I can’t name a single song by the rapper Logic. Chances are you can’t either. But chances are even greater that you can’t identify what it is about Twitch that makes it so powerful and fun. And for those who miss the point about Twitch, the news of Logic's announcement on Monday that he’d signed a seven-figure deal to use no social media platform other than Twitch might also not seem significant. But it’s huge, and it could hint at how celebrities from sports, music and fashion use media going forward and therefore how fans connect with their idols. Logic is crossing over into streaming, and, in the process, streaming is crossing over into the mainstream. According to Bijan Stephen at The Verge, the deal is Twitch’s first official exclusive partnership with a musician. Logic is, apparently, one of the biggest artists on Earth. His biggest song has just under a billion streams on Spotify. (Note: Oh, that's right. I can name a Logic song. It's that suicide hotline one.)
Logic won’t be on any other social media platform at all. So from now on, if his millions of fans and followers want to interact with him, they’ll do it on Twitch. He’ll even premiere his new album on his stream. He says he will “still rap on songs that probably won’t come out,” presumably opening up that writing and recording process and those songs to his fans on his Twitch stream. It makes a lot of sense. Twitch isn’t really about gaming. It’s about hanging out. Kids like music. They like streetwear. They like video games. They like skateboarding. These things are just the context for hanging out with their friends. Just as it was for us when we played "GoldenEye" or "Mario Kart" on Nintendo 64, gaming is often besides the point on Twitch. It’s just the background, an excuse to connect. So why would kids spend their time anywhere else if they can spend it where they can connect with their idols and with each other at the same time?
Music is already the third most popular background activity for hanging out on Twitch after gaming and "Just Chatting."And sports and streetwear are increasingly finding their way into streaming as a context for connecting with your friends and for expression. A lot of attention has been paid to the potential of streamers becoming mainstream stars, like Ninja, Tim The Tatman or FaZe Banks. But I’d argue it’s more likely that existing mainstream stars will cross over into streaming, and therefore streaming will cross over into the mainstream. Why wouldn’t an athlete, or a streetwear designer with a rabid following, start hosting long hangout sessions with their fans where the fans can directly interact with the star and chat with each other? Crucially, Twitch is a much more creatively fertile medium for entertaining your fans than, say, Instagram Live, and Twitch is obviously prepared to spend. If more stars from music or sports or fashion cross over to Twitch, it’s Twitch and streaming in general that become the crossover hit, rather than someone like Ninja, who’s fandom is huge but whose appeal is inscrutable to outsiders. You won't be hearing more about Logic.
You'll be hearing more about Twitch.
The shorter stuff
Clubhouse is like if the worst name dropper you know went into the machine from "The Fly" at the same time as an app. I will continue to hate it until I am invited. (WSJ)
The CEO of the app Calm calls their upcoming HBO Max show "visual Valium." Haven't seen it, obviously, but guessing it's closer to ineffective Valium. (Deadline)
Rachel Handler: "Nobody can or should try to relate to Zac Efron, who I am convinced, after watching all eight episodes of this series, has lived 10,000 lives and is weighted down with several millennia’s worth of inescapable angst." (Vulture)
After reading this thorough profile of Steven Mnuchin, I could only think about how he's clearly the inspiration for the Will Ferrell character in "Get Hard," a movie he executive produced. (TNY)
Fauci is so media-saturated that his interview with Mark Zuckerberg barely makes a dent in the news cycle. (CNBC)
I will definitely be watching this Matt Drudge biopic when it eventually comes out. (VF)
And I will also definitely be watching this Chris Evans/Ryan Gosling CIA thriller "The Gray Man" when it eventually comes out for Netflix. (Deadline)
🌀My Favorite Cringe From The NYT Airbnb Piece
Brian Chesky: “What we are about is belonging, and at the center of belonging is love.”
Erin Griffith: "Inside the San Francisco company’s airy, plant-filled offices, the posivibes were also plentiful. Employees...held dog 'pawties'...and were serenaded on their birthdays by the company’s a cappella group, Airbnbeats."
Griffith: "New employees, who were screened for empathy in job interviews, were welcomed 'home' and told: 'You belong here.'" (NYT)
Jarvis Cocker at my haunt, McNally Jackson in SoHo, makes me nostalgic for February of this year. (NYT)
Jeremy Roenick is suing NBC over heterosexual discrimination. (NYPost)
We're policing ourselves with these viral party videos that verge on pure narc activity. (Gothamist)
The first super-prestige podcast? "The Michelle Obama Podcast" on Spotify July 29. (Axios)