advertisement
FYI

Media Beat: August 30, 2021

Media Beat: August 30, 2021

By David Farrell

It’s not in your head: The world really is getting worse

Since the 1970s, wages, infrastructure, and the pace of technology have all stagnated. Can it be reversed? – Andrew Potter, The Walrus


Google Play app store’s almost shocking revenue generation

Alphabet Inc’s Google generated US$11.2B in revenue from its mobile app store in 2019, according to a court filing unsealed on Saturday, offering a clear view into the service’s financial results for the first time.

Attorneys general for Utah and 36 other U.S. states or districts suing Google over alleged antitrust violations with the app store also said in the newly unredacted filing that the business in 2019 had $8.5B in gross profit and $7B in operating income, for an operating margin of over 62%. – Paresh Dave, Reuters

advertisement

New blockchain music investment firm with a difference

Electronic dance music artist and producer Justin Blau, a.k.a 3LAU, stirred the music industry in February when he sold the world’s first-ever tokenized album, which grossed US$11.7M in under 24 hours and briefly held the record for the most expensive single non-fungible token ever sold. In total, the musician has earned over $20M from more than a dozen NFT auctions over the past year. 

Now he wants to enable fans to earn money alongside their favourite artists, establishing music as an investible asset class. – Nina Bambysheva, Forbes

A dark web scammer offering murder for sale

The dark web’s reputation as the lawless corner of the internet where anything from drugs, guns and even hit men can be bought has become modern urban legend. Recently released court documents reveal how one dark web broker claiming to offer murder-for-hire was a scammer acting as an FBI informant. – Thomas Brewster, Forbes

People are hiring out their faces to become deepfake-style marketing clones

Like many students, Liri has had several part-time jobs. A 23-year-old in Israel, she does waitressing and bartending gigs in Tel Aviv, where she goes to university.

She also sells cars, works in retail, and conducts job interviews and onboarding sessions for new employees as a corporate HR rep. In Germany.

advertisement

Liri can juggle so many jobs, in multiple countries, because she has hired out her face to Hour One, a startup that uses people’s likenesses to create AI-voiced characters that then appear in marketing and educational videos for organizations around the world. It is part of a wave of companies overhauling the way digital content is produced. And it has big implications for the human workforce. – William Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review

advertisement
Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett.

Diljit Dosanjh photographed by Lane Dorsey on July 15 in Toronto. Styling by Alecia Brissett. On Diljit: EYTYS jacket, Levi's jeans.

Music

Diljit Dosanjh Has Arrived: The Rise of a Global Star

The first time the Punjabi singer and actor came to Canada, he vowed to play at a stadium. With the Dil-Luminati Tour in 2024, he made it happen – setting a record in the process. As part of Billboard's Global No. 1s series, Dosanjh talks about his meteoric rise and his history-making year.

Throughout his history-making Dil-Luminati Tour, Diljit Dosanjh has a line that he’s repeated proudly on stage, “Punjabi Aa Gaye Oye” – or, “The Punjabis have arrived!”

The slogan has recognized not just the strides made by Diljit, but the doors his astounding success has opened for Punjabi music and culture.

keep readingShow less
advertisement