Social Media Today reports: “As it looks to add more ways to help creators to build their presence, and monetize their work in the app, Facebook is launching a new ’Creator Collaborations’ feature, which will enable creators to collaborate with others on content to expand their reach.”
Music Business Worldwide reports: “UMG has acquired Frank Zappa’s recordings, publishing catalog, film archive, and the complete contents of The Vault, the storage facility that houses the late Zappa’s life’s work. The acquisition also includes Frank Zappa’s name and likeness. UMG hasn’t disclosed the price of the deal.”
Tech Crunch reports: “Retail Rocket, a retention management platform for brands, today announced that it raised $24 million in a Series A round led by Cyprus-based private equity fund Flintera. In addition to the fundraising, Retail Rocket revealed that it acquired SailPlay, a startup developing software to help retailers build loyalty programs and send mass message campaigns.”
Hollywood Reporter reports: “The streaming wars will get a new competitor next month. TelevisaUnivision says that it will launch its Spanish-language SVOD service ViX+ on July 21, initially in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America. The service will cost $6.99 per month in the U.S. and MX$119 in Mexico.”
Variety reports: “Kevin Hart is the latest celeb hopping on the NFT bandwagon. The popular actor-comedian-entrepreneur is looking to extend his brand to fans who get excited about non-fungible tokens — and he’s angling to make some extra bucks, too. Hart will plant his flag in the Web3 metaverse starting with next month’s premiere of Roku original “Confessions From the Hart,” a 30-minute animated anthology based on his Instagram IGTV series of the same name.”
Games Industry Biz reports: “Fire Emblem Heroes has become the first Nintendo mobile title to reach $1 billion in lifetime global player spending, making it the most successful Fire Emblem game to date across platforms. According to Sensor Tower’s latest report, Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp were tied as Nintendo’s second most successful mobile games.”
NextTV reports: “The SiriusXM app has become the latest native addition to Comcast’s Xfinity X1, Flex and XClass TV platforms. Users of these TVOS systems will have native voice control access to 425 ad-free satellite radio SiriusXM channels, along with flagship personality Howard Stern. They’ll also be offered a three-month-free signup promotion. Existing SiriusXM customers just need to sign in with their credentials to use their account on their Comcast devices.”
Music Business Worldwide reports: “The roll-out follows a beta launch in May. DistroVid lets artists upload an unlimited number of music videos for a fixed fee, and artists keep 100% of their earnings from the videos that they upload through the service. The launch partners for the new tool include Apple Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL and Vevo and DistroKid says that more digital service providers are expected to come online in the coming months.”
Tech Crunch reports: “Walmart is expanding its array of virtual try-on services for shoppers with today’s news that it’s planning to acquire Memomi, an AR optical tech company and current Walmart partner offering virtual try-on experience for eyewear. Deal terms were not disclosed, but Memomi has enabled digital measurements for all Walmart and Sam’s Club customers since 2019, the retailer said.”
Variety reports: “We already have Disney+, Apple TV+, ESPN+, BET+, Discovery+ and others — now the latest in the “plus” category is Snapchat+, looking to snap up a portion of consumers’ discretionary income. Snap on Wednesday launched Snapchat+, described as providing “a collection of exclusive, experimental and pre-release features” available in Snapchat for $3.99 per month.”
