Howdy creator peeps,

How are we feeling on this fine fall Wednesday?! I’m all hyped up about the last issue of the newsletter and my new approach to writing these every week.

With a handful of new subscribers (heyoooo what’s up to the new batch of creator nerds who subscribed, thank you so much for being here!!), I have the feeling that some of you resonated with the new direction I’ve taken with this newsletter.

With all of the awesome feedback, I’m even more excited now than when I first started writing these, and really feel like I’m starting to make strides with the issues!

If you’re reading this now, whether you’re new or you’ve been here for a while; this is where I’ll ask a favor of you.

If you could share this with one, just ONE of your friends who may enjoy this content, it would mean the world to me. The hardest part about writing a newsletter is growing an audience, and honestly, my current readers (yea, you!), are all so awesome that I’d love to have more like-minded folks checking these issues out.

So, if you can hit forward on this email, or just send your friend this link, it would mean the world to me. Massive thank you if you’re one of the few who have been helping to spread the word, I know we can make this a top newsletter in the space, together. 🤝 ❤️ 

-Luke

Creator Economy News 🚨

• Kick is rolling out the second cohort of its Creator Incentive Program with a class of 50 creators, and this time, compensation has a twist. Creators will be paid HOURLY for their streams on the platform, earning more per hour as they gain more followers and watch time. While only select groups are involved in this program at the moment, Kick plans to roll this out to all Kick Creator dashboards in November. Now this is how we support the creator middle class! The biggest trouble with this great news is getting creators to swap over to the platform that tends to harbor hate and has top creators consisting of streamers who have been booted off of other platforms for hate speech and other controversies. Can Kick turn this ship around?

• Let’s stay on the streaming platform update train, but this time give Twitch a turn. Twitch has announced that it will be rolling out a “Twitch Stories” feature, allowing creators to share pictures, text, and clips from their streams with their followers. I could see this being a really cool way to keep people on the platform, or a great way to get people to turn off notifications. With an update such as Kicks, do you believe that Twitch is working on solving the wrong problems for their creators? I’ll speak for some streamer friends: Yes.

• Threads releases two updates with features from the 90s. For real. They announced an edit post feature, and essentially a voice-to-text feature. Am I crazy or is this just absolutely not exciting stuff at all for a multi-billion dollar tech company?

TikTok News

• Are you a filter creator on TikTok? Well, Super Niche-Man, I got good news for you! TikTok will be changing its monetization for the Effect Creator Rewards program. Along with adding eligibility for creators from 14 countries, there’s now a lower threshold to join, and the payout has changed based on where you live. Is this play by TT an attempt to make creators more money, or is it to get filters created for cheap by creators from different markets? Seems like the latter to me!

• Holy integrations. TikTok is all about the APIs this week with this update. Creators can now post videos directly from third-party platforms to TikTok. Including apps such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Express, Twitch, and CapCut. Bless up. 🔥 

• You already know I don’t like posting paywalled content, so there’s no link on this one, but TikTok is apparently gearing up for the holiday season with a heavy focus on Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Allegedly, there was a brief obtained by Business Insider that mentions offers of bonuses for TT live streamers. I’m going to cover this full piece when there’s more insight (and more than one source). So hold tight for now!

You should see these 👀

• Misinformation is the highest during times of turbulence, and the EU wants to squash it. The EU is opening investigations into both X and TikTok over the “spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular, the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech.” This comes on the heels of the recent tragic events in Israel, with users on both platforms spreading graphic videos of the events, and also spreading misinformation.

• Uh oh! Do I see a…. CreatorPad update?! Aw yeeee. Well, more of a teaser than an update, but we have some insane stuff on the horizon, and it’s going to blow your socks off. Whether you’re looking to meet more creators in your niche, find more opportunities to make money, or find a creator mentor to give you guidance; we got you covered in the 2.0 version of the site. More to come on this in the next few weeks, but we’re very close, so keep a close eye 👀 

• Patreon is making some massive moves over the last few weeks. With its recent rebrand, Patreon is now making moves to create even deeper ties between creators and their audiences. Yesterday, Patreon announced that it had acquired Moment, opening up a new opportunity for creators to sell tickets to exclusive (online, for now) events. Great move by Patreon, I’m excited to see how this acquisition develops further!

Creator Spotlight 🔦

Do you have killer content? Do you want more eyes on your work? Well, this is your chance!

While I absolutely love finding new creators and exploring all sides of platforms like YouTube, I sometimes find it hard to break through what the algorithm wants me to see.

So, this week I’m asking my readers to give me some new recommendations!

If you are a creator yourself who wants a spotlight, if you have a creator friend who deserves more content coverage, or if you just want to share a creator that you’ve been loving; reply to this email with your suggestions!

I look forward to checking out your, and your favorite creators’ content 😎 

Want to go even further? 🚀

If you’d like to keep learning about topics like the ones shared above, stick around! But more importantly, check out the links below to further your development as a creator. 😎

1. Sign up for CreatorPad

2. Join our free creator community

3. Find a personal mentor to learn from