Subscriptions Are A Win-Win For Everybody. Until It Isn’t
Enshittification is the gradual platform decline in the quality of online products or services (coined by Cory Doctorow).
You’ve probably seen this term somewhere, or maybe you’ve seen a post or a video on how subscriptions suck. Initially, though, subscriptions were a win-win: companies get money, people get quality. At least, that’s how it used to be.
But they were too greedy.
They, or more accurately, the shareholders wanted more money. And since the world made a slow, but sure switch to more digital goods, everybody was under their thumb. They increased the consumer price, but not so much that we would leave, and decreased the producer’s price (Uber drivers), but not so much that they would leave: in the end, the company gets all the money.
This article explores specifically how we went from owning things to renting them, if it’s good or bad, and most importantly: what we can do about it.
We Used to Own Things. I Guess.
Yeah. We owned nearly most of our stuff, because it was ours. We owned our DVD films, our record players music, our books, our radio, etc.
Fast forward to the future, and we subscribe to at least 3 platforms to watch films, we pay for Spotify to play music, we (thankfully own our books) have to pay for a separate podcast app. Why? How did it become this? One, simple, and easy answer: the internet. In the early days back in the ’80s, the Internet itself was a product. In the ’00s, the internet became the ground for products.
During these 20-ish years, the internet became something where you could sell other things. Then, it suddenly only sold one thing: data.
Your data. Who you are, where you live, what you like, your gender, age etc. All of it, misused and sold to companies so that they can advertise things to you so that ironically enough, you would buy something.
But what does this have to do with ownership?
Well, companies need money. When you buy one, permanent thing from a company, they have no guarantee you will come back. But when you’re trapped in a subscription model, they know you have to come back.
And with a subscription model, they also get something else: data.
But What’s So Bad About Renting (Or Subscriptions)?
Nothing’s bad about renting. Until it becomes unfair.
And often, it becomes incredibly unfair. Prices increase for lower quality, and they increase if you want higher quality. Perhaps the best way to notice this is through tiering: they make the quality for the base tier so low, you subscribe to either the middle tier or the high tier. Companies get more money in return.
When renting is simple and fair, which it often isn’t, it’s a good way to create a win-win situation. Medium is simple and fair: people only have to pay $5 to access premium posts, which gives a portion of the money to Medium, a portion to writers. For $5. That is f*cking incredible.
Unfortunately, subscription services have gotten worse, which is leading to everyone hating the whole model of subscriptions. But it’s not all bad, and Medium is an example. So, yes, don’t give up yet.
What Can We Do About It?
Nothing. For now. Why?
Who will listen to us? All we can do is complain, complain, complain. Some startups will listen. Some won’t. For now, subscriptions are tied to us, and we’re tied to them. But yes, we can reduce the cost of renting:
- Cycle through subscriptions i.e. Month 1 is Disney, Month 2 is Netflix etc.
- Check your subscriptions: sometimes, they have an annoying habit of not canceling your subscription automatically. And yes, you continue to lose money.
- Reflect and see if you actually need it.
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