Creative Control

As Montana becomes the first state to pass a bill banning TikTok on all personal devices, discussions about why and how to restrict the Chinese-owned platform are circulating everywhere. TikTok creator V Spehar, @underthedesknews, has amassed 3 million followers with their clear, brief explanations of current events, and they believe that the communities and conversations on TikTok play a vital role in how we engage with each other across the globe. So when TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress a few weeks ago, V went to listen in, and see firsthand how politicians are talking about the controversial app.

To jumpstart season 3 with an overview of the creator economy, we’re featuring a roundtable conversation with some experts, recorded a few weeks ago at SXSW.Our panel of experts—Julie Haleluk, global head of video creator program at Amazon Live Shoppable Videos; Adrienne Lahens, global head of operations at TikTok Creator Marketing Solutions; Julian Reis, founder and CEO of SuperOrdinary; and Brent Weinstein, chief development officer at Candle Media—chatted with KC about the ups and downs of the creator economy. Given the huge influx of creators who entered the space in 2020 and the economic concerns that emerged last year, how is the creator economy maturing? And how do political conflicts play out, with so many creators staking their livelihoods on TikTok and other platforms?

Next week, Creative Control is back with Season 3! Some of the topics we’re unpacking this season include the push to ban TikTok, how hip-hop has undeniably shaped social media, and why it’s so difficult for adult content creators to monetize their work. Also, we’re diving into how the creator economy is challenging our norms around copyright, ownership, and originality.

While we’re on break, working on the next season of Creative Control, we’re revisiting this live episode from Fast Company’s Innovation Festival last fall. Content creator and comedian Brittany Broski gave her candid take on the creator economy and how she’s building a career beyond that kombucha meme that made her famous.

In between seasons, we’re taking another listen to this interview with Emma Chamberlain, one of YouTube’s undisputed royalty.Since starting her channel in 2017, Emma has amassed more than 11 million YouTube subscribers, in large part because of her wry comedic tone and signature lo-fi editing style. Her vlogs aren’t overproduced or too slick, instead she’s candid with her fans—which means being honest about needing a break from YouTube.Emma’s shifted her focus to building out her podcast, Anything Goes, and her coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee. We talked about how she’s redefining her relationship with YouTube and finding her place in the coffee industry—potential haters and all.

We’re working on the next season of Creative Control. In the meantime, we’re revisiting this still-relevant topic: doctors on platforms like TikTok and Twitter making medicine less of a mystery for people—and becoming celebrities along the way.But the ethics of being a medical influencer are a bit hazy. We’ve seen how misinformation can run rampant on social media, and it doesn’t take much for anyone to gain a following, no matter their credentials. So what are the implications of doctors being influencers, and is it actually making us healthier?

While we’re on break, working on the next season of Creative Control, we wanted to revisit this throwback episode about copyright law and dance, and how some choreographers are fighting to get their work protected as intellectual property. It’s part of the wider issue of how popular trends can spread online without proper credit or compensation—something creators of color, in particular, have been calling out.

We’re taking a little break right now while we work on the next season. We’ll be back soon with new conversations and stories about what’s changing in the creator economy. In the meantime, in honor of March Madness, we wanted to revisit this throwback episode about the NCAA changing their rules to finally allow college athletes to make money from their own name, image, and likeness.

Over the past few years, it seems that celebrities and influencers are increasingly choosing to have their own brand instead of simply endorsing a product. Take Emma Chamberlain, for example. When she was on the podcast, she explained why, as an avid coffee lover, she started her own brand instead of doing a regular endorsement. To dig into this a little more, we spoke to Marian Leitner-Waldman, founder and CEO of canned wine company Archer Roose, about why she chose director/actor Elizabeth Banks as not just a celebrity endorser but a partner in the company and its chief creative officer.

We’re taking a little break while we work on the next season. In the meantime, we’re sharing an improv workshop from Fast Company’s Innovation Festival last year, led by actor, singer, and improvisor extraordinaire Wayne Brady. He gets into the importance of active listening in improv, and focusing on inclusion in his growing media empire.