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VISUAL CREATORS
For your artistic side.

📸 Cara’s Viral Photo App Went Viral, Now Its Suffering From Success

Portfolio app, Cara, saw a surge in popularity after news broke that Meta was training its AI on Instagram posts. Artists flocked to the platform, attracted by its promise not to train AI on user content.

However, the app’s rapid growth has left its creator with a $100,000 bill to host the site when it went viral. After going from under 100k users to over 300k in just a weekend, creator Jingna Zhang posted a financial update showing the platform’s hosted costs skyrocketed from $2k/month to $100k/week.

Zhang had planned to wait to scale until all the platform’s features were complete, but could no longer afford to.

After asking for donations on Buymeacoffee, Zhang is reportedly considering implementing subscriptions but wants to ensure the platform remains accessible.

Artist and former DeviantArt CEO Angelo Sotia suggested a paywall, but Zhang is wary. She says her vision is to keep Cara open to benefit “the greatest number of people for as much and as long as I can”.

The artist community's been quick to criticize, but Cara was "designed by artists, for artists” and wants to keep that spirit alive regardless of the financial pressures. Few artistic treasures get love like Cara, but it may just be a placeholder until creators, not investors, figure out how to pay for the tools they love.

PRODUCTION MASTERY
The commercial aspects of creativity.

🎬 Superhero Movies: The End Of An Era

Superhero movies are losing their box office muscle, making way for video game adaptations and a resurgence of original films.

After years of box office domination, the genre is starting to show signs of wear and tear, with recent releases struggling to capture the magic of their predecessors. But who will swoop in to save the day?

With ready-made storylines and built-in fandoms, video games might just save the day. The global video game industry now outearns Hollywood, and people are flocking to longer-form adaptations like “The Last of Us”, which turned its hit source material into a critically lauded show.

But original films aren't down for the count just yet. Films like Christopher Nolan's “Oppenheimer”, an original historical drama, are proving that audiences will still come without a big-name hero on the poster.

It's a mixed bag of tricks, but original storytelling might just be the movie magic we’ve been missing. Will original storytelling reclaim the spotlight, or is nostalgia the best marketing strategy?

The popcorn's popping, and the plot's thickening—let's watch the next scene.

CREATOR ECONOMY
Navigating the digital creative world.

💌 IG Puts DMs Front & Center

Adam Mosseri, Instagram's head honcho, wants you to focus more on creating shareable content. He's not saying to sacrifice quality, but a video or photo that friends want to send to each other might just get a boost in reach.

Well, creators are split. Some are ready to play the share game, while others are sticking to their creative guns, worried that the new metric will turn Instagram into a "soulless content machine."

Meanwhile, Instagram is testing a new UI where the messaging icon is the main focus in the app—meaning it’s now in the lower function bar and the creation “+” button got moved to the top right, reflecting the trend of more private sharing.

It's a big bet that DMing will be the main way we express ourselves on the 'gram, more than feeds or stories. Explaining the test, Adam Mosseri tweeted, “More photos and videos are shared in DMs than are to Stories or to feed on any given day”.

🔥 Press Worthy

📽️ VISUAL CREATORS

DJI launched SDR Transmission. It allows you to transmit 1080p video up to 1.8 miles away with a low 35ms latency.

YouTube warns tech firms about AI training violations as creators like Marques Brownlee slam the unauthorized use of their content in datasets like 'the Pile' that Apple and Nvidia have tapped into.

📈 PRODUCTION MASTERY

Netflix's Ted Sarandos believes generative AI will provide creators with better storytelling tools. He cited the example of animation, which didn't get cheaper with technology but improved, leading to a bigger industry.

Social Media for Filmmakers 101: Be visible—use real names, clear bios, and reachable info. Hashtag game should be strong. Pro and content creator vibes both matter. Stay polished, post well, and chat with your audience.

🎭 CREATOR ECONOMY

TikTok partners with DistroKid to help indie musicians promote their tracks directly on the platform, seeking to tighten its already strong grip on the market. The new feature allows artists to create artist-specific profiles complete with custom tabs and more.

Instagram's Notes now allow text comments on posts, visible to followers you follow back or have on Close Friends.

📚 Learn & Grow

📽️ VISUAL CREATORS

• Why Artwork Protection Matters: Preserving Your Valuable Pieces

• This street photographer embodies the art of being in the right place at the right time

📈 PRODUCTION MASTERY

• This DP's Secrets to a Making Stunning Short Film

• How Fine Art Photographer George Byrne Creates Surreal Dreamscapes

🎭 CREATOR ECONOMY

• Museums Are Hugely Popular. But Can They Survive?

• Steve Jobs predicts the rise of GenAI in this never-before-seen video from 1983