Welcome to the CultTech Digest, your go-to source for the latest updates at the intersection of culture and technology. From groundbreaking inventions to innovative projects to cutting-edge sales and juridical regulations, we've got you covered. Here's the main news on culttech and AI in the first half of December 2023.
Breakr, a creator-to-creator platform used by Nas and Ozzy Ozbourne, raises more capital and pays $3.5m to its users
Breakr is a community platform for creators, mostly in the music industry. It links record labels, artists and brands with social media influencers. For instance, if you’re a musician, you can find an influencer with a huge Tik-Tok audience who’s ready to employ your song in one of their videos — for a certain price, of course. The same goes for bigger promo campaigns that involve big names, brands and record labels.
In 2021 Breakr closed a record $4.2 million round. Since then, the startup has attracted around 30,000 influencers and managed more than $3.5 million in creator transactions. It seems like this is just the beginning: the company looks very attractive for the investors: Breakr has raised $8.7 million from Marc Benioff, a16z/TxO, ex-CEO of Tik Tok Kevin Mayer, RGA Ventures, Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Complex founder Rich Antoniello, Lo Toney (Plexo Capital), Anthony Selah (WndrCo) and Quiet Capital.
Impressive, right? The total valuation of Breakr is now $20 million, whilst the list of musicians working with the platform includes Megan Thee Stallion, Future, Rick Ross, Ozzy Ozbourne and Nas (who is also an investor himself). Co-founder Anthony Brown told TechCrunch:
In 2021 Breakr closed a record $4.2 million round. Since then, the startup has attracted around 30,000 influencers and managed more than $3.5 million in creator transactions. It seems like this is just the beginning: the company looks very attractive for the investors: Breakr has raised $8.7 million from Marc Benioff, a16z/TxO, ex-CEO of Tik Tok Kevin Mayer, RGA Ventures, Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Complex founder Rich Antoniello, Lo Toney (Plexo Capital), Anthony Selah (WndrCo) and Quiet Capital.
Impressive, right? The total valuation of Breakr is now $20 million, whilst the list of musicians working with the platform includes Megan Thee Stallion, Future, Rick Ross, Ozzy Ozbourne and Nas (who is also an investor himself). Co-founder Anthony Brown told TechCrunch:
Breakr wants to be the Google Ad Words, powered by creators. We believe that with underlying audience data, mass liquidity and intelligence capabilities, it should be as easy to come into Breakr and spend $15,000 as it is to set it and forget it on Google.
Medallion, a service for artists to connect with fans, raises $13.7m
Connecting artists and fans is one of the main challenges in the modern music industry. Seems like every year, there’s another attempt at establishing another platform that would shift things around a bit. One of the biggest recent players (apart from services like Spotify, but we’re not going to count it as a community platform) — Medallion, has recently raised $13.7 million in Series A funding, co-led by Dragonfly and Lightspeed Faction.
The range Medallion’s functions is pretty obvious: it’s a hub where artists can promote album releases, release tour dates and merch drops, as well as sell digital collectables and share exclusive fan-tailored content. On top of that, artists can customise their digital space with their own colour theme, background and more. For now, the platform is being used by 20 musicians, including Jungle, Disclosure, and Sigur Ros. Matt Jones, co-founder and CEO of Medallion says:
The range Medallion’s functions is pretty obvious: it’s a hub where artists can promote album releases, release tour dates and merch drops, as well as sell digital collectables and share exclusive fan-tailored content. On top of that, artists can customise their digital space with their own colour theme, background and more. For now, the platform is being used by 20 musicians, including Jungle, Disclosure, and Sigur Ros. Matt Jones, co-founder and CEO of Medallion says:
While streaming has opened up access to music and social media and created new channels for direct distribution, the full potential of direct artist-to-fan connections has not been realised. Medallion’s artist-centric approach and emphasis on digitally native fan experiences are helping usher in a new, transformative period for artists.
Podimo, a breakthrough podcasting platform, secures a €44m funding deal
Podcasting today is a huge thing: half a billion listeners around the world, Joe Rogan’s deal with Spotify (which is estimated at $200m) — yet it definitely feels that the industry is yet to develop a lot more: both in terms of content and distribution. Take Podimo, a Copenhagen-based podcasting startup that’s built around a Netflix-style monthly subscription fee. Recently, Podimo raised €44m, which they plan to invest in enhancing production tools, expanding its distribution network alongside its own platform and going deeper into localisation.
Podimo is available in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland and Latin America — where a monthly subscription is charged at 5 to 7 dollars — and the plan is to add more countries to that list.
The main factor that distinguishes Podimo from other platforms is the ability to produce content right on the platform and then distribute it on Podimo — as well as any other podcasting platforms as well. And just like Netflix, which subscription model Podimo employs, the service is aiming at local markets, which means producing more content in different languages and providing more localised information to people.
Podimo is available in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland and Latin America — where a monthly subscription is charged at 5 to 7 dollars — and the plan is to add more countries to that list.
The main factor that distinguishes Podimo from other platforms is the ability to produce content right on the platform and then distribute it on Podimo — as well as any other podcasting platforms as well. And just like Netflix, which subscription model Podimo employs, the service is aiming at local markets, which means producing more content in different languages and providing more localised information to people.
Crypto is dead, some say? Yet, hackers stole $2 billion in crypto in 2023
Cryptocurrency portfolio tracker and security firm De.Fi released their report on the year 2023. According to it, hackers made away with $2 billion USD in cryptocurrency last year. Among some of the worst attacks listed was a September attack against Mixin Network, a blockchain security consultancy, that resulted in the loss of over $200 million USD in assets. De.Fi wrote in its report, which the firm shared with TechCrunch:
This amount, though dispersed across various incidents, underscores the persistent vulnerabilities and challenges within the DeFi ecosystem. 2023 stood as a testament to both the ongoing vulnerabilities and the strides made in addressing them, even as interest in the space was relatively muted by the ongoing bear market in the first half of the year.
Overall, if we are to draw any conclusions, web3 security, as an industry, still has a lot of issues that need ironing out before it can safeguard crypto and NFTs.
France proposed a tax on music streaming services. Spotify pulls support from 2 festivals and promises more action in 2024
On December 14th, Emmanuel Macron announced that France will tax companies like Spotify “based on a very low rate of levy on the turnover of the streaming platforms.” The Centre National de la Musique (CNM), which was created in 2020 to support stakeholders across the French music industry, has campaigned for a tax on streaming platforms.
This tax will impose a levy of what is expected to be between 1.5 and 1.75% on all music-streaming services, with the proceeds going toward CNM. While all the major music-streaming platforms have come together in opposition to the new law, including Apple, Google’s YouTube and local player Deezer, Spotify has been the most vocal, says TechCrunch.
The Swedish company has already pulled support from 2 festivals — Francofolies de la Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges — and promises more action in 2024. Experts say that Spotify will probably disinvest in France in favour of other markets in order to absorb the tax.
This tax will impose a levy of what is expected to be between 1.5 and 1.75% on all music-streaming services, with the proceeds going toward CNM. While all the major music-streaming platforms have come together in opposition to the new law, including Apple, Google’s YouTube and local player Deezer, Spotify has been the most vocal, says TechCrunch.
The Swedish company has already pulled support from 2 festivals — Francofolies de la Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges — and promises more action in 2024. Experts say that Spotify will probably disinvest in France in favour of other markets in order to absorb the tax.
Source: Euronews
CultTech recs: best articles to read in full
A.I. can make art that feels human. Whose fault is that? An essay by Jason Farago
Jason Farago from the New York Times wrote a critical essay on the entangled relations between culture and artificial intelligence. Why does art made by AI feel human? And will it dehumanise culture as such? And, finally, is there a possibility that the main threat is not machines trying to pass themselves as humans, but rather the opposite — humans trying to act like machines? In the end, Farago reaches the conclusion that technologies are just tools for human flourishing. Though, we recommend you read the article in full.
More info: New York Times
More info: New York Times
How AI-created fakes are taking business from online influencers
Several years ago, we first faced digital models. And even though it all sounded fun and futuristic, nobody really perceived them as a threat (to traditional human models). Now, please welcome AI-generated influencers — some of them already being paid by big brands, such as Victoria’s Secret, to promote their products. For instance, an Instagram analysis of an H&M advert featuring virtual influencer Kuki found that it reached 11 times more people and resulted in a 91 per cent decrease in cost per person remembering the advert, compared with a traditional ad. What will other brands do next? Is it ethical to use AI-generated influencers for marketing reasons? Read the full article below.
Read more: Financial Times
Read more: Financial Times
Austria, startups and semiconductors
«“A.I. could help you write 100 books in a year!” they say. My question is always: Will A.I. produce 100 times as many readers?», — wonders Lincoln Michel in his article for The New Republic. The author ponders the aftereffects of artificial intelligence and reaches a conclusion: the real problem is not the AI but human greed and capitalism. How do we control the neverending torrent of AI-generated content? The tech industry’s only solution is more A.I. A.I. editors editing A.I. writers for A.I. magazines. But who is going to read any of this? Read the full article via the link below.
Read more: New Republic
Read more: New Republic
