The startup boom failed to build a maker utopia

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unravel the numbers and nuances behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show where we limit ourselves to a single topic and dig deep.

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This time we did Eric SilverHead of Creative at the podcast collective Multitude on the show to help us sort through:

• What the hell happened to Spotify’s big podcast push and the resulting layoffs.
• Why technology platforms haven’t yet found a way to make creative work lucrative enough to spawn a new “creator middle class.”
• The state of the advertising market and its impact on creative work in general.

Towards the end, we had a moment to comment on AI, but we kept that a bit far from our central theme.

Longtime Equity listeners will recall that we’ve covered the creator economy a few times on the show and blog, including:

And if you need even more, this 2021 investor survey on all things creator economics is a great look back in time!

For episode transcripts and more, visit Equity’s Simplecast website.

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