APPLE, CHOREOGRAPHY AND TIK TOK
It seems like Apple finally got tired of being outspent and seeing their market share in podcasting get gobbled up by competitors. Enter: a new way for podcasters to make bank. The company is calling it Apple Podcast Subscriptions, “a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside millions of free shows on Apple Podcasts.” Starting in May, podcast creators will be able to set pricing for podcast subscriptions, with monthly or annual billing options, along with the tools to offer free trials and sample episodes. Apple is reportedly keeping 30% of podcast subscription fees in subscribers’ first year, and then 15% in years after that.
In other Apple versus Spotify news, Apple released information about its royalties breakdown for the first time, in a letter to artists. The biggest takeaway? It paid artists an average of one cent per stream for individual paid plans last year. This is apparently about double what Spotify pays artists, which is one-third to one-half penny per stream. All I know is that all still pales in comparison to the $0.50 to $0.55 artists used to get from every CD sale.
Choreographer JaQuel Knight is making the phrase “dance credit” a thing. He just launched a company with ambitions of copyrighting dance moves. You’ve probably seen his work, from Beyonce’s instantly recognizable “Single Ladies” dance, to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” video. According to Variety, the company “will operate in the same way a music publisher does where it will broker licensing deals and protect IP, except rather than copyright music Knight Choreography & Music Publishing will oversee the rights to Knight’s dance moves.” Pretty cool, if the USPTO is down.
Currently, the sound “I am hopeful, yes I am, hopeful for today” is stuck in my head on a never ending loop thanks to TikTok’s latest trend. The videos poke fun at the “where are they now?” character updates that we often see in movies based on a true story, with the song “Hope” by Twista (the song played over exactly such a scene at the end of COACH CARTER) playing in the background. And, unsurprisingly, TikTok creators have absolutely hilarious takes on the song. Creator DL Lee truly kicked off the trend, with this video, which is worth watching for the grandma character alone. And this rendition legitimately made my jaw drop. I will leave you with this group of puppies taking on the trend, and urge you to browse through the TikTok sound if you’re looking to waste 20-40 minutes of your day laughing.
Besides this trend, and specifically the hot dog video, my favorite ‘Toks of the week were this seamless loop that feels like a whole short film, and this compilation of strangers teaching strangers their favorite dance moves. What a week in content, guys.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
