Only seeing this a week or so after it was posted but feel the need to reply. One of the major motivations for myself and a significant portion of others who joined the Fediverse is the decay caused by commercialization of the WorldWide Web. I’d further argue that this decay is a mirror of the non-digital world and the impact of the hyper-comoditization championed by neoliberalism.

Humans don’t exist purely to serve commerce and transactional financial systems. Those systems are invented by and intended to serve humans. We need, for our health, spaces and activities that are not transactional and financial in nature. The Fediverse, as it currently exists is such a place.

Artists and other creatives are a vital part of humanity. Unfortunately, we’ve been sick in a neoliberal hellscape that demands a commercial reason for anything to justify its existence. If one wants to entertain people on the Fediverse, there are a number of possible models that could help one to make a living, while still not falling into the hyper-commercialization that has infected the Web. Most of the ones that come to mind could work well elsewhere too. Here’s some examples that come to mind:

• Form a non-profit related to the desired artistic medium. Through donations and grants, one can both make a living with their art and help others that are interested in the medium.

• Form an artists’ cooperative, whether for a single medium or multiple media. If the coop becomes known for talented artists who make good work, they can then act like a union, supporting eachother in contract negotiations and other collective bargaining to ensure that members are fairly compensated for their efforts and are able to make a living.

• Markets. I know several working artists that make the vast majority of their income in-person at local markets (farmers’ markets, swap-meets, etc). For performing artists, it may be possible to get bookings with the market organizers. For those that make pieces of still or recorded art, it can be sold directly.

With any of these, places like the Fediverse become a place to engage with people who know the artist and show their work to those not familiar. I strongly suspect that the Content Creator/Influencer as a “job” will not have long-term stability as it is being subsidized heavily by the platforms themselves, who are making money selling ads and enduser data, both of which are seeing more pushback from both users and governments as they are leveraged by bad actors and unscrupulous businesses chasing infinite growth.