Top News:
Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:
Gannett is hiring a full-time Taylor Swift Reporter to cover Swift's fanbase and her effect on pop culture as she embarks on the next stage of her Eras Tour — The chance to report on Taylor Swift full-time just debuted. — Millions of Americans encounter the immovable force that is Taylor Swift …
Discussion:
Dayforce, Screen Rant, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Poynter, @theo_wayt, @theangiehero, @natalieweiner, @jeremypgordon, @kgroetz, @a_w_gordon, @melodymercadotv, @corbinbolies, @arakkisuperstar, @erinkwoo, @en_cohen, @saeeddicaprio, @seamushughes, @noahpasaran, @dvergano, @cheriehu42, @mrjoshuabowling, @kissphoria, @domluszczyszyn, @alexrkonrad, @gracesdeng, @marlownyc, @corbinbolies, @ewdatsgross, @mattbelloni, The Guardian, New York Post, Insider, Fox Business, The Messenger, CNBC, Variety, Nieman Lab, The Hill, New York Daily News and MediaPost
Taylor Lorenz / Rolling Stone:
An excerpt from the book Extremely Online: how Julia Allison invented being a content creator in the mid-2000s and was villainized by journalists and others — In her book ‘Extremely Online,’ journalist Taylor Lorenz details how Julia Allison invented the concept of being a content creator a decade before it caught on
Discussion:
@taylorlorenz, @jeffjarvis, @alexweprin, @taylorlorenz and @kattenbarge
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Source: The White House plans to send a letter to US news executives, including CNN and The NYT, urging them to “ramp up” their scrutiny of House Republicans — The White House plans to send a letter to top US news executives on Wednesday, urging them to intensify their scrutiny …
Isaac Schorr / Mediaite:
Bio: Elon Musk told Bari Weiss that Twitter needs to be careful when discussing China due to Tesla's business, and that China's Uyghur repression has two sides — A passage in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk sheds new light on the billionaire's willingness to placate the genocidal Chinese regime.
Discussion:
@mlfromdeep, @dianamonnette, @johnny_utah13, @johncusack, @jmood88, @fpwellman, @lolgop, @speechboy71, @jamesfourm, @cg_evie, @wallstcynic, @mollyjongfast, @mpolymer, The Daily Beast and @mattgertz
Tim Starks / Washington Post:
Researchers: the iPhone of Meduza owner Galina Timchenko was infected with Pegasus in Germany, the first known case of the tool being used against a Russian — Unclear is who planted the spyware while the founder of the Meduza news outlet was in Germany — The iPhone of a prominent Russian …
Sean Michael Kerner / VentureBeat:
Stability AI announces its text-to-audio tool Stable Audio, which can generate 20, 45-second tracks per month for free or 500, 90-second tracks for $12/month — What comes after building generative AI technology for image and code generation? For Stability AI, it's text-to-audio generation.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Billboard, The Verge, Music Ally and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Former FaZe Clan staff describe a mismanaged creator organization, as its market cap falls from $725M at its 2022 SPAC merger to below $15M; FaZe fired its CEO — The board fired CEO Lee Trink following a steep decline in the shares — Three months after its July 2022 debut on the Nasdaq …
Discussion:
@bradstone, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and Embedded, more at Techmeme »
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Daily Mail product director Simon Regan-Edwards says the paper has about “160,000 subs, with 90,000 digital” and Mail+ has become a “substantial” revenue stream — Executives from two of the UK's biggest newsbrands share lessons from their digital products.
David Pierce / The Verge:
News sharing app Artifact adds Links, a section where users can post any type of link and discover links through a Following page or an algorithmic For You page — Artifact, the algorithmic news-reading app started by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, was never really meant to just be a news-reading app.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @kevin, Artifact News, @artifact_news and @imkevinxu
Carolyn Giardina / The Hollywood Reporter:
A group of 50+ Marvel VFX staffers votes unanimously to unionize with the IATSE, in an NLRB-run election; IATSE aims to form a national VFX Local by 2023's end — IATSE aims to form a national VFX Local by year's end. — It's official: In a unanimous vote, roughly 50 in-house visual effects employees …
Discussion:
IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, Screen Rant, TVLine, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, Bleeding Cool News, @iatse, @moreperfectus and Collider
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
NYC's pension funds sue Fox, accusing the company of neglecting its shareholder duties by opening itself up to defamation lawsuits tied to the 2020 US election — The funds accuse the Fox Corporation board of neglecting its responsibility to shareholders by leaving the company open to defamation lawsuits.
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
iSpot.tv acquires 605, the data and analytics company founded by AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan, bringing its total available TV device footprint to 82.7M — With the acquisition of the AMC Networks CEO's company, iSpot will add set-top box data from 16.6 million homes, bringing its total available TV device footprint to 82.7 million.
Discussion:
Next TV, The Wrap, MediaPost, AdExchanger, Variety, Ad Age, Deadline, @johnhcook, Beet.TV and Radio & Television …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify launches Showcase to let US-based artists with 1,000+ streams in the past 28 days pay to promote their work in the app's revamped Home feed — Spotify this week launched a new tool called Showcase that allows artists to promote their work directly in the streaming app's revamped Home feed introduced earlier this year.
Discussion:
Music Ally
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Adobe plans to pay bonuses to stock image service Stock contributors when their photos and illustrations are used to train its Firefly generative AI models — Now that Adobe's Firefly generative AI models are now generally available. One feature that always made Firefly stand out from a crowd …
Discussion:
Fast Company, CNET, Bloomberg, The Verge and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
Kerry Flynn / Axios:
VideoAmp, which offers audience and ad measurement tools, raised a $150M Series G from Vista Credit Partners at the same $1.4B valuation as its Series F in 2021 — - Kerry Flynn, author of Axios Pro: Media Deals — Exit Content Preview — Media measurement firm VideoAmp has raised $150 million …
Discussion:
@kerrymflynn