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šø Caraās Viral Problems
Cara appās viral rollercoaster šø, Superheroesāsay goodbye to the big screen š¬, and IGās DM glow-up š.
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In today's rundown
VISUAL CREATORS
For your artistic side.
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 appās 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 platformās hosted costs skyrocketed from $2k/month to $100k/week.
Zhang had planned to wait to scale until all the platformās 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 āthe greatest number of people for as much and as long as I canā.
The artist community's been quick to criticize, but Cara was "designed by artists, for artistsā 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.
![Avengers Endgame GIF by MOODMAN](https://media2.giphy.com/media/AEldvF2yu5Wthpxoih/giphy.gif?cid=2450ec30gfa3ei415x66e3firbvdar7mannsbvvzewa5j7qq&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
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 āThe Last of Usā, 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 āOppenheimerā, 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 weāve been missing. Will original storytelling reclaim the spotlight, or is nostalgia the best marketing strategy?
The popcorn's popping, and the plot's thickeningālet's watch the next scene.
CREATOR ECONOMY
Navigating the digital creative world.
š IG Puts DMs Front & Center
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6f0e283b-d108-468f-9dfa-6ea39e2b5d2b/Capture-2024-07-22-122605.png?t=1721643979)
Passionfruit
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 appāmeaning itās now in the lower function bar and the creation ā+ā 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, āMore photos and videos are shared in DMs than are to Stories or to feed on any given dayā.
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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.
š 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 visibleāuse 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.
š 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.
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