Halloween Hits

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Happy Halloween, party people. We have horror movies going all day here at the office (our respective living rooms) in preparation for spooky festivities tonight. Who’s going trick-or-treating? Who’s hitting the Halloween parties? What are you all dressing up as? Do you have any cool traditions? We want to know!

And major congrats to our hometown team, the Dodgers, on their World Series win!

DAILY TOP TRENDS

The Music Industry Scares Up Some Hits

Halloween-themed music is surging in popularity, quickly becoming a tentpole for the industry looking for surefire seasons to launch new singles, albums, and playlists.

Why It Hits: Considering the insane popularity of Christmas music for two months of the year, Halloween could precede it as the antithesis of the cheery genre — allowing artists with a darker or macabre style to have a moment to shine while culture is embracing a similar vibe.

Behind The Songs: Everyone’s turning up the volume on spooky season.

• Bobby Pickett’s 1962 single, “Monster Mash,” has skyrocketed in popularity over the past five years, nearly bringing in an annual revenue of $1 million. (Is this Halloween’s answer to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You?”)

• The Weeknd has been hosting haunted houses at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. This year’s “Nightmare Trilogy” maze even has an accompanying soundtrack.

• Singer-songwriter Ashnikko has been releasing “Halloweenie” songs for the past six years, which have exceeded 100 million streams in the US.

• Classic pop act Duran Duran released a Halloween album, Danse Macabre, last Halloween and is set to headline a concert at Madison Square Garden tonight.

• Spotify’s most popular Halloween playlist, “Halloween Party,” has 1.1 million followers, spiking 1,110% in listenership on October 1st and becoming the second-biggest playlist on the platform by October 21st. 

Closing Track: The Halloween music market may never be as big as Christmas’ (seasonal songs racked up $177 million for record labels in 2018, per Billboard), but that’s okay. Berklee College of Music professor George Howard says revenue from Halloween music generates, at most, one-third of Christmas song revenue. That’s still plenty of money. But as the horror genre permeates more of culture year-round, Halloween music could get close to closing that gap.

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Amazon Boxes Up Top Creators

Amazon invested an undisclosed amount in creator-economy startup Spotter to sink its teeth further into the influencer industry and bolster Prime Video with more content.

The Big Insight: Big media brands keep looking for ways to leverage the power of social media stars… but most strategies feel like putting a square peg in a round hole. So, maybe partnering with a company that lives and breathes the industry could be a game-changer.

Between The Lines: After Spotter connected MrBeast with Amazon’s Prime Video to launch the biggest competition series ever, Spotter is now getting into business directly with the commerce giant.

• The deal will give creators in the Spotter network — which includes MrBeast, Deestroying, The Try Guys, Dude Perfect, and Nastya — “compelling new business opportunities” with Amazon.

• That could include starring in movies for Amazon MGM Studios, launching shows on Prime Video, programming events on Twitch, livestreaming content for Amazon Live, and of course, logistics for branded products on its main platform.

The Future: For Amazon, the Spotter deal is a natural extension of the company’s moves into the creator economy — Dude Perfect commentates an alternate feed of Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football, and MrBeast’s Beast Games is set to debut next year. Despite reports that Beast Games went very off the rails, it appears that hasn’t hurt the creator’s relationship with Amazon. Don’t be surprised if Amazon tries to sign some creators to exclusive deals with Prime Video to pull them away from YouTube.

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DEEP DIVES

• Watch: The Deal chats with Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman on how she runs the exchange and how it’s transforming sports-minded businesses.

• Read: Rolling Stone goes deep with legendary Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks.

• Explore: Variety lists the executives, agents, and entertainment lawyers who have shaped Hollywood this year.

61.7% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Are you a risk-averse person?

“Safe and secure without taking too many risks has gotten me to a comfortable old age with a great pension and decent health. I am MORE than content with my risk-averse life.”

“[I’ve] never felt that I had anyone in my work organizations who would support me enough if I were to fail — thus my risk aversion.”

“I like being comfortable.”

“32 years of concert promotion means that I’m at the craps table every day.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

🎤 Disney has taken the Grammys from CBS for the first time in 50 years, with plans to simulcast the show across ABC, Disney+, and Hulu.

🎥 Skydance would really like people to know that CEO David Ellison, and CEO David Ellison alone, will control Paramount Global when the deal closes.

🍺 Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are selling a minority stake in Wrexham AFC and expanding its influence in the area by acquiring Wrexham Lager Beer Co.

→ Technology

🛰️ SpaceX is making a few tweaks to Starlink to boost its internet speeds tenfold… but the FTC still needs to approve it.

🧑‍💼 LinkedIn is debuting an AI agent for job recruiting — i.e., sifting through hundreds of applications for every open position.

🤖 Reddit posted its first-ever profitable quarter, thanks to rich AI licensing deals.

→ Creator Economy

📺 YouTube reported that ad growth on the platform can be attributed to videos made for the TV screen, not mobile or the computer.

🤝 Startup Hummingbirds raised a $5.4 million seed round to build a platform that connects local creators with local businesses.

🥊 Livestreaming platform Kick and the UFC are getting into the ring together.