Death by subscription

Ownership is under attack! Subscriptions, a necessary evil for the sake of convenience, have become a mechanism of control for businesses to exert ownership over items that have been traditionally buy-own. From software to music to video games, companies are finding increasingly evasive ways to make us consumers. We reject the concept of repeatedly purchasing something never to own it.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Banks have been commoditizing home ownership through mortgages since who knows when. Other industries have paid close attention and are now following suit. Food is subscription based; fitness is subscription based—even dating is subscription based. It is a slippery slope of dystopian business practices and Congress has no intention, as of now, of legislating and regulating the subscription model.

The truly worrying thing is that it’s not only a loss of our control, but a way for corporations to increase the amount of influence they have over us. It’s difficult to avoid subscriptions nowadays. Inflated prices, mergers and buyouts have turned the subscription model into a monopolized way of doing business. Few companies and conglomerates have a hold on the entertainment industry. The major players—Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video & Music, HBO—are all subscription based. Other industries such as dating and fitness don’t fare any better.

According to a recent study done by Statista, prices certainly appear to be rising at an alarming rate. Disney+ raised their fee from $15.99 to $18.99 per month in Oct, Netflix went from $15.49, for their ad-free plan, to $17.99 in January while Hulu has been $18.99 since Oct. 2024. 

We know this is a problem; we know we need to do something about it. Are we willing to take back a piece, a small piece, of control from corporations that continue to overwhelm us to death with subscriptions?