this email!

Goodbye Google Pods, Hello YouTube 👋 

You heard that right, Google set to kill off its podcast child so the crowd favorite, YouTube, can be King. Maybe that was a bit of a dark analogy, but I’ve been watching some history shows recently, so it feels right.

What does the termination of Google Pods mean and what changes are being made on YouTube that make it better than its predecessor? Let’s break it down:

• When and how to make the switch:

  • Google Podcasts will shut down in the US as early as April 2024, and the migration tool will be available until July 2024.

  • Google has launched a migration tool that allows users to move subscriptions to YouTube Music or export them, honestly depending on the insight they give you, an export of your listener base could be a massive plus.

• What are the big changes? 

  • YouTube aims at Spotify by combining music and podcasts for listeners (watchers? Idk anymore man, everything is becoming the same nowadays).

  • We’ll also apparently get an improved experience as listeners with features such as resume playback, mark as listened to, and more. It’s almost like they’re implementing bare bones, basic features as “new.”

  • There will be all new discovery features (podcast shelves).

  • Users can allow for auto downloads on podcasts that they’re subscribed to.

  • Podcasters can simply add podcasts via an RSS feed.

  • They also talk about better integration support with products such as Google Assistant, wearables, and beyond.

• Benefits for podcasters: 

  • Outside of being able to transition your subscribers (I’m just praying that this follower migration tool works as intended), you’ll also have increased audience reach across audio and video formats, new tools, and functionalities (tools and functionalities undisclosed).

• Migrate sooner than later:

  • While you can wait until July 2024 to use the migration tool, the faster you act on this, the more benefits you’ll likely receive.

  • If you look at other platforms, they tend to push creators who are early adopters in the algorithm, so perhaps you don’t want to be late to this party. Make the swap sooner than later!

• What else you might want to know:

  • This migration tool is accessible through a banner on the Google Podcasts site.

  • Google Podcasts will roll out in the US first and will be available in other countries in the coming months.

While this isn’t groundbreaking news, it is a super important shift that podcast creators need to be aware of or risk losing out on opportunities that are presenting themselves. Make the swap, and you may reap the rewards.

Tayen Lee is Up Next

As I write this, I’m currently watching the first video that I’ve ever found from Tayen Lee.

And as I watch his video titled “Streaming to 0 Twitch Viewers,” my only word is wow.

The emotion evoked from this video is like none other that I’ve seen in a long time. Tayen has beautiful color correction, somber shots, captivating voiceovers, and …. I just got to the end, big old plot twist. 😂 

After diving into a few more of Tayen’s videos, it’s clear to see that he‘s a comedy sketch writer, but holy moly is he a talented cinematographer, scriptwriter, and editor.

His skits, albeit only having six of them, are all phenomenal. Each iteration over the past four months seems to kick it up a few notches and it’s clear to see Tayen push himself and his comfort zones.

I’m super impressed that a channel with so few videos and such little information about the creator is making such high-quality content. Tayen not only seems to be bringing the fun into his content, but he’s doing it at such a high level that it almost reminds me of an original Noel Miller skit.

I’m not going to spoil the reveal of Tayen’s content, as I believe watching his handful of skits is a far better introduction than I can give, but I need to give you all the heads up about his channel. It’s killer stuff.

Keep up the incredible work, Tayen; I wouldn’t be surprised to see you take off after the algorithm gets a scent of the incredible content you’re pushing out.

I’m pumped for the next upload, and you should be too.

Check out Tayen’s content!

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

And now it’s time for you to have a say!

Readers, have you been liking the new content in this newsletter? Do you prefer quick, bulleted news? Do you prefer these deeper dives?

Let me know your thoughts by replying to this email!!!

I can only make this newsletter as solid as possible with your help and feedback so in your response, tell me

1. What you love

2. What you hate

3. And what could be better

I’m here for the critique and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️