D'Amelios raise $6M

Read Time3 min 57 sec

What’s up everyone! Welcome to our channel. This is Creator Business. We’re the newsletter that will always pat you on the back for uploading a video on time.

Here’s what the algorithm was pushing last week:

• The D’Amelio Family raises $6 million for a new venture

• KSI can finally make money on YouTube for the first time in years

• Forbes releases their Top 50 Creators list

D’Amelio Family Raises $6M; Launches D’Amelio Brands

While Charli D’Amelio and her mother Heidi are prepping for Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars, Dixie D’Amelio and her father Marc have been doing interviews to announce a new mega-brand for the family, D’Amelio Brands. Here’s what you need to know.

D’Amelio Brands sounds like an Italian CPG company. Is the family getting into the tomato sauce game?

Not exactly.

• D’Amelio Brands is set up to be a “house of brands” that will allow the D’Amelio family to raise funds for starting a variety of different brands that they will own.

• Marc D’Amelio said the plan is to start by focusing on skincare and footwear.

Can I get a refresher on what a “house of brands” is?

Sure, we got you. A “house of brands” is where “each brand has its own brand identity, often representing a separate demographic, need, or occasion.” “House of brands” can commonly be confused with “branded house,” where “smaller sub-brands are all marketed and operated under the umbrella of the parent brand.” Here’s an example of each of these.

"House of Brands"

"Branded House"

Benefits of a “house of brands”:

• Wider reach across multiple demographics• Larger safety net; each brand can be more risky, knowing they have others to fall back on• Greater focus and optimization for each individual brand’s target market

Who participated in the funding round?

• Eddie Cue, SVP of Services at Apple• Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate• Michael Rubin, CEO of Fanatics• Richard Rosenblatt, Co-Chairman at Autograph• United Talent Agency

Reacting To: D'Amelio Brands

We at Creator Business loved hearing Marc describe how Charli went from $50 brand deals to bigger deals, equity deals, and eventually launching their own brands. The D’Amelio Family has grown to a point where they fail to capture enough value to make brand deals worthwhile in the long run. It’s billionaire season in the creator economy, and the D’Amelios are leading the way.

KSI’s Multi-Year YouTube Revenue Drought Comes to an End

If you didn’t already know, KSI isn’t only a YouTuber and boxer but also a growing musical artist. He has 6.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify! In 2019 he signed with Bertelsmann Music Group. Still, the contract kept him from earning any money from YouTube until this September. Let us explain.

The music industry, a brief explanation

Here’s how it works when you sign with a big record label (in general):

1. The record label gives you a huge loan.

2. Artists use the loan to fund creating and distributing their music, among other things.

3. The record label keeps 100% of the money earned from your music until your loan is paid back.

4. After this, record labels will keep a percentage, sometimes as high as 95%, of all earnings from recorded music sales. If the record deal is a 360 deal, record labels take a cut of the earnings from all of an artist’s revenue stream (i.e. shows).

How does this apply to KSI?

KSI explained in an interview with Steve-O how his deal works. It’s largely the same as mentioned above (although no word on what % BMG keeps from earnings after the loan is paid back), except:

• The deal also included KSI’s YouTube Ad Revenue (Google AdSense) as part of what the label collects on KSI’s behalf to pay back the loan.

• The YouTube part of the deal ends this September (explained in another video).

So you’re telling me KSI hasn’t kept a single cent from Google AdSense on YouTube since 2019?

Yep.

Reacting To: KSI’s YouTube Monetization

The fact that KSI continued to upload on his more fan-focused second channel this entire time shows the value of maintaining a close connection with your audience. This value could even supersede money that can be made from YouTube Ad Revenue. But now that he’s back to earning money, it’ll be exciting to see what’s next for his channel.

This would be a great place for a sponsor

We personally can’t think of a better spot to advertise to those building in the creator economy. So if you’re interested in sponsoring this newsletter, email our editor-in-chief, Calvin, at [email protected] and let’s chat!

Forbes Releases Top Creators List

Forbes tried their best to make a Top 50 most powerful creators list. The list was created by scoring creators on three categories: earnings, clout and entrepreneurship.

You can check out the full ranking here, but we’ll give you a good summary below:

• Top YouTuber: Mr. Beast

• Overall rank: 1

• 2021 Earnings: $54M

• Top TikToker: Charli D’Amelio

• Overall rank: 2

• 2021 Earnings: $17.5M

• Top Streamer: xQC

• Overall rank: 12

• 2021 Earnings: $8M

• Top Podcaster: Alexandra Cooper

• Overall rank: 3

• 2021 Earnings: $20M

Reacting To: Top 50 Creators

The rankings, especially in the 40-50 range, are highly questionable as to who made the cut and who didn’t. Regardless, the fact that Forbes made this list is probably more important than most of the list itself. “Creators” are going mainstream, and we’re loving it.

Also on the FYP

• Ninja is now streaming literally everywhere.

• Kim Kardashian launches a private equity firm.

• How "Corn Kid" took over the internet.

That's all for now. See ya next week!

About Calvin Caracciolo, Editor-in-Chief of Creator Business

Calvin Caracciolo is a content creator who keeps you up to date with the fast-moving world of business in the creator economy. He’s also a really great guy!

Contact him about anything creator economy related at [email protected]. Follow him at tiktok.com/@calvincaracciolo and subscribe to his YouTube channel if Shorts are more of your thing.