Why is everything a subscription?

Subscription services are everywhere effecting personal finance the average person is now spending $273 a month on subscriptions and at the same time less than one third of them could afford a $1,000 expense without going into debt…

This only includes software services like netflix, disney plus, hulu, spotify, adobe, apple music, xbox games pass and others. it does not include other recuring expenses like gym or club memberships.

Service companies are doing this to attract venture capital investment. These investors favour subscription businesses because they provide consistent cash flows and can be scaled rapidly before being sold through a traditional IPO, a SPAC or to a private equity fund.

But these businesses are not always perfect and there are some products that just make more sense to sell through a one time direct sale.

So it’s time to Learn How Money Works to find out how everything became a subscription.

  • Daniel Retana
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    1 year ago

    @WhoRoger Thanks to Adobe shitheads!!!
    Also the only subscription that I can stand is Humble Choice which let me keep the games that they give on my Steam account. So if I cancel I don’t loose them.

    I keep HBO MAX for the sole reason that it has newly released films. So is cheaper ($8 monthly) that paying for a cinema ticket.

    • @WhoRogerOP
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      81 year ago

      Golly I remember when Adobe came up with that shit, everyone was up in arms about it.

      If only professionals had enough foresight to reject that, maybe we wouldn’t be so deep down in subscription hell.

    • @Mac
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      1 year ago

      keep the games

      Steam account

      Hmm

      • @ewe
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        41 year ago

        But that DRM is the good kind…

        Okay, I see your point.

      • @Levii
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        21 year ago

        How long till steam starts charging a sub fee to use the platform. Suddenly all those games you “owned”… not really “yours” anymore… (the illusion of ownership shatters)

        • @WhoRogerOP
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          21 year ago

          I remember, years ago, before I was boycotting Steam, I was saving every purchase confirmation.

          At some point they changed their wording from “Thank you for your purchase” to “Thank you for your subscription”.

          I tried to look for it on the web, there was absolutely zero mention of this anywhere. Apparently they changed something in their T&C, and if you don’t like it, well you can just not use Steam at all I guess. (Which I don’t, but it’s quite a hit if you have hundreds of games.)

          • @Levii
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            11 year ago

            Yeah, sorry for the late response. I dont have hundreds of games but I do have dozens unfortunately. I dont buy so many anymore anyway, and i dont really play the ones i have on steam that often anyways, aside from the odd 3.

    • lol3droflxp
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      21 year ago

      TBH, I’m quite happy with the Affinity alternatives, although I never used Lightroom and I guess that’s the hardest to replace for the average user