You said it yourself already. If a project doesn't carry DeFi nor NFT in its discovery, just forget it. These are the two selling points for the crypto and they're not on the brink of settling for less as they keep skyrocketing with much adoption from investors.
They pay according to their work, they can't be forced to pay more, if investors start to like a lot the payment will automatically increase, I agree with what you say.
Forget it if the project does not bring Defi or NFT, there are other more interesting ways for them to do, if this opportunity cannot be maximized, why do we depend on such conditions, which are not necessarily true and real for us to participate.