Instagram just announced an expansion of the Instagram Creator Marketplace, a program the company introduced to select U.S. users in 2022. Meanwhile, Livvy Dunne just signed a major deal with a platform aiming to diversify content creator revenue streams. Oh, and the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef is an unexpected boon for creators.
Let's dive in.
The Instagram Creator Marketplace is a place to facilitate paid partnerships between content creators on Instagram and companies looking for influencers and other types of creators. Meta first introduced the program to select U.S. users back in 2022. At the time, creators needed to receive an invite to participate in the program.
Then, Meta opened up the program to thousands of additional brands and creators, followed by eight additional countries in February 2024 — Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Brazil, and Canada.
Now, the Instagram Creator Marketplace is open to an additional 10 countries. Content creators in South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Israel, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina and Indonesia all now have access to the platform. Notably, China doesn't have Instagram — but Chinese companies are allowed to access to platform to hire creators.
You can learn more about the Instagram Creator Marketplace here.
One of the most successful athletes in the NIL era to date, LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne just signed a big deal with a company looking to add more diverse revenue streams for content creators. Dunne has already done deals with several global brands, including Vuori, Forever 21, Grubhub, and more. Now, she's adding creator platform Passes to the list.
Dunne's reported multi-million dollar deal with Passes means she'll be using the platform to provide behind-the-scenes looks to her fans. It also, apparently, puts her second on the list of top NIL earners behind Shedeur Sanders.
In addition to Dunne, Passes has endorsements with entertainers like DJ Kygo, TikTok star Emma Norton, therapist Therapy Jeff, and magician Anna DeGuzman. Each creator provides a different service to their followers, and they all keep about 90 percent of their earnings. Passes takes 10 percent plus $0.30 per transaction.
According to the company, Passes has already paid out tens of millions of dollars to creators, with some creators on pace to earn over $1 million in a year. Not bad for a company that's not even two years old. (If you're curious how Passes can afford to pay millions of dollars to content creators to use the platform, well, their recent $40 million Series A probably has something to do with it).
Sure, the Instagram Creator Marketplace and Passes may be structured ways for content creators to earn more revenue, but sometimes you find it in the unexpected places, too. Like in one of the most high-profile rap beefs in decades.
According to Newsweek, Kendrick Lamar and Drake reportedly removed copyright restrictions on diss tracks aimed at each other. This means content creators can use their songs in various content without fear of repercussions of a DMCA strike or muted audio — which means fans are free to weigh in on the beef with their own monetized hot takes using the audio.
Some creators took to social media to announce that the copyright restrictions have been lifted from their videos featuring the songs. That means they're able to directly monetize those videos, which can be a big boon on platforms like YouTube, where creators can earn pretty decent ad revenue on videos.
While the feud itself may or may not be a lighthearted matter (depending on how you feel about artists releasing diss tracks and a history of very real consequences behind them, it's cool of the artists to remove copyright restrictions on fans who want to analyze and talk about the songs.
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