--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the…" description: "\"“In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make money is to scrape consumer data from your users and sell it to advertisers. In the creative ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg" --- # In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make… ![“In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make money is to scrape consumer data from your users and sell it to advertisers. In the creative world, nowhere does the fixed cost to produce high-quality music, video, books, and games get factored into this equation. How are musicians…” quote by Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg) > ““In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make money is to scrape consumer data from your users and sell it to advertisers. In the creative world, nowhere does the fixed cost to produce high-quality music, video, books, and games get factored into this equation. How are musicians, journalists, photographers, and filmmakers going to survive in the zero-marginal-cost economy? For the media economy to continue, we are going to have to find ways to deal with the paradox that Summers and DeLong point to.”” [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In an economy where reproducing digital goods costs almost nothing, revenue must come from data monetization, threatening creators who rely on sales of their work. **In simple terms:** Creators need new income models beyond selling copies. Key Takeaway Explore alternative revenue streams for creators. Themes digital economy creator sustainability data monetization zero marginal cost Mood concerned analytical optimistic Type commentary forecast analysis When to use this quote - musicians seeking subscription services - journalists using patronage - photographers licensing images - filmmakers crowdfunding Key Concepts platform economics intellectual property advertising models Questions to Reflect On - How can creators balance privacy with revenue? - What non‑data‑based models can sustain creative work? A Different Perspective Reliance on data can erode privacy and audience trust. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) ## Related quotes > [The cost of the high-cost economy remains too high.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-wolfowitz/the-cost-of-the-high-cost-economy-remains-too-high/) [Paul Wolfowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-wolfowitz/) > [“overcapacity eventually destroys profits as manufacturers are more likely to make marginal cost-based decisions to regain volume.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-thain/overcapacity-eventually-destroys-profits-as-manufacturers-are-more/) [Greg Thain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-thain/) > [The marginal cost of doing something 'just this once' always seems to be negligible, but the full cost will typically be much higher. Yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-marginal-cost-of-doing-something-just-this-once-always-seems-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Economists think about what people ought to do. Psychologists watch what they actually do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/economists-think-about-what-people-ought-to-do-psychologists-watch/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) > [The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/the-system-of-private-property-is-the-most-important-guaranty-of/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [“a select group of high-performing companies have managed to close the strategy-to-performance gap through better planning and execution. These companies—Barclays, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-mankins/a-select-group-of-high-performing-companies-have-managed-to-close-the/) [Michael C. Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/) > [Having an economy that works for the 99% is achievable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winnie-byanyima/having-an-economy-that-works-for-the-99-is-achievable/) [Winnie Byanyima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winnie-byanyima/) > [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/) [Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/) > [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [“The free-market economy and globalisation process have brought about, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, a sharp and sudden rise in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/the-free-market-economy-and-globalisation-process-have-brought-about/) Yaakov Malkin > [Our engagement through international economics, trade, these trade agreements, is vital and is linked to our national security. This is a lesson we learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-boustany/our-engagement-through-international-economics-trade-these-trade/) [Charles Boustany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-boustany/) > [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/) [Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/) > [Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zandi/our-biggest-challenge-is-to-eliminate-the-popular-perception-that/) [Mark Zandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zandi/) > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) ## More by Jonathan Taplin > [“The privacy issue was reignited in early 2014, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had conducted a massive social-science experiment on nearly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-privacy-issue-was-reignited-in-early-2014-when-the-wall-street/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“If Facebook becomes my primary source of news, with the ability to filter what I see, then the civic square will no longer exist.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/if-facebook-becomes-my-primary-source-of-news-with-the-ability-to/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“The stunning thing about a zero-marginal-cost digital distribution system is that we forget that it could allow artists to run a nonprofit distribution cooperative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-stunning-thing-about-a-zero-marginal-cost-digital-distribution/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Huxley’s assertion was that technology would lead to passivity. The ease with which we could consume mind-numbing entertainments and distractions would ultimately rot our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/huxley-s-assertion-was-that-technology-would-lead-to-passivity-the/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“The first question that needs to be asked is why we are so willing to surrender our labor and our personal data for free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-first-question-that-needs-to-be-asked-is-why-we-are-so-willing-to/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“The effect of Amazon’s monopsony in the book business is to constantly force authors and publishers to work for less money. In Bork’s view,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-effect-of-amazon-s-monopsony-in-the-book-business-is-to/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Those seeking political and economic change should consider embracing art. Part of our role as citizens is to look more closely at the media…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/those-seeking-political-and-economic-change-should-consider-embracing/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Contrary to what techno-determinists want us to believe, inequality is not the inevitable by-product of technology and globalization or even the lopsided distribution of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/contrary-to-what-techno-determinists-want-us-to-believe-inequality-is/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Dear Alexis, Last week at our debate, I talked about the essential unfairness that my friend and colleague Levon Helm had to continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/dear-alexis-last-week-at-our-debate-i-talked-about-the-essential/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“the fact that his businesses were built on copyright theft (Napster) and deep consumer surveillance (Facebook) leads us to question what exactly these attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-fact-that-his-businesses-were-built-on-copyright-theft-napster/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“So assuming one could argue that Google is a monopoly and needs to enter into a consent decree, would the Bell Labs model work?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/so-assuming-one-could-argue-that-google-is-a-monopoly-and-needs-to/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Between the passage of the ITFA and 2015, Amazon essentially managed to wipe out the local bookstore and, to some extent, the local record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/between-the-passage-of-the-itfa-and-2015-amazon-essentially-managed/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“If PBS shrank the number of stations and used the money from spectrum sales and government grants for programming, we would have a genuine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/if-pbs-shrank-the-number-of-stations-and-used-the-money-from-spectrum/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“Software is eating the world,” and soon the technologists will be coming for your job, too, just as they will continue to come for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/software-is-eating-the-world-and-soon-the-technologists-will-be/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) > [“The cultural critic Leon Wieseltier angrily noted, “The streets of American cities are haunted by the ghosts of bookstores and record stores, which have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/the-cultural-critic-leon-wieseltier-angrily-noted-the-streets-of/) [Jonathan Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) [Explore all 31 Jonathan Taplin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/) ## More Economics quotes > [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/don-t-let-s-lose-sight-of-what-creates-wealth-it-is-open-markets-it/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don't have anything useful to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zandi/our-biggest-challenge-is-to-eliminate-the-popular-perception-that/) [Mark Zandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zandi/) > [Advances in technology will continue to reach far into every sector of our economy. Future job and economic growth in industry, defense, transportation, agriculture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bond/advances-in-technology-will-continue-to-reach-far-into-every-sector/) [Christopher Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bond/) > [Our engagement through international economics, trade, these trade agreements, is vital and is linked to our national security. This is a lesson we learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-boustany/our-engagement-through-international-economics-trade-these-trade/) [Charles Boustany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-boustany/) > [“The free-market economy and globalisation process have brought about, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, a sharp and sudden rise in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/the-free-market-economy-and-globalisation-process-have-brought-about/) Yaakov Malkin > [“Everything economic science posits as given, that is, the range of dispositions of the economic agent which ground the illusion of the ahistorical universality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/everything-economic-science-posits-as-given-that-is-the-range-of/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/) [Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/) > [Having an economy that works for the 99% is achievable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winnie-byanyima/having-an-economy-that-works-for-the-99-is-achievable/) [Winnie Byanyima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winnie-byanyima/) > [“a select group of high-performing companies have managed to close the strategy-to-performance gap through better planning and execution. These companies—Barclays, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-c-mankins/a-select-group-of-high-performing-companies-have-managed-to-close-the/) [Michael C. Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/) > [The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/the-system-of-private-property-is-the-most-important-guaranty-of/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [Economists think about what people ought to do. Psychologists watch what they actually do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/economists-think-about-what-people-ought-to-do-psychologists-watch/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) > [The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-politician-attempts-to-remedy-the-evil-by-increasing-the-very/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [As the variable capital always stays in the hands of the capitalist in some form or other, it cannot be claimed in any way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/as-the-variable-capital-always-stays-in-the-hands-of-the-capitalist/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) [Browse all 7,788 Economics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make money is to scrape consumer data from your users and sell it to advertisers. In the creative world, nowhere does the fixed cost to produce high-quality music, video, books, and games get factored into this equation. How are musicians, journalists, photographers, and filmmakers going to survive in the zero-marginal-cost economy? For the media economy to continue, we are going to have to find ways to deal with the paradox that Summers and DeLong point to.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Taplin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-only-way-to-make-money-is-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Economics" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-only-way-to-make-money-is-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/517/jonathan-taplin-20430_economics_in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-o_1189940.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only way to make money is to scrape consumer data from your users…” — Jonathan Taplin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jonathan Taplin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-taplin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“In this zero-marginal-cost economy, the only...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-only-way-to-make-money-is-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-taplin/in-this-zero-marginal-cost-economy-the-only-way-to-make-money-is-to/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```