Tariffs. Inflation. Flatlining fan spend.

The headlines make it sound like a macro story. But zoom in and you’ll see where it lands first: independent creators, small shops, and one-person brands—the very people powering the internet’s creative engine.

Trump’s latest tariff push is framed as a trade war 2.0, but it hits your feed before it hits the GDP. The Verge called out what’s already happening: creators who sell physical merch—keycaps, prints, apparel, peripherals—are seeing rising costs, shrinking margins, and delays. These aren’t theoretical problems. They’re happening now, and they mess with the part of the creator economy that actually scales: products.

At the same time, we’ve hit peak fan support infrastructure. Patreon, Ko-fi, YouTube memberships, Instagram gifts, TikTok tips, Twitch bits—it’s all there. Creators have more ways than ever to ask fans for money. And that’s a good thing. But there’s an uncomfortable truth hiding under all that support-based monetization:

It only works when fans have money to give.

TubeFilter laid it out—if a recession hits, voluntary fan spend becomes the first to go. Not because people stop caring about creators, but because $3 or $5 a month starts to feel like a luxury. The same way it did in 2020, and 2008 before that. Consumer sentiment is already shaky. And when sentiment drops, discretionary spend dries up fast.

What makes this moment tough is that it’s not one thing—it’s the stack:

• Rising costs from tariffs and inflation
  
• Fan spend softening
  
• Platforms still taking a platform-sized cut
  
• Creators doing more, earning less
  

This is the pressure cooker. And it’s not just indie artists and streamers feeling it. It’s every creative business sitting on the line between audience love and business reality.

So what do you do?

At distllr, we work with creators, founders, and operators to get ahead of these shifts—not just to survive them, but to use them. Because if you’re paying attention, downturns create clarity.

This is the time to:

• Tighten ops. Know your costs, automate what you can, and kill the stuff that’s not working.
  
• Rethink monetization. Merch is great, but so is licensing, events, courses, digital exclusives, and brand IP.
  
• Own your audience. Don’t rely on platforms for reach or revenue—build your own lists, channels, and communities.
  
• Build for durability. Use the slowdowns to rethink your stack, your team, your partnerships, your goals.
  

This economy may not tank—but even a soft downturn exposes the weak spots. Creators feel it first. You don’t have to be caught off guard.

We’ve seen this cycle before. If you need help seeing it clearly, that’s what we’re here for.