Thanks Dan,
I appreciate you coming back with a thought-out argument.
I apologize in advance for the lack of editing here. It got much longer than I anticipated.
ONE
You seem to be arguing the opposite of what the creator economy middle class proponents are saying so we are probably more aligned than you think.
If I was to summarize my thinking on this, it might be:
Not everyone can make a lot of money as a creator, but in all of history, there has never been a better time to make a living from your ideas and creativity. The levels of choice and opportunity we have now is unprecedented.
My grandmother grew up in a one-room mud house in rural Canada without running water or a toilet.
Two generations later, I’m able to rotate between cities all over the world working on projects of my choosing while raising money for charity. I’m grateful every single day for the opportunities I have. This is not a zero sum world we live in.
TWO
You didn’t say this, but I’ll put it out there anyway. A few commenters seem to be offended that creators aren’t getting more money.
Can the platforms pay more to creators? Yes.
Should the platforms pay more to creators? Yes.
Definitely more can be done to support creators than the current levels of creator funds offered now. I don’t say this explicitly in the article, because it won’t substantially influence the power-law distribution. I wanted to keep the argument as simple as possible.
TWO
The major platforms are all advertising-driven. Advertising is the worse way for creators to make money. Those stats I mentioned in the article only cover the share of advertising directly on the platform.
Most creators will have multiple income sources including courses, coaching, books, paid speaking, physical merchandise, memberships, events, productized services, market places, etc. None of that is included in the creator stats I mentioned, just to keep the argument simple.
THREE
You focused on Spotify, which has the worst power law distribution of any platform. Musicians of every level of fame make most of their money from live performances. This has always been the case. I suspect it will continue, even with NFTs and other web3 technologies.
Spotify is a powerful distribution channel to reach new fans. Of course, musicians want a bigger share from the platform, but the exposure is so valuable that they continue to upload their music there even if they don’t get paid.
The only thing worse than getting paid .003 cents per stream is total obscurity.
No one needs to be paid to go on Oprah. Any creator would pay for the opportunity.
FOUR
You say creators are “making sacrifices in their lives year after year.” I don’t know where that comes from. That is not my interpretation of what creators and artists are doing.
To paraphrase the popular quote, “people sacrifice their lives in jobs they hate to buy stuff they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”
People create because they love to create. In fact, I would say that creators need to create. I certainly do.
There are much better ways to make money than being a creator.
This is a complex topic and I don’t want to spend a lot of time arguing it here. You can read previous comments to see how controversial this the idea of getting paid for your art can be.
Of course, the likelihood of getting rich as a poet is much less than that as a freelance copywriter. So the definition of “artist” or “creator” probably needs to be agreed on.
Maybe “content entrepreneurs” is more accurate? Millions of people make sacrifices and build businesses because it is massively rewarding financially and personally.
Even as a poet, there are infinitely more opportunities to get your poetry to the world than a few decades ago. It’s an amazing time to be any type of creator.
FIVE
There is a lot of overlap between the platforms and on any specicic platform. A single creator will likely have tried multiple blogs, podcasts, newsletters, businesses, etc. I know I’ve tried more than 20 or so projects over the years. That means total creator numbers are grossly overestimated.
I didn’t introduce this in the article because I was arguing the opposite of what you are saying. We are not going to have a middle class or creators, but it is far more than a then the tenth of a tenth of a percent that are making it like you suggest.
Go to a digital nomad city like Chiang Mai, Budapest, or Lisbon and you’ll see thousands of content entrepreneurs of all ages from all over the world.
The average musician is not selling out stadiums, but many can tour in foreign countries, teach online, sell background music tracks, work as studio musicians, etc. They no longer need to be discovered by a music producer to have a chance at a music career.
Again, I’m not saying it’s easy to be a professional musician or artist. It’s just easier than it’s ever been. Just the ability to learn from online videos, has transformed the quality of music, art, sports, and business around the world. That latest dance move from the music awards is copied all around the world the very next day.
SIX
The world is far from a zero-some game. 100 years ago, 90% plus of the global economy was employed in agriculture. It’s about 3% now. That’s 87% of jobs that didn’t exist a century ago.
Thirty years ago there were basically zero developers, graphic designers, illustrators, life or business coaches, app development companies, online stores, online teachers, virtual assistants, etc. I know I’m missing hundreds of new careers invented because of the internet.
These are all new opportunities and there will be many more in the future. Yes, there is much more competition, but it’s no comparison to the past.
There are dangers with automation and AI eliminating the need for work, but that is a different argument that I don’t want to get into here.
There are countless examples I could give.
Imagine what it was like to publish a book prior to computers. People used manual typewriters and had to edit by physically cutting and pasting on paper. Think about that for a while.
You had to find a publisher to bet on you, which was next to impossible.
You still needed an audience, but that meant working for a newspaper or magazine.
There were a tiny fraction of the authors we have now because it was close to impossible to get a book published. Now anyone can write a book, hire a freelance editor, get a cover designed on Fiverr and upload it to Amazon and reach a global audience.
The average book is going to sell much fewer copies than 3 decades ago, but there has been such a massive democratization of opportunities. That author can now sell courses, coaching, consulting, or set up a Shopify store for a few dollars per month.
I have several author friends that self-publish books every couple of months now. They are not millionaires, but they are able to make a living doing what they want.
Teenagers are building million-dollar businesses from their bedrooms. Third-world workers that once earned a few dollars per day, are finding lucrative freelancing gigs or are becoming creators themselves.
This is a great time to be a creator.
If you need inspiration check out interview sites like SideHustleSchool or UnmistakableCreative to get thousands of examples of creator who are succeeding.
