I don't stream movies. I pirat- download them on telegram.

I don't read literatures. I pirat- download epub from a library.

I don't listen to spotify. I pirat- download audio from youtube.

I don't watch youtube ads. I use adblock to get rid from all of them.

The only reason why people still pay for digital entertainment is ignorance (not savvy enough) or network effect of elders (e.g. spotify/netlify family) - Marx Andreessne

My fellow gen-z mostly play FREE to play games like roblox and fornite

My fellow gen-z spent 6h every day on FREE to scroll apps like tiktok and instagram

My fellow gen-z chat for FREE with people in whatsapp and with ai in c .ai

Digital products should be FREE

Now the question is how do creators could put food on the table

Just like my relationships, there are two ways to get the money streams: friend/fwb

1. Friendly: getting acquaintance as much as possible then become the cartel of those people. Buy some snacks at the caffe? I have the tip. Deliver some cheat codes? I got the tip. Sending a love letter? Do it by yourself.

2. FWB: giving benefits to certain fanatics and squeeze their money for return. If there are sugar xaddies, then there are sugar friends, then there are also sugar fans. Just like those rich friends who think they could buy friends, there are rich fans who think they could buy artists.

3. Ads. No one love ads, stop it, get some help.

We (creators) don't 1 million fans to survive. We only need 100 simps. - Inere Zhoa

For games, it's proven. Fortnite and Roblox are free to play but someone somewhere always pay for some exclusive items. Or those kids who use parents credit card to buy roblox coins. Web3 games are making the IOU more transparent by giving NFTs for in-game items (devs can still mint more in-game items though, since game logic is offchain)

For artists, it's proven. Indie artists and indie vtubers are roaming around all over twitter. Some of them use subscription like patreon, some of them rely for donation. But there's always somewhere who will give money.

Microtransaction, Excluscarcity, Fanatics

In other words, creators can 1) charge fees when user interact in the ecosystem, 2) charge fee for exclusive benefits, 3) rely on altruistic fans. Zora, Sound, and Lens are example of this. You can collect (mint NFT) for 'free' (pay gas though) with a few cents going to the creator. Paid collect and you get closer or at least feel closer to the artist. Donate to their address/username and you are a simp.

Now, how do creators pass the cold start problem? (how to put food on the table with 100 subs?)

I have no idea.