Thank the lord and the heavens above, we have to pay.
This past week has been full of lovely announcements, announcements that have me ringing bells and opening my wallet. Here are a few of the headlines that have made my heart sing:
- NYTimes.com To Be Pay-Walled - Gadgetell
- Boxee Adding Paid Content This Summer - Gizmodo
- Hulu Considering $5 Monthly Fee For Older Episodes - Gizmodo
- YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos - ReadWriteWeb
Now to most of you, this might burn a hole in your heart and I can hear the rants now, ”CONTENT NEEDS TO BE FREE!!!! IT WANTS TO BE FREE, rah, rah, rah.”
Feel free to keep shoutin’, because it ain’t happenin’.
Here’s the problem with providing content for free, in very rare cases is it a viable business model and most people aren’t stupid like me. A lot of people are simply not willing to provide this superb (ha) commentary on a regular basis for the paycheck of 0$ a week. Not to mention, ad dollars are few and far between and the only company that really can pull of significant revenues solely based off of advertisements is Google. Funny enough though, Google can’t even monetize Youtube good enough to make the labels happy, hence the reason they are now charging for content.
We are (in my lovely opinion) reaching a point where startups and even large companies are realizing that no matter how pissed off the customer gets, free simply doesn’t work. Sure, consumers might yell, moan and groan, but guess what? As long as enough people pay, there hissy fits don’t mean a damn thing. It has been proven in the past that if you have a great product that provides value, consumers are willing to pay. Just take a look at Netflix and their streaming service.
It’s time we start accepting the fact that if you want it, you have to pay for it. Of course, you could always torrent what you want but keep in mind that is illegal, whether you like it or not.
Cheers,
Here's the thing: I ain't paying.
So these services can just suck it.
I disagree and here's why: It is very tough to give a product away for free (beyond demo periods) and then expect your customers to pay. The other argument I have is that your competition is still free and, unless you have something premium worth paying for, people like free.
Businesses would love to change this culture but they created it. The average Internet user feels entitled to these services because somewhat in their mind they are already paying for them to their ISPs in bandwidth costs. We know that's not true but it's a mindset.
So how do we fix this? Ah, that's the Million Dollar question! Maybe I'll blog the answer someday.
This reminds me of a post on MenswithPens.ca about “blogging sweatshops.” While I do myself offer a lot of things of value on my blog for free, I also have an end-goal in mind that operates on the belief that if I provide something of value for free first, then what you eventually pay for can only be 100x better.