Snapchat is paying out $1 million a day to top creators as competition for influencers intensifies.
It is the latest move in an arms race among a growing list of social media companies that depend on short-form, user-generated videos.
The new feature, called Spotlight, rolled out on Monday. Snap, which once distinguished itself as a friend-to-friend messaging app, is now letting users submit video clips of up to 60 seconds that can be viewed by anyone on the platform. It comes weeks after the platform opened up public profiles to everyone.
<p>Snap says it will determine who gets paid, and how much, based on a proprietary formula that may include metrics such as views and engagement. Snap's content algorithms will influence how many people see Spotlight submissions. Those formulas in part consider how users' content has performed in the past. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://dot.la/tiktok-wechat-rivals-cleaned-up-during-a-weekend-of-confusion-2647741538.html" target="_self">TikTok's future in the U.S. remains in limbo,</a> competitors have sought to lure creators and their followers with shiny incentives. Shortly after TikTok <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/introducing-the-200-million-tiktok-creator-fund" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched its $200 million creator fund</a> (which the company has said will grow to $1 billion within three years), Instagram <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/05/instagram-reels-launches-globally-in-over-50-countries-including-u-s/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rolled out Reels</a> globally, and reportedly sought to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-seeks-to-reel-in-tiktok-creators-raising-stakes-in-social-media-rivalry-11595928600" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">woo creators from TikTok with gobs of money</a>. Not to be outdone, Triller, <a href="https://dot.la/triller-2646853219.html" target="_self">another short-form social video competitor</a>, has reportedly attempted to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/style/triller-app-tiktok.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">attract top talent with luxurious meals, cars and mansions</a>. </p>
<p>Now it is Snap that is dangling money to try to tip the user-generated video scales in its direction. </p>
<p>Not that the company has been struggling. Since a <a href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2020/09/09/snapchat-vidcon-2020-user-profiles-analytics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">banner Q3 earnings report</a>, Snap's stock has soared nearly 60%. </p>
<p>Monday's announcement further illuminates a new contour in Snap's strategy, however: staking out a claim in the music-accompanied short-form user-generated video space. Spotlight will leverage Snap's <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-03/snap-lands-deals-with-top-music-companies-to-add-songs-to-videos?sref=4Kf8RwDw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recently inked music licensing deals</a>, which have already been used to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/15/21516348/snapchat-snap-sounds-music-ios-update" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">allow users to add songs to messages they send on Snapchat</a>. The new feature also presents a strong use case for <a href="https://dot.la/snap-acquires-voisey-2648998840.html" target="_self">Snap's acquisition last week of Voisey</a>, which allows users to easily create and upload songs of their own.</p>
<p>Spotlight also appears poised to bring new revenue streams to Snap. The nine-year-old company has never turned a profit. According to the new feature's terms of service, it "may contain advertisements," and the payouts made to top videos "may be funded either by Snap or from a portion of the proceeds we receive from advertisements distributed in Spotlight."</p>
<p>The feature is currently available in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the U.S., "with more countries to come soon," according to a representative. </p>
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Wixen Music Publishing has accused the social media video sharing platform Triller of illegally using its songs by Weezer, The Ramones, Styx and hundreds of other artists in the music publisher's 50,000-deep song catalog.
The case filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California claims Triller has infringed on Wixen's songs by making them available on the app without properly clearing them for use. Wixen is seeking over $50 million in damages for what the music publishing house calls willful copyright infringement by Triller.
Triller CEO Mike Lu dismissed the suit.
"This is nothing but a baseless shakedown and it won't work," he said.
<p>Lu pointed to separate lawsuits previously issued by Wixen, including a <a href="https://musically.com/2020/07/10/court-grants-motion-to-dismiss-wixen-pandora-complaint/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">protracted battle against Pandora</a> and a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Spotify that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18150197/spotify-wixen-lawsuit-settlement-dismissal-music-publishing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ended with an out-of-court settlement</a>.</p><p>"They already tried this with Spotify and Pandora. Is there any material payment to them in Spotify or Pandora's filings? I think not," Lu said. "We look forward to our day in court where hopefully we can stop them from doing this to others who may not have the resources to fight them and give in to their extortionist demands," Lu continued. </p><p>Social media companies have <a href="https://dot.la/article-17-2647841718.html" target="_self">increasingly been seeking deals with publishing companies</a> to avoid these kinds of disputes.</p><p>The Calabasas-based Wixen was founded in 1978 by Randall Wixen and administers the publishing rights for over 2,000 clients, several of whom are among this century's most popular musical acts.</p><p>Randall Wixen told dot.LA he had previously tried to engage Triller, but they weren't "serious" about working with the company. </p><p>"At one point they told us that fewer than five of our clients' songs were on their service, and we had already found hundreds of them," Wixen said. "How could they not know what songs were on their own platform or who controlled those songs? If they didn't know that, they shouldn't have been on Triller in the first place."</p><p>Triller has been <a href="https://dot.la/article-17-2647841718.html" target="_self">called out before as a potential infringer</a> by National Music Publishers' Association President David Israelite. Wixen is a member of NMPA.</p>Triller is also in the throes of litigation with TikTok, having <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-03/tiktok-s-latest-challenge-lies-in-a-patent-friendly-texas-court?sref=4Kf8RwDw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">accused its rival of patent infringement</a> on technology related to how the app synchronizes its user-generated videos with music. In response, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/tiktok-bytedance-sue-rival-triller.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">countersued</a>, asking for relief from the "cloud" Triller's accusations have cast over the company.
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TikTok can breathe easier after the government gave the viral video app until November 27 to finalize a deal that would allay the government's national security concerns.
The 15-day extension was granted, a filing on Friday showed, by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the entity monitoring foreign investments.
<p>It's the latest move in a series of delays from the Trump administration to finalize a divestment from the video-sharing platform and its Chinese parent company ByteDance. Trump for months <a data-linked-post="2647577095" href="https://dot.la/tiktok-ban-2647577095.html" target="_blank">has raised concern</a> over TikTok's threat to national security, alleging the company shares information with the Chinese government. TikTok and ByteDance deny that.</p><p>On Thursday, the Commerce Department <a href="https://dot.la/when-is-tiktok-getting-banned-2648879669.html" target="_self">announced it wouldn't enforce</a> an executive order that set the 12th as TikTok's last day to sell — the last day in a 90-day period. The decision referenced an earlier ruling in which a judge claimed the decision over a ban wasn't within the government's power. </p><p>That came after weeks of silence from the government, TikTok claims. </p><p>In September, TikTok proposed a plan with Walmart and computer software company Oracle that would mean TikTok becomes a U.S. headquartered company. Trump gave his blessing for the plan, but it hasn't been finalized. </p>
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