I agree with that in principle, but increasingly lots of gigs are tied to some kind of platform as intermediary, so it's getting harder to avoid tying yourself

I agree with that in principle, but increasingly lots of gigs are tied to some kind of platform as intermediary, so it's getting harder to avoid tying yourself to some company's whims. I guess you can try to diversify and at least hedge your bets, but that's easier to do with some kinds of jobs than others. Besides YouTube, some other platforms that many people's businesses/livelihoods depend on in one way or another: Google AdSense, Amazon Marketplace, Amazon Associates, Steam, Patreon, Square, Uber, ...