The Parasite Economy: An Upside for Creators

parasite economy

Today, I’ll explain the Parasite Economy and why it is destroying businesses but opening up new opportunities for creators.

For many years, I’ve subscribed to Ted Gioia’s newsletter, “The Honest Broker.” It’s hard to describe this newsletter. Ted is a music critic and historian whose musings tend to wander all over the cultural landscape. But he has a knack for consistently connecting the dots in insightful ways, and I almost always learn something from his posts.

In an article titled “Are We Now Living in a Parasite Culture?” Ted makes an observation that is profound in its simplicity and wisdom. It goes like this:

“Nowadays, parasite businesses are the largest corporations in the world. Their technologies do many harmful things, but lately they have focused on serving up fake culture, leeching off the creativity of real human artists.

“Just take a look at the dominant digital platforms—and consider how little they actually create. But the amount of leeching they do is really quite stunning, especially when compared with the dominant businesses of the past.

What does Facebook really create? Almost nothing. It relies on 3 billion users to create content (ugh!—their word, not mine), and then monetizes these people and their unpaid labor.

What does Google really create? Almost nothing. Just look at how it destroys newspapers, while doing zero journalism itself. The comparison with a parasite could hardly be more apt. It feeds off the news, but never adds to it.

What does Spotify really create? Almost nothing. The folks at Spotify don’t worry about their lousy app, because they’re so busy sucking blood from the creative economy, to which they contribute not one whit. Meanwhile, their CEO is now richer than any musician in the history of the world.

What does TikTok really create? Almost nothing. This company relies on one million creators—none of them are employees. Most of them are working for hopes and dreams. TikTok is run like a Hollywood studio, but without cast, crew, directors, scriptwriters, or any creative talent whatsoever. But that hardly matters when you’re just a parasite living off unwitting hosts.

“Consider the case of the woman who attracted 713,000 TikTok followers and generated 11 million views for her videos—and got paid $1.85 over the course of five months. No that’s not $1.85 million—it’s one buck and eighty-five pennies. You can practically hear the lifeblood getting sucked out of the creator economy.”

Ted’s post continues, and he concludes by saying, “For the first time in history, the Forbes list of billionaires is filled with individuals who got rich via parasitical business strategies—creating almost nothing, but gorging themselves on the creativity of others.”

As usual, Ted made me think long and hard. I agree with him, but there is another side of this coin. In fact, the Parasite Economy is the best thing that ever happened to me in my professional life. And it can be for you, too. Today I’ll explain why.

The Parasite Economy’s Poster Child

On the surface, I am the poster child for “Victims of the Parasite Economy.”

I’ve probably added 20 million words to the social web through my blog and podcast alone. Google and its algorithm brotherhood crawl the internet like bugs, chewing my content like termites and then hurling it back out as an indistinguishable paste. The molecular material of my precious content is within everything now—no attribution, no money, no customers.

The years of effort behind this content are now part of the immortal glue that holds AI together. How have I been compensated for my significant content contribution? Nothing at all. I’ve never received one penny from Google, social media sites, or an AI company.

And yet, after 15 years of blogging and 12 years on the podcast, I keep churning out more. In fact, I think I’m doing my best work ever, giving away my most valuable ideas and insights every week.

Through Ted’s view, I should be incensed. But I’m grateful. Here’s why.

The Benefits of the Parasite Economy

While it’s true that I’m not making money from my content, I’ve made millions of dollars over the course of my creator career because I built an audience. You can’t have an audience without awareness, and you can’t have awareness without giving away valuable content.

I can see why Ted or any creative would feel abused because their content is consumed, loved, and shared without compensation. The key to surviving in the creator economy is not counting on your content for revenue. Those days are gone. So go ahead and grieve that reality, but get over it and look for other profitable ways to serve your audience.

I have 24 revenue streams. The most important ones are:

Keynote speaking events and corporate workshops
Personal coaching
Book sales
Private marketing retreat (The Uprising)
Online classes

Until last year, I would have had marketing strategy consulting on the list — this was number one for many years. But I’ve been turning down these opportunities due to the wear and tear of travel.

My point is that, purely based on the awareness provided by the Parasite Economy, I’ve reinvented myself in a way that has allowed me to move away from the 9-5 corporate job.

The economics of our world today

I’ve never received a dime from Google or Facebook, but I’ve also never paid them (or anyone) a dime in advertising. So, at least for me, it’s been a fair trade-off.

Likewise, even a media company like The New York Times has been able to reinvent itself by diversifying into new media properties like podcasts, events, books, and speaking (they are building personal brands for their best reporters).

I am NOT dismissing the galaxy of negatives about internet parasites, including many of the good points Ted made in his post.

But I wanted to provide an alternate view that, with some creativity and resourcefulness, a creator can thrive, even under these strange circumstances.

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