I'm just going bring up a Canadian folk singer, Martin Kerr.

https://www.martinkerrmusic.com/

Martin believes it is possible for a creator to make a living. But he has several pieces of advice:

1) If you expect to get rich and famous, you are probably going to be disappointed.

2) You need to be good at this craft to make this middle-class living. There has to be some combination of talent and practice.

3) You have to constantly be marketing.

Martin probably has the talent to be a lot more famous. But he has chosen an easier pace of life for the benefit of his family. He has a middle-class income from his work, focusing around Edmonton and Western Canada. The sacrifice to build himself up to do world tours is not in his life plans. Yet, he is doing work he really enjoys.

The Matthew Effect is due to our obsession with celebrities. We need many more Martin Kerrs is this world. The Katy Perrys and Adrianne Grandes are sending the wrong message about embarking on a creative profession.

Medium could adjust its algorithms to create a "middle class" of Medium writers. I am not a popular writer on Medium. But when I look at how much money I actually make from so few reads, the popular writers are really raking in the cash. Medium is perpetuating the Matthew Effect.