I still don’t get how a consumer can’t just pay (fantasy hypothetical world) $10, and what they watch/view is recorded.

• Streaming company takes their cut, distributes the rest to content producers proportioned based on what was watched.
• Producers take their cut then distribute the rest as residuals.

I lied. I do know that the current contract infrastructure doesn’t allow for this.

You are always free to sue with your lawyer to make a more just world as the founding fathers intended… /s