Quite frankly, now that YouTube has built its media ecosystem, they have an incentive to marginalize the long tail. The big channels (or rather, their distribution companies) have dedicated account managers who can clear this kind of stuff up. Big channels are easier to manage from a platform perspective since there’s someone you can call to clear up any issues (who you already have a contractual relationship with), so you don’t need to trust an unaccountable algorithm.

If you’re not a YouTube partner? You’re collateral damage that is baked into the design and considered acceptable by YouTube. Your value as an independent content creator is very low to them. The effort required to moderate independent creators is significantly higher than it is to moderate managed partners on a per-view basis. It’s a lot of work for small dollar amounts.

This is a pretty common situation we’ve seen play out over the last century. When a new media paradigm is established, there’s a land rush. But once the initial land rush is over, the industry regulates itself and consolidates for efficiency. The new media landscape eventually becomes the very thing they displaced. Ever wonder why YouTube has as many ads as broadcast TV these days?