Hey folks!

They say when you’re young, you have time and health but no money. Middle age? Money, but no time. And old age brings time, but no health. This sums it up nicely:

The real dream? Having all three at once.

But what if someone bet on your future and gave you the money now, while you’re young?

This idea isn’t entirely new. Artists, entrepreneurs and businesses have always thrived by making smart use of trends, capital and time. And today, financing is reaching places we couldn’t have imagined just a decade ago — like buying rights to YouTube videos.

Yup! That’s how the creator economy is evolving, turning passion into business and creativity into an investable asset. One of the hottest trends? Licensing old videos.

Take Spotter, for instance. Amazon recently invested in this startup that buys rights to YouTube creators’ older content. Creators get upfront cash, while Spotter earns ad revenue on licensed videos. It’s a win-win. Creators get a financial boost at the right time, and Spotter bets on their continued success.

Since 2019, Spotter has invested nearly $940 million in creators like MrBeast and Dude Perfect. And with Amazon’s involvement isn’t just about money, it’s about expanding reach and opportunities. Picture YouTube creators extending their content to Prime Video, Twitch, or Amazon Live and creating a seamless ecosystem.

Spotter even launched Spotter Studio, which gives creators AI tools to help make more hit videos. And today, Spotter’s content clocks over 88 billion monthly watch-time minutes (1.4 billion hours/month), with 71% of that viewing happening on connected TV platforms.

But there could be some catches. See, the creator economy is all about attention, and attention is fickle. So, investing in creativity is a bit like betting on trends, and what’s in today might be out tomorrow. Licensing deals can also limit a creator’s freedom. What if they want to rebrand or take down content? Mixing creativity with contracts can be complicated.

Still, the future looks bright. Turning creativity into business is a bold move. Whether it’s a lasting model or a passing fad, it’s reshaping how we think about content, investment and creativity.

Here's a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Mundane by Mali (Maalavika Manoj)

Ready to roll?

What caught our eye this week 👀

What if Big Tech had to pay you for your data?

Imagine a world where every click, every purchase, every late-night food order earns you money. Sounds crazy, right?

But this could soon be a reality, thanks to Tim Berners-Lee — the inventor of the modern internet.

Yup! Lee’s working on a new project called Solid and it’s about taking back control. He’s building “pods” (personal online data stores) to securely store away your data. These pods let you decide who gets access. So yeah, no more Big Tech freely dipping into your personal life and profiting from it.

And this idea is sort of a throwback to his original dream for the internet — a space for sharing knowledge, not a playground for data exploitation.

You see, back in 1989, he created the World Wide Web to help scientists share information and communicate. But over time, the internet morphed into a data goldmine for tech giants. Today, your preferences, habits and even emotions fuel their algorithms and advertising revenues.

But pods can flip the script. If anyone wants to access your data, they’ll have to ask for permission. And this simply means that Big Tech might have to pay up. Some hospitals in Belgium are already using pods for storing patient data, since it also complies with Europe’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules.

Here’s the thing though. If pods become mainstream, it could shake up the AI (artificial intelligence) world. AI chatbots and algorithms thrive on data. And without easy access, training them could get expensive or even stall.

Could this derail Big Tech’s grand AI ambitions? Only time will tell.

Infographic 📊

This Day in Financial History 📜

30th of November 1982 – Michael Jackson released “Thriller”

On this day, Michael Jackson released Thriller, an album that’s still the best-selling album ever.

To put it simply, Thriller sold over 70 million copies around the world. The songs stayed on the Billboard charts for more than 500 weeks. The album also won eight Grammy Awards in 1984. It was the kind of success that didn’t just pump up Jackson’s career but also established him as the King of Pop.

But what happened after the album came out was just as amazing.

Michael was inspired by John Landis’ horror-comedy movie An American Werewolf in London. He contacted Landis with a big idea — to make a music video for the album’s title song. Landis suggested they make it even bigger — a short film. Michael loved this idea, and the result was a 13-minute short film that changed music videos forever.

Landis set the short film in a haunting world of ghosts and ghouls, with even Michael transforming into one of the undead, featuring an unforgettable dance sequence. With its mix of uncanny elements, iconic choreography and special effects, it’s no wonder the video went on to top all the charts and broke all the records.

But it wasn’t cheap to make. The budget was a whopping $900,000, unheard of for a music video in the 80s. But its popularity nudged MTV and Showtime to shell out big bucks for exclusive rights, covering most of the costs. It didn’t stop there. It went on to create a market for VHS (Video Home System) as it sold over 1,00,000 orders.

Michael and his team even hoped to win an Oscar. To qualify, the short film needed to be shown in theatres for at least a week. So, they arranged for it to be shown in Westwood, California, along with Disney’s Fantasia. Even though they didn’t win an Oscar, Thriller made history in its own way.

Even after forty years, Thriller is still unforgettable. A perfect example of what can happen when creativity, ambition and music come together.

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, our friend Zahra Ejaz is back with a movie recommendation — Taxi Driver, the 1976 classic about Travis Bickle, a disturbed loner suffering from insomnia. Taking a job as a New York City taxi driver, he becomes increasingly detached from reality and dreams of cleaning up the city’s corruption, imagining himself as a real-life superhero.

Thanks for the rec, Zahra!

Finshots Weekly Quiz 🧩

It’s time to announce the winners of our last two weekly quizzes. And the winners are…🥁

Pranit Raje. Congratulations! Keep an eye on your inbox and we’ll get in touch with you soon to send over your Finshots merch. And for the rest of you, we’ve moved the quiz to our weekly wrapup. So make sure you answer all the questions correctly by 12 noon on December 7, 2024 (Saturday) and tune in here next week to check if you got lucky.

Anyway, that’s it from us this week. We’ll see you next Sunday!

Until then, don’t forget to tell us what you thought of today’s newsletter. And send us your book, music, business movies, documentaries or podcast recommendations. We’ll feature them in the newsletter! Just hit reply to this email (or if you’re reading this on the web, drop us a message: morning@finshots.in).

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The Tata Group has spent thousands of crores on buying Taiwanese companies, but why? 🤔

Well, it looks like they want to become a critical part of Apple’s supply chain. All the companies they are buying are iPhone manufacturers. They spent over ₹1000 crores on buying Wistron and have also got into a 60-40 joint venture with Pegatron.

But why is a company that built its legacy on heavy industries like steel and power trying to be a glorified phone assembler?!

Find out in this video of FinshotsTV.