"A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending," Chris Anderson wrote in his 2008 WIRED story, "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business." The New York Times and much of The Wall Street Journal were free, he pointed out. So were plenty of songs, video games, even email. This makes me wonder: What content do you feel should be free? What do you feel is worth paying for (other than a WIRED subscription, of course)? Let me know in the comments beneath Anderson's piece.
Of course, we know now that the debates Anderson wrote about were far from settled in 2008, and they certainly aren't settled now. The streaming wars, Spotify subscriptions, even the fact that Anderson's story about free content is now behind a paywall on WIRED's website are all evidence that free content was never the future. Even before companies and platforms started charging users money for their wares, we were paying in a different currency: attention. Clichés are clichés for a reason: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
In his piece, Anderson wrote about how the basis of virtually all media is a three-party system wherein newspapers and magazine publishers, for example, charge readers a fee that is much, much lower than what it costs to do their work, and advertisers cover the rest. "They're not selling papers and magazines to readers, they're selling readers to advertisers," he pointed out. Recently, it seems, more and more creators are taking a stab at something closer to a two-party system: You pay a subscription fee directly to someone's Substack or Patreon, and you get to consume the things they have made. I'm not about to speculate that this is the future of business, but it is an interesting counterpoint. At the very least, it's a way to make a pointed statement about exactly what you think is worth paying for.
Of course, subscription fatigue is a real threat, too. It's hard to know what a more sustainable and equitable system for making, consuming, and supporting other people's work ought to look like. Or, at least, it's well above my pay grade. But if you have thoughts, I'd love if you shared them with me in the comments below Anderson's story or wrote me a note.
See you next week!
Eve
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حبيبي ليس يعدله حبيب *** ولا لسواه في قلبي نصيب حبيب غاب عن بصري وسمعي *** ولكن في فؤادي ما يغيب يا حبيب ...
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