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Across the streaming world, companies have been focused on adding features that make their top-tier subscriptions more valuable to the users who consume their content. Anime streamer Crunchyroll recently added access to a library of digital manga for top-paying customers. Spotifysomewhat belatedlyhas begun offering high-quality audio for its Premium subscribers. SoundCloud is taking a different approach. It operates a standard streaming platform, with 100 million licensed tracks. But SoundCloud also has an enviable base of creatorsmusicians, DJs, podcasters, and morewho have uploaded 300 million tracks on the service to reach fans and make money from their streams. Now, its rolling out a revamped subscription that overdelivers for these artists, giving them more opportunities to get their music in front of fans who might eventually buy an album or piece of artist merchandise as streaming remains a foot in the door to real earnings. SoundClouds new offering enables subscribers to both of its tiersArtist and Artist Proto distribute the music they have on SoundCloud to other streaming services, with SoundCloud passing 100% of those earnings on to artists. With this update, SoundCloud will no longer take a 20% cut of royalties it pays for streams, passing 100% to artists. SoundCloud also now allows artists to receive direct support from fans. With the new features, the price of its Artist and Artist Pro subscriptions$39 and $99 a year, respectivelyare unchanged. Its a move that acknowledges that even if streaming isnt where artists earn the lions share of their money, they still need to reach as many people as possibleand SoundCloud doing that helps save them money. If you’re an artist who’s got to get your music distributed and you’re on the social platforms trying to build up a following and you’re paying for a whole host of things in the value chain, those subscriptions start to really add up, says Eliah Seton, CEO of SoundCloud. What were trying to do is be this all-in-one bundle that gets you a lot of value and you can start to put away some of those other subscriptions. Seton knows the music industrybefore joining SoundCloud in 2021, he spent more than a decade at Warner Music Group, including a stint leading its distribution and label services arm ADA. He understands the importance of getting artists in front of as many fans as possible. Thats why hes betting that making distribution widely accessible for the first time will strengthen SoundClouds ability to not just attract new artists, but keep them on the platform as their stars rise by connecting them with the platforms highly engaged listeners. Historically weve been able to distribute for artists, but that was oriented more toward a bespoke, white-glove, traditional artist services relationship, Seton says. This is a much more scalable solution for at-scale artists, and making it a feature of our paid subscription is a key element of the value proposition. SoundClouds two-sided Marketplace In the streaming world, Soundcloudfounded in 2007has long been an anomaly. Its one of the onlyif not the onlystreaming platforms that truly has a two-sided marketplace, says Tatiana Cirisiano, VP of music strategy at entertainment data and insights firm MIDia. Seton sees making distribution a standard part of SoundClouds artist subscriptions as a way to add value for those users. The services $39 a year Artist tier now includes the ability to distribute and monetize two tracks a month, while its $99 a year Artist Pro subscription allows artists to distribute unlimited tracks to other streaming services. The move reflects a larger industry shift: Record labels are losing their monopoly on distribution as artist-focused platforms offer alternative ways to reach listeners. Cirisano points to TikToks SoundOn distribution service, which puts artists songs on streaming platforms and helps promote them in the video app. SoundClouds effort, she says, is the latest indication that distribution for the music industry has become this table stakes feature for platforms serving artists. Seton sees SoundClouds new distribution tools as critical for keeping artists on his platform. SoundCloud doesnt have any problem attracting up-and-coming artistsSeton says 40,000 users upload their first track to SoundCloud every week. But when they reach a certain level and want to reach more listeners, they often opt to spend their money with pure-play distribution companies. Now they can use SoundCloud to monetize their music as they grow. New ways to connect with fans SoundCloud also added the ability for fans to directly support an artistpaying them up to $1,000via their the artists SoundCloud profile. The platform takes zero commission on these payments. Cirsiano sees it as a small but potentially meaningful option, similar to what Patreon has long offered creators and artists. I wouldnt call it a game-changer in how artists are monetizing because I think theres a lot of cultural hurdles to adoption, Cirisano says. It differs strongly by fanbase and artist. Its all about how people perceive it and what it means to them to send money directly to an artist. The fan support feature comes on the heels of other SoundCloud tools for fan engagement. Since 2023, SoundClouds AI-powered First Fans helps deliver new music to users likely to enjoy. This year, it has added services for its artist users, including a partnership with vinyl presser ElasticStage to offer on-demand record pressing. It also introduced a merch store that allows artists to keep 100% of their sales. The on-demand vinyl feature, launched in July, currently has a waiting list of artists who want to use the service. Cirisano says these efforts could change the perception that SoundCloud is largely for early-stage artists who will move to other services once they break through. (Billie Eilish famously uploaded her early recordings and connected with fans via SoundCloud.) These opportunities allow artists to grow with the platform, she says. As the broader music industry focuses on monetizing superfanshighly engaged listeners who are happy to shell out for vinyl and merchSeton says SoundCloud has those in droves. He notes that 50% of SoundCloud listeners are listening to new music, looking for their next favorite artist, as opposed to 15% on other music streaming platforms. The future is going to be defined by the monetization of the relationship between artists and fans, he says. Rather than going outside the ecosystem to pay a different subscription where you don’t ultimately control access to your audience, we can scratch that itch for you as part of our own subscription.
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E-Commerce
PepsiCo, the food and bev giant behind childhood favorites like 7UP, Mountain Dew, Lays, and Doritos, just got new branding, and it looks nothing like its namesake product. The new PepsiCo brand identity, which includes a fresh wordmark, logo, and tagline, is the companys first rebrand since 2001. The company has had three different corporate identities since its inception in 1965, and all of them have taken their most prominent design cues from Pepsi, the soda brand that started it alluntil now. [Image: PepsiCo] When PepsiCo designed its last identity in 2001, it owned 13 consumer brands. Today, it owns more than 500. And, over the past several months, PepsiCo has signaled that it intends to focus on more price-conscious serving sizes and a healthier product line-up amidst low consumer spending and an increased cultural focus on wellness. Now, PepsiCo wants customers to know that its more than just one sugary cola, and its signaling that shift by ditching the former blue and red color palette and Pepsi-coded fonts in favor of a totally new look. Inside PepsiCo’s colorful new brand At first glance, PepsiCos new brand mostly looks like a few different abstract colorful shapes stitched together. But, according to a blog post on the rebrand, each visual element is intended as a nod to a different part of PepsiCos business, from its salty drinks to its growing focus on health and nutrition. The new PepsiCo logo is a white lowercase p surrounded by several different forms. On the left is a burnt yellow motif, which, according to PepsiCos description, represents food and grains, a concept rooted in agriculture. To the right is a light blue blob, signifying drinks and water, as well as a light green leaf, denoting “positive impact for people and planet. [Image: PepsiCo] And on the bottom of the p is a forest green smile, which stands for consumer-centricity. Paired with the logo is a new, all-lowercase font with modern, curvy letterforms and the tagline, Food. Drinks. Smile. Our color palette draws from the real worldthe rich soils that nourish our foods, our refreshing drinks, and the vibrant hues that reflect our commitment to people and the planet, the blog post reads. The new custom typeface, featuring lowercase letters, conveys a sense of approachability that mirrors the bold, consumer-centric spirit of our brands. [Image: PepsiCo] From a branding standpoint, the new identity is nothing groundbreaking. Its amalgamation of different symbolswhich, on first look, dont resemble much of anythingfeels like an inevitable result of the near-impossible effort to encapsulate 500 brands in one identity. Still, the rebrand is a good barometer for where PepsiCo sees itself in the future. This update is designed to establish PepsiCo as a company thats not defined by just one brand, but rather the sum of them. As the blog post explains, its a significant opportunity to highlight the depth and diversity of our portfolio, considering that just 21% of consumers are able to name a PepsiCo brand aside from Pepsi. Why PepsiCo might be distancing itself from Pepsi For PepsiCo, expanding consumer awareness beyond just Pepsi is clearly a key goal. Since 2001, PepsiCo has acquired big names including SodaStream, Quaker foods, and Rockstar, while also pouring major investments into its own brands like < href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91276977/gatorade-future-brand-stratgy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gatorade and Lays. More recently, the company has also begun to focus on bringing in more health-conscious brands with lower sodium, saturated fat, and sugar contents. In January, it acquired the grain-free, healthy tortilla chip brand Siete Foods for $1.2 billion, and in March, it shelled out $1.65 billion to acquire the prebiotic soda brand Poppi. PepsiCo is also preparing to launch its own prebiotic cola brand this fall, as well as introducing Lays and Tostitos with no artificial colors or flavors by the end of the year. During PepsiCos Q4 2024 earnings call in February 2025, CEO Ramon Laguarta explained that the company has seen a higher level of awareness in general of American consumers toward health and wellness, which he said was driving shifts in how consumers approach snacking. He shared that the company plans to focus more on building out its healthy options (including by pursuing protein beverages with a sense of urgency), as well as on developing products and packages that are more budget-friendly for customers with limited discretionary spending. In a letter posted to LinkedIn on October 28, Laguarta wrote of the new branding, This new identity boldly reflects who we are in 2025: a company with expansive reach, aiming for positive impact across the globe, and an unmatched family of beloved food and drink brands, made with high-quality ingredients and including functional benefits like protein and superior hydration. PepsiCos new identity looks less like a bottle of soda and more like a health foods brand, and thats very much by design. The company wants to be known not only for its bevy of salty chips and sugary drinks, but also for its expanding category of better-for-you options.
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E-Commerce
It looks and feels like any other luxurious cashmere sweater. But a new oversized crew from Reformation is made entirely from recycled fiber, a milestone three years in the making. The brand now makes a cardigan, crew, V-neck, and five other styles from a carefully developed blend of 95% recycled cashmere and 5% recycled woolthe unexpected material that made 100% recycled fiber feasible. Some other pieces in its lineup still use a small amount of virgin cashmere, but Reformation is aiming to eliminate it completely. “It really does have an outsized and shockingly large footprint compared to other fiber, says Kathleen Talbot, Reformation’s chief sustainability officer. In 2023, the company calculated that even though virgin cashmere made up less than 1% of the materials it sourced, it was responsible for nearly 40% of the brands carbon footprint. Most cashmere comes from Mongolia and China, where cashmere goats are combed once a year for their fine, soft fleece; a single sweater can use cashmere from four or five goats. As the demand has grown, there are now more than 90 million of the goats in China, and around 25 million more in Mongolia. Overgrazing is turning grasslands into desert. The goats also produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. [Photo: Reformation] Making recycled fiber work Using recycled cashmere helps avoid those environmental challenges, but it’s historically been difficult to do. Recycling shortens the fiber, which risks making it weaker and more likely to pill. “We don’t want to be introducing a recycled product that doesn’t perform the same way or is a lower quality or less durable good,” Talbot says. “That, to us, is not a sustainability play.” The company worked with suppliers to develop a proprietary method to twist the yarn and wash and finish it for the right hand feel and durability. First they achieved a blend of 70% recycled cashmere and 30% virgin fiber, then 90% recycled, and then 95% recycled. “At each of these milestones, to be really honest, we thought that was going to be our upper limit based on the yarn performance and the product performance,” says Talbot. [Photo: Reformation] When they hit 95%, they asked suppliers why they couldn’t reach 100%. Technically, suppliers said, it was possible. But because the shorter recycled fibers are more prone to breakage, the yarn would have to be spun incredibly slowly. It would make producing the material so much more expensive that it wasn’t commercially viable. That’s why the design team turned to wool to make the 100% recycled product. Even after recycling, wool was “slightly longer and thicker than the cashmere fibers,” Talbot says. “Our suppliers felt confident that it would give it the right stability and really hold up in the spinning and knitting process.” The blend’s carbon footprint is 96% smaller than virgin cashmere, and uses nearly 90% less water to produce. After dozens of tests, they moved forward with it, and then spent months testing garments made from it. Internally, the company’s “Better Materials Task Force,” made up of around 20 leaders, wore the new recycled sweaters around the office and at home, washed them, and monitored whether they held up as well as sweaters made from virgin material. “We never really want to be promoting something just for impact that doesn’t have a really compelling product value proposition at the same time,” Talbot says. [Photo: Reformation] Scaling up When the company first started incorporating more recycled cashmere, sourcing the recycled yarn was a challenge. Now, because of higher demand for recycled fiber, the supply chain has responded. “Supply of the recycled fibers is not the same limiter as it was five years ago or 10 years ago,” she says. Right now, most of it comes from cashmere waste at factories. But as Reformation and other brands collect more used clothing for recycling, post-consumer cashmere can eventually become a bigger source as well. Moving forward, the company may make some products out of a mix of recycled and “regenerative” cashmereproduced with sustainable grazing methodsbecause a small percentage of customers have wool allergies. But it also plans to continue roling out the 100% recycled material in more products. “Not every problem is going to have a technological solve,” Talbot says. “But these are the sorts of problems that we can solve. And we have seen tremendous progress in the last three years.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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