I know i’m not the only one whos noticed a steady rise in subscrtiptions in our culture throughout the years. It seems you can’t go very far on the internet without someone holding their hand out for a monthly pay out.
Subscriptions, So Many Subscriptions...
A very wise streamer by the name of “Asmongold” has touched on subscription culture, and he said something that really got me thinking. He talked about how these subscriptions and bussinesses have a kind of cyclical nature to them. Back in the 2000s torrenting was a huge problem on the internet. People were illegally downloading music/ movies and every computer virus you can think of. My older brother destroyed my mums work computer with trusty old lime wire, as i’m sure many other people did. But thern, along comes subscriptions, offering all the music you could think of for a fairly reasonable price, and no viruses! So when these subscriptions began the user experience was a high priority.
As the years have gone on, the user experience has begun to diminish, and the prices and subscriptions have begun to rise. If I was a betting man, I would not be surprised if we see torrenting make a come back in the next few years.
So how has user experience began to diminish? Think of how annoying the process of trying to cancel a subscription you have running is. The hoops you have to jump through, the cancel page being really difficult to find. Companies will even swap the “Cancel now” and “Go back” buttons around on the cancel screen just to confuse you.
It’s also be known that some companies are taking away the monthly option for a subscription and making the only option available the yearly option.
Some things need to be made illegal to protect customers. It’s been known that some companies will sell you a product “you own it”, and then later down the road decide to implement a subscription, that, if you don’t pay it, you lose the product. Also adding in annoying problems into a product that was not there before, and then selling you a subscription to fix it e.g. increasing the ammount of time you have to watch advertising. I personally think this is anti consumer behaviour and needs to be stopped.
Some Subscriptions Are Good Though?
I do belive some subscriptions are necessary. Take software for example, as technology continuies to advance, these softwares need to be kept up too date and maintained in order to be usable for new operrating systems etc. There is no point buying, and owning a piece of software that will be completely useless in 3 years.
Personally, I belive paying a subscription for a movie splatform and music is fine. I don’t need to”own” movies. If i’ve watched it once I’m ussually pretty happy. I remember before movie platforms, people would have draws filled with old dvds that they hadnt watched in years.
Subscriptions can also ensure a quality product. If a company is relying on you to stay subscribed, then they are doing everything in their power to ensure you’re happy with the product. This can include keeping up too date content, making sure servers are always running, maintenance etc. Consumers are not stupid, if the product is not fitting the bill, people will unsubscribe, and a competitor will be right behind ready to take up the new subscribers.
Whether you love it or hate it, subscriptions are becoming more prevelant. The only way to move forward with it, is for us to be much more concious of what were subscribed to. Making the effort to unsubscibe if a product is not living up to its promises, and holding bussinesses accountable when the engage in anti consumerist behaviour.
Great Videos To Watch
-Video by “Future Proof”
Video by “PolyMatter”