I mean look at Patreon that basically exist as 100% overhead over just a Paypal account. They're doing fine. They demonstrated that convenient cash transactions for digital subscriptions is a viable business model.
I mean, youtube had half the internet complaining "I wish that link was text and not a video" and the other half complaining "I wish it was as easy to monetize writing as it was to monetize video" and Substack saw the obvious solution.
Most creatives don't want to run a business, they want to create.
I know a warvlogger, however, who is still active on YouTube but moved to Patreon because he felt constrained about what he could post on YouTube who left Patreon because Patreon kicked out all warvloggers, now he has his own members-only website.
Another example is OnlyFans which has the same inequality problem as Substack. In my mind it is a little more mysterous how you'd run your own video streaming platform than how you'd run an email newsletter system, but I know you can rent video streaming from AWS so it isn't so hard. I think it's interesting how live-interaction platforms like Clubhouse outside pornography collapsed really quickly though.
I mean, youtube had half the internet complaining "I wish that link was text and not a video" and the other half complaining "I wish it was as easy to monetize writing as it was to monetize video" and Substack saw the obvious solution.
Most creatives don't want to run a business, they want to create.