I really liked reading this! Your perspective on what it's like for independent artists to "make it" these days is spot on. I just wrote an article about it actually.

I work with independent musicians and trust me, you're not alone. It's all social media driven, content creation, and dare I say, TikTok. I HATE the way things are now. Unfortunately social media is here to stay and the major labels only care about money and exposure, they don't care about music. Music is just their product like oranges to farmers in Florida.

You're right about needing a "one-stop-shop" and some do exist. Everything will be subscription based soon enough and some smart people are currently working on artist friendly sites. Don't be fooled though, the majors will one day swoop in and buy those if and when they become successful.

Keep writing music and don't follow any pattern. Your own creativity is enough no matter what the "experts" say.