We're Drowning in Subscriptions

Because it's not ironic.

A news publication being willing to publish articles critical of itself is a good thing. It means it's a healthy publication. Whether you like Bloomberg or not, we should be applauding it for being willing to publish self criticism.

See, advertising was getting the bag for a while but that's crashing as people reject the constant surveillance that feeds it

Now that they hooked you though, they need to make sure to keep advertising backed levels of profit growth in order to ensure that stock prices continue to rise, so the only thing to do is....raise prices.

But shit, you don't pay anything now, or if you do it's too low to cover the spread and you won't like an annual dollar figure, plus if we have recurring revenue and dark patterns then we can make sure we just trickle and trick you into giving us way more than you ever would have if we had a regular subscription to start.

So it's pretty simple - it's the never-ending game of, how can we use the promise of infinite money (raising money) to find high margin profit for our investors, make switching costs hard and then deliver the minimum level of service to ensure that you don't get so fed up that you easily switch.

As for Netflix, Disney+ etc I only pay if there's some show I will be watching. I nuke the account if there's no shows I will be watching. This is basic financial hygiene. Why pay for something you don't use?

Every couple of years “bundeling” becomes popular. Then, after some more years, people want to pay less and have more varied options, so “un-bundeling” comes in vogue again.

I guess we have now reached peak-unbundeling. We pay for everything separately, like video to Paramount+, Disney+, Netflix, PrimeVideo and so on. But already the cracks are beginning to show in this unbundled system.

I heard recently that Disney is open to licensing their content for other platforms again.

While it's true that one is forced more and more into subscriptions, there is still choice involved. I recently looked for a coin tracking tool, trialing about 5 different solutions and in the end went for the one that offered a lifetime deal.

Some businesses are waking up to this fact and potential competitive advantage, as are some indiehackers already.

I think this benefits our users; it certainly benefits development, which can instead be led by more natural processes.

In terms of privacy, the Panera staff were shocked the first time I went through the drive through and my name came up as Mr. Panera Bread. They asked if I was the CEO. Obviously I changed the name to "Mr. Panera CEO". Now they know it's us and laugh.

Subscriptions are definitely becoming overkill, but in some ways it's also easier to manage recurring monthly expenses than random ones. I have a spreadsheet with monthly bills and creating a subscription section was easy. They all go on the same card (probably bad from a privacy perspective, but the names and emails are generally unique per vendor). Now I get better visibility and can easily change subscriptions. We chop and change pretty often reviewing what we spend on.

We've also used Amazon's Subscribe and Save for years. It's pretty handy to have a continuous supply of stuff that's regularly in demand. We review it every quarter or so and cut out the unused items. In the past failing to monitor it well has meant we have a dozen gallon sized Listerines, or more Tide than we'll use in a year build up, but then either it lasts, or we donate it to a food pantry.

What's odd with Subscribe and Save is how many weird and one-off products appear with a subscribe and save option. I'm not sure if it's hopeful merchants, or Amazon's funkiness in their algos, but you can find bizarre things on recurring subscription. No, I don't need a monthly Raspberry Pi, or quarterly set of speakers.

Instead of Monthly Billing, a Daily Alternative for SaaS: https://www.listennotes.com/blog/instead-of-monthly-billing-...

The problem with subscriptions is that they are for catalogues. In order for a subscription to have value, its catalogue must be diverse.

But what does that get us? A small number of services each with their own relatively diverse catalogue.

In other words: an oligopoly of media empires.

So my argument is that these subscriptions are better value for the money, provided you're sensible about it and don't subscribe to things you don't get value from.

Agree that reprimands have to be issued to services that have dark patterns.

Majority of businesses provide a very legit flow of getting in and then exiting.

When was the last time you tried canceling your Netflix and it wasn’t possible?

Or the same for your local newspaper?

As users we need to be mindful of what we consume. Bad habits of majority from smoking to drinking and now subscribing.

Someone makes a piece of software. What are they supposed to do, just close up shop and fire everyone when it's "done?" You need people to maintain the software. Fix bugs. Add new features.

The expenses for the company do not end. Therefore it can't operate if its revenues end. If every customer only pays money to the company exactly once, it would have to be an absurd amount for the company to be sustainable in the long run.

The only way it's going to work is if there's a steady predictable influx of cash, and that means subscriptions.

If someone thinks they have a real solution to this problem, message me. I want in on it.