Joe (i.e. the podcast itself) is probably clearing 1 million per month once you include YouTube and any ad deals/payola. Patreon takes a good cut of that 900k, so it’s not much different than a deal with any other major distributor.
This proves Rory and Mal were right (which wasn’t a doubt imo). They were profit partners and he was hiding the profits from them

Joe knew there was no way he was going to be able to put them on a salary.
The current cast is going to be stuck making what they make or they’re going to get fired if they ask for more.