Subscriptocracy
How Subscriptions
Took Over The World.
We used to buy music CDs and DVDs with movies.
Now we listen to music on Spotify and watch movies and series on Netflix.
Those two companies proved that maybe - just maybe - having access to something was almost better than owning it.
Subscriptions could make a lot of sense, and the rest of the world caught on. So much so, that today almost everything is a subscription.
That's what this book is about.
More and more, we live in a subscriptocracy.
Suscriptocracy is divided into three main sections. First, a few introductory chapters that explore an idea: is it better to buy something and own it, or subscribe and have access to it?
Second, dozens of surprising intrahistories of companies like Spotify, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple or Google and how they - like many others - have turned almost everything into a subscription.
And third and last, a series of final chapters that make one idea clear: subscriptions are not for everything, nor for everyone. Although the world seems to insist that they are.
Javier Pastor Nóbrega (Madrid, 1973) is a computer scientist by training and a journalist by vocation, with more than 25 years of experience writing about technology. He began his career contributing to iconic print publications like PC Actual, and later transitioned to digital media, where he has continued to explore and explain the evolving tech landscape. Since 2013, he has served as a senior editor at Xataka, one of Spain’s leading technology sites. Beyond his professional work, his passion for technology drives him to share personal reflections and deep dives on his long-running blog, Incognitosis, which he has maintained since 2005.
Over the years, he has authored thousands of articles, building a rich and diverse body of work that reflects both depth and clarity. His expertise in technology has also led to frequent collaborations as a commentator and analyst on a wide range of radio and television programs, where he shares insights with a broader audience beyond the written word.
Do you know how difficult it is to search for a word in Google and have nothing else appear, especially when you read it and immediately think that it is so obvious that it should exist and that it is the ideal word to describe a concept? It's just the kind of originality that Javier offers us. While John Locke considered life, liberty and private property as fundamental rights, Thomas Jefferson, in drafting the Declaration of Independence, replaced “property” with the concept of “the pursuit of happiness.” And that's what this book is about. It's about trading property for the promise of happiness and trying to figure out which of the two is more expensive. About buying drill bits or subscribing to holes.
Subscriptocracy' is an entertaining and well-documented read that exposes how we have turned life into a monthly subscription. Javier Pastor guides us with clear and current examples, from software that never becomes ours to cars that, apparently, now have more subscriptions than wheels. After reading it, even I, who don't own a tractor, feel like I wish I could fix it. What was once ours, now belongs to others. A highly recommended reading for those who want to understand the digital world we live in... and question it.
Suscriptocracia' is full of great stories from the world of technology, very well told. Each one, in its own way, adds a crucial element to the complete picture that Javier Pastor proposes: we have reached the point where the world of subscriptions saturates us, exploits us and, to a certain extent, has managed to make it seem normal to us. It is not, far from it. But to understand the hows and whys, you have to read this wonderful book.
'Subscriptocracy' is a lucid and revealing analysis of how the subscription economy is transforming our relationship with ownership. A necessary work that goes far beyond the history of Netflix or Spotify to show us, with historical perspective and journalistic rigor, why we no longer own almost anything.
A very interesting journey through the origins and evolution of many of the brands and services that surround us in our daily lives, and the reasons why they have ended up being subscription services (despite the fact that some started out as something very different or even refused to be). Highly recommended.
Living in permanent subscription. It's the world we are in and we are going. This capitalism and way of life has just begun. I have been able to read Javi's book. Accurate and critical analysis. Highly recommended reading.
