Maybe the average content creator isn't actually making something that is financially sustainable. Just because a lot of effort went into something doesn't mean someone else owes them for the act of creation. Someone else has to value the created content. Even then that value needs to be somewhere north of a dollar because it's not practical to conduct transactions less than that. Before anyone screams "crypto" the transaction fees for cryptocurrencies are ludicrous and even in the best case there's not really a way to pay someone less than a dollar.

Even though magazines are largely dead/dying that subscription model seems like the only workable one. You get a bunch of content for a relatively low yearly price. Even then no individual creator is going to get independently wealthy.