I vibed a tool to check all the big relays and as far as it found all those 7 earned a combined $85 from zaps last month. So one Chipotle burrito per person on average. If these folks represent (in some way) the current top earning cohort on nostr then that's a real issue! (Not talking about selling paintings or soap or wine btw, just pure zaps.)
The vibe tool could be off, but even so this still goes back to @jb55 's point, there just isn't much potential revenue floating around for creators to tap into.
To go from a small group of creators earning a Chipotle burrito per month to even just two or three creators earning an actual living, or even some decent side-gig revenue, would require a truly massive increase in the number of people here.