Hey @hansutter - I am excited about the gig economy in many ways. I started working with magic as a hobby about 10 years ago, and started doing paid gigs 6 years ago. Nowadays, I'm doing magic performances about 10 hours a month in addition to my full time job. I did 32 performances last year, making some pretty good side money. I've also done some illustration work in the past, and this is a really good environment for that.
I think creative people always had an uphill battle in the past - connecting to people that honor their work. The modern Internet has changed all of that. The Internet allows people to be connected to the things they are good at. Creative people can get paid, and make a pretty good living at it! It probably sucks if your skill is non-creative.
That's certainly correct. The issue is however, that there is a growing market of middle men that are taking the 'liminal' -the in-between spaces of the economy, and mapping them as new vectors for control. On the other side, people that aren't 'creative' find regular jobs turned into gig jobs....I tried to make the distinction between creative jobs, many of which have always been gig-based, and the general economic model.