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Ripple effect. This week in Montana, a student-led lawsuit wrapped up its closing arguments against the state for failing to rein in the development of fossil fuels and slow climate change. While the historic case (dubbed Held v. Montana) was the first of its kind ever to go to trial, we doubt it will be its last. Some experts believe even if the lawsuit is thrown out, it may set the stage for similar legal action in other parts of the country.
In other news… Instagram launches a Twitter competitor, Sofar Sounds turns up the volume on secret shows, and viral fashion trends hit the retail rack.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram unrolls Threads
The Future. In a surprise, early release, Threads is now available for iOS and Android in over 100 countries. While Threads may be nothing more than Meta’s classic formula of copying and pasting the functionality of rival apps, the built-in user base and a commitment to keeping features consistent could make Instagram the ecosystem to share your photos and hot takes.
The new nest?
Meta wants to take Twitter’s throne with the rollout of its new text-based app Threads.
Users can simply connect their IG accounts to the new platform to get started.
Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include videos up to five minutes.
Considering Instagram already has two billion monthly active users, Threads’ user count may eclipse Twitter’s 330 million in a short time.
It also gives users a Twitter competitor that’s connected to the “fediverse” — the decentralized social media protocol that Mastodon is also a part of.
Threads is dropping just as Twitter is wrapping up a pretty chaotic weekend, thanks to the implementation of “temporary rate limits” that capped how many tweets users could view per day, putting the popular TweetDeck tool behind the Twitter Blue paywall, and losing many users to Bluesky — a Twitter-incubated platform that Musk cut funding to.
If Threads doesn’t quite take off, maybe there’s no replacing Twitter… maybe it’s just the beginning of the end of the social networking era.
MUSIC
Courtesy of Sofar Sounds
Sofar Sounds tunes up pop-up concerts
The Future. Sofar Sounds wants to turn up the volume on the secret pop-up concert concept. The goal, according to CEO Jim Lucchese, is to create a “global grassroots community” around live music. With the post-COVID live music scene mostly working in favor of superstar acts, and streaming platforms surfacing artists you already know, Sofar may have the setlist to become the de facto IRL discovery platform.
Seating room only
Although it’s been around since 2009, Sofar Sounds is ramping up for a busy 2023.
The company, which stands for “Sounds from a Room,” intends to put together 10,000 concerts this year — a big jump from the 6,000 it hosted in 2022.
The pay is minimal — Sofar Sounds pays artists $100 to $150 for a 25-minute set, and artists collect 70% of the ticket profits (tickets are capped at $30).
But the secretive nature (locations are announced one day in advance, and the audience doesn’t know who’s playing until they walk onstage) allows small acts to gain exposure to a paying audience that may have never heard of them.
Sofar Sounds has already put on events — mostly in living rooms or small commercial spaces — in 78 countries, focusing on the US, UK, and Australia.
Tiny names like Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran even graced Sofar stages years ago… so you never know which secret act may become a bonafide breakthrough.
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FASHION
Trends on trends on trends // Illustration by Kate Walker
The internet gives fashion trends 15 seconds of fame
The Future. The grassroots nature of TikTok has made fashion trends seem to appear out of nowhere, as opposed to being handed down the mountaintop by one of the premiere French fashion houses. But just because a trend blows up doesn’t mean people will suddenly rush to buy new products. If anything, the fleeting makeup of organic fashion trends may be better looked at as a viral marketing opportunity than a need for a product strategy shift.
Viral the runway
Business of Fashion spoke with experts on what creates and sustains a fashion trend.
When a trend pops up on TikTok, it can last anywhere from a few weeks to years — depending on the accessibility of the trend.
And trends seem to oppose each other, which is how culture is both obsessed with “barbiecore” and “quiet luxury” simultaneously.
That’s because trends are sometimes a conversation between trends or between customers, brands, and celebrities — call it a fashion remix.
And when a trend really takes off, it typically branches off into niche subtrends.
But retailers can rely on one thing: trends that last are typically tied to major moments in pop culture. Cases in point: barbiecore (the upcoming Barbie movie), quiet luxury (Succession), and cottagecore (Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore, and the game Animal Crossing).
Maybe the best way to catch what will be a trend early is to check the release calendar.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is on track to gross $1.4 billion, beating Elton John’s record $887 million for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. Read more → variety
Renowned authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad brought a class action lawsuit against OpenAI for training ChatGPT on hundreds of thousands of copyrighted novels. Read more → thr
Busan, South Korea is opening a high school dedicated to creating K-Pop stars. Read more → hypebeast
Fashion & E-Commerce
TikTok has been testing TikTok Shop in Indonesia to turn it into a formidable Amazon competitor. Read more → bloomberg
Beyoncé is collaborating with Canadian retailer Holt Renfrew on the Renaissance Flagship — a merchandise collection that coincides with her tour kicking off in North America. Read more → thr
Lamborghini announced it’s officially sold out of its supply of fully gas-powered cars as it begins a full-scale transition to hybrids and EVs. Read more → insider
Tech, Web3, & AI
MSG and Sphere Entertainment have started testing the wraparound 16K LED screen of its imposing Sphere venue in Las Vegas prior to U2’s residency. Read more → engadget
Millennials and Gen Xers are leading the charge in adopting generative AI platforms in the US. Read more → fastcompany
Arizona’s groundwater is drying up because of how much is used by tech companies relying on it to cool data centers. Read more → insider
Creator Economy
#BookTok has become such a phenomenon that TikTok-owner ByteDance is launching its own publishing company. Read more → nyt
If you can’t catch a Taylor Swift concert, a legion of livestreamers have got you covered (if you really can’t miss a show). Read more → wsj
It turns out that just putting “#ad” or “#sponsored” in your sponsored post description is not good enough for the FTC. Read more → tubefilter
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Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Darline Salazar.