Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show where we niche down to a single topic and dig deep.

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This time ’round we had Eric Silver, Head of Creative at the podcast collective Multitude on the show to help us sort through:

• What the hell happened with Spotify’s big podcast push, and its resulting layoffs.
• Why tech platforms have not yet found a way to make creative work lucrative enough to engender a new ‘creator middle class.’
• The state of the ad market, and its impacts on creative work more generally.

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

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

• Yeah, funding for creator-focused startups is drying up [blog]
• F*ck creator funds, we need a creator index fund [Equity]
• Not every creator economy startup is built for creators [blog]

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

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

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, one that details how our stories come together and more!