I think search engines and social media happened. Basically, unless your work is distributed for free, your audience won't find it, since Google doesn't rank co

I think search engines and social media happened. Basically, unless your work is distributed for free, your audience won't find it, since Google doesn't rank content well if it's got a mandatory paywall and people won't share stuff on social media if there's a good chance most others won't be able to read/consume it. It's also possibly because the internet and content is in the midst of an endless race to the bottom. People are giving away their work for free, so people have come to expect that as the norm and are less incentivised to pay for anything further down the line (because if they do, their free competitors will eat their lunch). It's a lot like what's happening in the smartphone app market, where due to all the ad supported/free/99 cent apps available, anyone trying to sell an app for more than a few dollars is going to lose most of their audience.