1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:06,990 - I'm Fast Company editor, Amy Farley, 2 00:00:06,990 --> 00:00:09,190 and we're here today to talk about the trends 3 00:00:09,190 --> 00:00:12,860 in our 2022 list of the world's most innovative companies. 4 00:00:12,860 --> 00:00:16,012 I have with me Fast Company editor, KC Ifeanyi. 5 00:00:16,012 --> 00:00:18,680 KC, you oversaw both the music 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:20,250 and the social media list this year. 7 00:00:20,250 --> 00:00:21,890 So, I'd love to hear from you, 8 00:00:21,890 --> 00:00:24,050 what stood out as sort of a big trend 9 00:00:24,050 --> 00:00:25,380 on the music list this year? 10 00:00:25,380 --> 00:00:27,100 - I've been presiding over the music list 11 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:29,660 for some years now, and one thing that I always see 12 00:00:29,660 --> 00:00:32,197 in the companies that we spotlight are, 13 00:00:32,197 --> 00:00:36,050 those that are either having tools and resources, 14 00:00:36,050 --> 00:00:37,750 or building new companies entirely 15 00:00:37,750 --> 00:00:40,790 that are catering to smaller artists, independent artists. 16 00:00:40,790 --> 00:00:42,060 - So what are some of the companies this year 17 00:00:42,060 --> 00:00:43,440 that illustrate that trend? 18 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:44,273 - Yeah. 19 00:00:44,273 --> 00:00:47,150 So, one that I'm excited for this year is SoundCloud. 20 00:00:47,150 --> 00:00:48,140 And they are, I think, 21 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:50,020 they're four time honorary on the MIC list. 22 00:00:50,020 --> 00:00:51,960 What I'm really, really excited about from them, 23 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,830 are fan-powered royalties. 24 00:00:53,830 --> 00:00:55,990 So, as we know, the music industry, 25 00:00:55,990 --> 00:00:57,390 as it stands with streaming, 26 00:00:57,390 --> 00:01:00,200 they've gotten a lot of dings for 27 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:01,750 really paying peanuts to artists. 28 00:01:01,750 --> 00:01:03,270 And like when you're a huge artist, 29 00:01:03,270 --> 00:01:04,780 that doesn't really matter 30 00:01:04,780 --> 00:01:06,780 'cause you make a lot of money from touring and merch, 31 00:01:06,780 --> 00:01:07,613 and things like that. 32 00:01:07,613 --> 00:01:09,390 So, when you're a smaller artist, 33 00:01:09,390 --> 00:01:11,160 every penny counts. 34 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,400 And so, with fan-powered royalties from SoundCloud, 35 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,450 there's more direct payments that go to the artist. 36 00:01:17,450 --> 00:01:19,440 So, instead of it being a pro rata model 37 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,330 or a subscription model, like Spotify or Apple Music, 38 00:01:22,330 --> 00:01:23,540 with fan-powered royalties, 39 00:01:23,540 --> 00:01:26,260 every stream that you give an artist goes directly to them, 40 00:01:26,260 --> 00:01:27,310 what they earn from that. 41 00:01:27,310 --> 00:01:29,230 - I was really excited about this company Vampr. 42 00:01:29,230 --> 00:01:30,420 Can you explain? 43 00:01:30,420 --> 00:01:31,410 - Yeah. 44 00:01:31,410 --> 00:01:32,243 - Can you explain what they do? 45 00:01:32,243 --> 00:01:35,030 - Yeah, so, Vampr is basically LinkedIn for musicians. 46 00:01:35,030 --> 00:01:37,730 It's a dedicated social network for musicians. 47 00:01:37,730 --> 00:01:39,810 And one thing that I really liked about the company, 48 00:01:39,810 --> 00:01:41,140 is that oftentimes, 49 00:01:41,140 --> 00:01:42,400 and there's nothing wrong with this at all, 50 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:44,329 but I feel like so often people use 51 00:01:44,329 --> 00:01:46,470 existing social media platforms 52 00:01:46,470 --> 00:01:47,640 to connect with other people. 53 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,060 You know, they use TikTok, or Instagram 54 00:01:49,060 --> 00:01:50,420 or whatever to find each other. 55 00:01:50,420 --> 00:01:51,590 But with Vampr, 56 00:01:51,590 --> 00:01:53,490 it's a dedicated platform for that. 57 00:01:53,490 --> 00:01:55,160 And since they launched in 2020, 58 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,460 they have 1.1 million followers and subscribers right now. 59 00:01:58,460 --> 00:01:59,910 - Okay, so turning to, sort of, 60 00:01:59,910 --> 00:02:01,799 the creator economy on the social media list, 61 00:02:01,799 --> 00:02:04,660 you were really bullish about this company called Koji. 62 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:05,493 - Yeah. 63 00:02:05,493 --> 00:02:06,326 - Can you tell me why? 64 00:02:06,326 --> 00:02:07,159 - Koji's really cool. 65 00:02:07,159 --> 00:02:09,920 I remember I profiled Koji when they first launched, 66 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:12,060 and it, they had this huge pivot. 67 00:02:12,060 --> 00:02:13,230 So, they started off as a company 68 00:02:13,230 --> 00:02:16,371 that was really about making basically web games, 69 00:02:16,371 --> 00:02:18,600 but they made a pivot toward becoming 70 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,310 a LinkedIn bio service. 71 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:23,170 And so, we've seen this field really being dominated 72 00:02:23,170 --> 00:02:24,003 by Linktree. 73 00:02:24,003 --> 00:02:25,860 That's kind of like the major player in this space. 74 00:02:25,860 --> 00:02:26,693 You can do like shoutouts, 75 00:02:26,693 --> 00:02:27,600 like personalized shoutouts, 76 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,110 like we've seen with, like, companies like Cameo. 77 00:02:29,110 --> 00:02:31,296 You can do that directly from your LinkedIn bio. 78 00:02:31,296 --> 00:02:32,129 - Wow. 79 00:02:32,129 --> 00:02:34,020 - You can actually rent billboard space 80 00:02:34,020 --> 00:02:34,853 in your LinkedIn bio. 81 00:02:34,853 --> 00:02:36,770 So, if you're, if you're popping enough creator, 82 00:02:36,770 --> 00:02:38,177 you can say like, "hey," you know, 83 00:02:38,177 --> 00:02:40,440 "I can, you can leverage my 84 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,230 thousands of fans here," 85 00:02:42,230 --> 00:02:43,820 and you can, like, I can rent space 86 00:02:43,820 --> 00:02:44,670 or whatever you want to do. 87 00:02:44,670 --> 00:02:47,320 You could be like, you know, Amy's star blouses, 88 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:48,960 like, you know, I wanna sell that. 89 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:50,197 - They're pretty fabulous. 90 00:02:50,197 --> 00:02:51,150 They're pretty fabulous. 91 00:02:51,150 --> 00:02:51,983 - So yeah. 92 00:02:51,983 --> 00:02:53,780 So, I think it was, I thought it was really, really cool 93 00:02:53,780 --> 00:02:56,650 that they're, kind of, turbo charging the LinkedIn BioSpace. 94 00:02:56,650 --> 00:02:58,470 I was really excited about that company. 95 00:02:58,470 --> 00:02:59,303 - That's fascinating. 96 00:02:59,303 --> 00:03:02,740 I mean, you can commoditize any part of your social media. 97 00:03:02,740 --> 00:03:04,530 - When you say like that, it sounds kind of creepy, 98 00:03:04,530 --> 00:03:06,510 but I mean, honestly, when you're a creator, you kind, 99 00:03:06,510 --> 00:03:07,720 you need to think in that way. 100 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:08,960 You need to really think about 101 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,590 where are all the revenue streams that I can tap into. 102 00:03:11,590 --> 00:03:13,480 And Koji really has created a, 103 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,120 a really nice lane for that. 104 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,946 - Well, KC, it is a pleasure to work with you on MIC, 105 00:03:18,946 --> 00:03:22,030 and I love having a chance to get your perspective on these 106 00:03:22,030 --> 00:03:22,979 industries. So, Thank you. 107 00:03:22,979 --> 00:03:25,146 - Thank you for having me.