What the hell is CreatorNews, anyway? What the hell is CreatorNews, anyway, and what exactly does it have to do with Media Central? And where does something called CreatorStack fit in?
CreatorNews (CN) and Media Central (MC) are two entirely different and separately owned entities. Despite this, they have been positioned incorrectly as essentially one and the same, including in recent radio commercials placed by MC on the Toronto station Jazz-FM.
CreatorStack (CS) is a proposed concept supposedly under development. Little is known about this venture.
The financial relationship between CN and MC has never been properly detailed, and the ownership structure of Creator News has never been revealed. Shareholders were abruptly presented with news of the divesture of CN as a fait accompli, following a sustained campaign to promote CN as an MC property.
Mr. Manos released this statement 02/04/21: "We believe that the future of our business is the intersection of content and technology. CreatorStack will be a subscription newsletter platform that hosts paid content creators specialized in arts, culture and lifestyle in a revenue sharing business model. CreatorNews will function as a global aggregator of top alternative news and content while CreatorStack will be a platform to curate paid newsletters published by independent journalists and bloggers under a shared revenue business model. CreatorStack and CreatorNews will introduce new readers to MediaCentral by tapping into leading global content creators. We anticipate that this will open up significant new streams of revenue for the Company."
That course was reversed mid-year, when it was announced by MC that CN would be an independent company, with MC maintaining a small (20-25%) stake of ownership and royalties. There does not appear to be an upfront payment by CN to MC for its founders equity.
This may present a potential liability to Media Central, as Creator News was initially misrepresented to be a wholly owned brand and property of MC. MC evidently divested its interest in CN in exchange for the promise of royalty payments, the details of which have never been itemized, accounted for, or presented in a meaningful way to shareholders.
The Waxman family is thought to play some role in CN, although this has not been adequately disclosed.
The website Creatornews.ca exists as an essentially unambitious generic blog, curating breathless news items from predictable free-access sources about minor U.S. rap and YouTube "celebrities" (aka "celebritards.") The content is supposedly selected by a member of the Waxman family, although there's no consistency, pattern or predictability to the selections. As an aggregated content site, CN seems entirely off-brand for MC's alt-weekly readership.
CreatorStack (CS) appears to share the name of one or several other similarly intended startup enterprises, making it difficult to assess its purpose or prospects. Based on previous descriptions, it seems to be intended as a latecomer copycat of Substack.com. It is unclear if MC has any ownership claims to the launch of CS, or what the ownership basis of CS might be.
The cheerleader for CN and CS is one Kirk MacDonald, a 60-something former media executive from Denver who styles himself as a media guru, but who appears to have lost the thread many years back. He came to Canada as a hire of the Toronto Star, but was severed from his role after a period of about one year. Subsequently, he became a consultant to the alt-weekly NOW Toronto.
Kirk regularly promotes his dreams on Twitter, along with opinions about hockey and U.S. politics. He recently posted the following feverish prognostication:
I see a day in the near future that multi media journalists do interviews and photo shoots and produce podcasts and video in the metaverse. Avatars/3D headsets emerge as “co-hosts.” An incredible future awaits media companies that adopt cutting edge tech.
Yes. He's determined to follow FaceBook into the Metaverse. Walk behind him at your peril.