And instead of feudalist manors and city-states, it's feudalist gentries of tech companies that can exert their control technologically rather than with state-sanctiondd violence.
That said, I actually think it's great that people are taking advantage of this stuff to make money and better their lives -- more power to them! -- but objectively, it's still just content, while the cream always rises to the top.
Never bet against the Macho Man!
I suspect the people you're referencing are simply a cut above, believe in their work, and are excellent at it.
I'd also suspect that the amount of people who produce similar material that you DON'T follow is disproportionate to the ones that you do.
Many people view content creation as a means to an end, which is almost always MLM-adjacent and a mixture of:
* Monetizing views
* Directly selling a product / subscription
* A brand-building exercise to eventually attract sponsored advertising
None of that is evil or immoral -- it's actually fantastic for people who would have never had the opportunity to do this in the past, and can be very directly impactful to their livelihoods in a positive way.
The inescapable byproduct of these activities though is the staggering amount of "content" that gets created, not in the authentic spirit of "I have a valuable perspective on a topic" or "I -need- to put this out in the world", but rather "this is a viable way to generate money" (sometimes as an alternative to working a dead-end job).
That said, the average monthly take on OnlyFans is only ~$150; the top 1% of accounts make 33% of the revenue paid out. [1][2]
There are 158 million songs on DSPs (Spotify et al), 24% of which have literally never been streamed a single time ever. 42% have been streamed less than 10 times total. [3]
67 million songs that nobody has ever heard before! That's a lot of pepperoni, man.
This label "content" even applies to highly-quality, professional creations, as articulated by Robert Downey Jr. [4]
I do genuinely believe that good, quality stuff will usually break through to the niche audience that its intended for though, while at the same time we remain drowning in the tidal wave of crap that people are generating lol
[1] https://www.amraandelma.com/onlyfans-statistics/
[2] https://earthweb.com/onlyfans-statistics/
[3] https://www.xxlmag.com/38-million-tracks-streaming-services-...
[4] https://variety.com/2023/film/news/robert-downey-jr-dolittle...
It's much more similar to the robber-baron era, at least in the US, except with even less real power. Robber barons could, if pressed, get men with guns or ax handles to beat and kill strikers. I don't think a tech company can do the same today.
Tech companies do not have the power of high, middle or low justice, and are without the ability to effect corporal punishment.
And they still didn't come close to the power of feudal lords.
Also sadly, the type of system where state actors work with high capital to exert control is also simply just fascism.