I've heard a theory that the very idea of paid, curated media content was kind of a relatively recent invention, and that what we're seeing is just the move bac

I've heard a theory that the very idea of paid, curated media content was kind of a relatively recent invention, and that what we're seeing is just the move back to the same model that had previously funded art of all kinds throughout history - patronage. (Or to be precise: Patreonage.) I've seen a lot of people discovering that Patreon-model support can be way more successful for them than ad support. People don't like to pay for free shit - in the age of Zero Marginal Cost, paying for digital goods always makes me feel like a bit of a sucker, but I suck it up and do it because I don't want to break the incentive structure by not rewarding the creator for their work. And I do want the creator to be rewarded. Divorcing the two - giving out free stuff, and also providing a way to directly toss someone a continuing stream of money to help them make this stuff based on how much I value making that happen - would seem to be the perfect compromise.