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🍪 TikTok's taking on music, plus mental models for when life goes wrong

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Bite Sized Beta
August 11, 2022

Morning, friends! It’s Thursday again, that special time when we tell you the best stuff happening in tech, all before you can figure out why there are no mosquitoes at Disneyworld.

We got a lot of good stuff on deck today. Let’s get to it.

In the oven this week:

  • 🎶 TikTok is getting into music

  • 🍪 Bite sized cookies: headlines from the week

  • 💪🏼 What to do when life kicks you when you’re down

  • 🍫 Chocolate chips: things to impress your friends with

  • 😂 Snickerdoodles: memes for a good chortle

FRESHLY BAKED

TIKTOK IS TAKING ON MUSIC

TikTok is comin’ for Spotify.

This week, it filed trademarks for "Tiktok Music,” with plans to create a new app supporting music, podcasts, and radio content.

Makes sense, since today, people hear songs on TikTok and have to hop to Spotify to listen to the full thing. TikTok's gotten so good at setting music trends that 63% of people now discover new music on TikTok before any other platform.

Our predictions on what we’ll see more of with TikTok Music:

  • A lot more music being developed with the purpose of going viral (Something tells us Jason Derulo's gonna have a nice long career 🤔)

  • A home for popular remixes & duets of songs on TikTok

  • More TikTok-first music, which opens new doors for revenue sharing with artists (TikTok becomes a label, basically)

  • Better built in social features

  • The audio equivalent of your TikTok algorithm: banger recommendations only

If it’s successful, it juust might be the newer, cooler version of Soundcloud.

Watch out, Spotify. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for this one.

COOKIE CRUMBS

BITE SIZED TREATS

🚀 Last week, we covered Ethereum’s imminent merge. Well, yesterday night, Ethereum ran its last successful test run. Looks like the real deal’s happening in September. LFGG!!!

😷 Monkeypox is officially a public health emergency, but we’re short on vaccines. There are more than 10K cases total in the US (99% are males). The symptoms are similar to the flu, plus you get rashes/skin lesions. Scientists are still trying to understand how transmissible it is, but declaring a national health emergency directs more resources towards the cause.📉 July's jobs report is out and unemployment hit a 50 year low, at just 3.5%. Ya hear that? We all got jobs now! We’ve officially recovered all jobs lost during the pandemic. Tech’s layoff spree is looking to be mostly a tech problem.💤 Speaking of jobs, if you’re a TikToker that loves sleeping, Casper is hiring pro sleepers for $25/hour to sleep in its stores and in “unexpected settings out in the world.” When you’re not sleeping, you’ll be expected to churn out TikToks on the side 😂

⛽️ National average gas prices have fallen ~20% since their record high of $5.02 in June. According to Biden, more than half of all gas stations are now offering gas for <$4 a gallon. Tell me I’m living in the wrong half of the country without telling me I’m living in the wrong half of the country…

💸 Elon sold $7B worth of Tesla stock this week, in case he's forced to buy Twitter. He's now sold some $32 billion in Tesla stock in the past 10 months. The stock seems to be holding up though, trending slightly down vs. last week.

☕️ Starbucks is building NFTs into its famous rewards program, which would provide owners with exclusive content and other perks. They’re expected to spill the tea…er the coffee at the next investor day on September 13. Stay tuned, we’ll report back on all the new stuff you’ll be able to get the next time you order that grande iced latte, half decaf, light ice, with 2 pumps vanilla, 2 pumps peppermint, 2% milk, and vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

Starbucks also ended the great iced vs hot coffee debate this week. Let’s see if you can guess - which type of drink makes more money for Starbucks?

Answer’s at the bottom of this email.

THE BIG PIZOOKIE

WHAT TO DO WHEN BAD STUFF HAPPENS

There’s one mental hack I’ve used for years. It’s been a game changer for dealing with life when things go wrong.

It goes like this.

Think about the last time you had a bad day.

Didn’t get that job at the startup that went on to become a billion dollar company? Bought ETH at its peak? Got dumped for someone that doesn’t even use a phone case?

Oof. Bruutal.

Now, imagine telling all this to a friend a few months after the fact. You ain’t cryin no more, you’re cracking up about it.

Because as long as it's not fatal, it becomes a hilarious story in retrospect. And the worse it is in the moment, the bigger the laugh you’ll have later.

“Your car spontaneously combusted AND a bird shat on you AND you got fired from your job, ALL IN ONE DAY???”

‘Cause let’s face it, no one wants to hear about how you made it to the top of the pyramid of life and stayed there.

Obstacles are what make your life story interesting. They're the spice of life. Kinda like pineapple on pizza. No one wants it, but it gives you character. (Ya, I SAID IT.)

When Airbnb first started, the founders went broke and were in major credit card debt, so as a last resort, they started selling Obama and John McCain themed cereal.

It probably felt pretty lame and desperate at the time, but now it's an epic tale.

So, whenever I encounter some bad sh*t in life now, what do I tell myself?

It’s for the story.

And sure, it might take YEARS before it all becomes funny. But, when it finally does, your life’s gonna have some bomb comedy in it.

CHOCOLATE CHIPS

GREAT FINDS

Golden nuggets for the next time you need to sound smart and cultured:

SNICKERDOODLES

MEMES FOR A GOOD CHORTLE

ANSWER

Starbucks says that cold drinks accounted for 70% of sales in the last fiscal year, thanks to all those TikTok custom concoctions. Iced coffee fam, can I get an amen???

What'd you think about this email?