The Myth of the "Independent Creator" | Matt Robison

Much like the economy at large, the system favors big players over independent creators.Online sensations like Mr. Beast—the YouTuber with nearly 500 million subscribers—have spurred countless imitators with dreams of online fame. Yet a vanishing few reach the stratospheric heights of Mr. Beast, who reportedly earns $700 million a year. Accordingto a 2025 survey by NeoReach, 70 percent of creators report earning less than $49,000 a year, and more than half earn less than $15,000 annually. (YouTube, meanwhile, reported $60 billion in revenues in 2025.)As veteran podcaster Matt Robison argues, media has become a “superstar economy” where a small number of players dominatethe market. Their incumbency is secured by platforms like YouTube and Substack, which have every incentive to promote their superstars as a way to compete against each other. Algorithms that favor popularity make things worse forsmaller creators trying to break in. The result is that no one who isn’t already big can make it big because the big guys are insulated from competition. Host: Anne Kim, Washington MonthlyGuest: Matt Robison, author of the Substack, “Worth Knowing,” and the host of the podcast, “Beyond Politics.”