So I'm actually in a place much like you where I contribute $5 or so to a few different artists or personalities who I engage with. However, I feel it's very w

So I'm actually in a place much like you where I contribute $5 or so to a few different artists or personalities who I engage with. However, I feel it's very worthwhile for me: + Most of them have some kind of discord or community where you can interact both with them and other fans, and contributing gets you special status or a special channel + Usually you get a few extra things that don't get released to other people, whether it's sitting in on a practice session or some media that didn't make the final cut Admittedly, I am still ultimately paying for some kind of attention, though hopefully it's agency respecting attention and not treating an artist like a vending machine. And yeah a bottom line matters, everyone has to eat to survive and pay their bills, but as long as you can do that most people will quickly choose a happier life over a more profitable one. Sure, you can do worse work and make more money (or the same money faster) but I don't think that's the tradeoff the majority want to make. One of the personalities I contribute to has changed their thing a few times. They abandoned ASMR and switched to just videogame streaming, and they were pretty honest that it was going to be a part time thing because it wasn't paying the bills fully. Yet, they still kept their community, they still have the same fan base. and at this rate I've probably followed them for 3 or 4 years. They've gained the freedom to do the things they find interesting, instead of the things that make the community happy.