I wonder if anyone has tried crowdfunding a novel? That would be an interesting experiment. Release a chapter or too and crowdfund the completed novel. You would need a following for this to have a chance at success though.

I respectfully disagree with you on video content being harder to produce than music. They are very different. First music/songs must be written. With lyrics if it is a vocal song. Then parts for each instrument must be created/written. Then all the parts must be recorded. Often requiring multiple takes until you get the best performance. Then they must be edited and mixed. Do this for each song. Then master it. An incredible amount of effort goes into an album.

Video requires capturing a lot of video and then editing the clips into a finished video. Adding music, titles, or narration if necessary. They both require time, creativity and effort. But I wouldn’t say video always requires more effort. It depends on the video.

And if you consider that CDs used to cost $18 each before streaming, $10 a month is not that expensive for unlimited access to millions of albums. Which is why few people buy music anymore. A year of streaming is cheaper than 7 full price CDs.

Some people don’t blink at buying $8 coffees every day. It’s all perspective.