The Reading Garden: 2/21/25
Welcome back to The Reading Garden, where every Friday we spotlight three must-read articles that we’re paying attention to, and break down what they mean for legacy media.
In this week’s lineup, we’re looking at: Youtube’s big bets for 2025, the music industry’s shift to Streaming 2.0, and a perspective on how the creator economy can benefit indie films.
So, without further ado.
Youtube CEO Neil Mohan has made one thing clear: Youtube is winning the battle for audience attention, and they’re just getting started. In this bold post, Mohan lays out four priorities for the platform, framing them not as predictions, but as proclamations of dominance. By calling the platform the “new TV” and creators the “startups of Hollywood”, he points to a reality that legacy media can no longer afford to ignore – Youtube is not just a creator hub, but a global entertainment powerhouse that increasingly hosts the type of content that was once exclusive to Hollywood.
With AI-driven tools poised to accelerate the growth in creator content, legacy media must recognize that Youtube is now an incumbent, not the disruptor. The film & TV industry continues to view creator-led content as “amateur”, but as we discussed last week covering Doug Shapiro’s post on quality, audiences no longer make that distinction.
So, instead of resisting, legacy media has an opportunity to redefine how it scouts talent, collaborates with digital creators, and competes in a landscape where creators are commanding just as much, if not more attention than studio-backed projects.
UMG Chief Lucian Grainge outlined a fundamental shift in how the music business monetizes and engages with audiences with the imminent arrival of “Streaming 2.0”. But this isn’t just a rebrand; it’s a blueprint for the future of entertainment. One built around direct to fan engagement and smarter monetization models, where the goal is to deepen fan relationships and build lasting communities.
The music industry has been a step ahead in embracing digital transformation and artist-fan ecosystems, a topic we’ll explore in detail in a future post. Now, it’s doubling down on community driven engagement. Hollywood can learn from this and adopt more interactive models that position artists as ongoing, audience connected brands, rather than simply delivering content to audiences with little direct engagement.
Apologies to anyone who thought this was a prediction of where Sundance is heading…
Now, onto the real issue: entertainment attorney and producer Sam Widdoes describes how this year’s festival left many attendees feeling uninspired and frustrated with the state of independent film, and rightly so. After pouring so much time and effort into crafting your project and getting it into Sundance, what do film distributors have to offer? Taking all rights with no real plan for reaching audiences?
Yeah… filmmakers aren’t buying the old model anymore.
Alternatively, they’re starting to see opportunities in building relationships with audiences directly.
Exhibit A: the "Letterboxd Girls" phenomenon. They turned up in droves for the premiere of BUNNYLOVR, drawn in by star and producer Rachel Sennott's connection to that community.
This is proof that the next generation of film fans engages with the medium in completely different ways than arthouse audiences. Filmmakers who understand this shift won’t just find potential eyeballs, they’ll discover innovative ways to monetize their art and build sustainable careers outside the traditional system.
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