First, I want to address that, yes, it's a little on the nose for a tech company, no matter how small, to come out strongly in favor of having customers pay for services. Imagine! The conspicuous conclusion of paying us for our software in particular would be a nice by-product, but at a level beyond the success/failure of Tape Trade, not enough is being said on this subject.
Freemium Sucks
The prevailing wisdom in the tech and software world has been that "free" is the best way to attract users. The freemium model, with its free tier designed to funnel users towards paid subscriptions, has become the dominant framework. But this model is built on a shitty foundation, creating an agency imbalance that ultimately hurts the user and the product. It's way past time to return to a direct relationship between companies and consumers: direct, fee-for-service transactions.
"Free" Ain't Free
The allure of a massive user base, even if the majority doesn't pay, is a powerful motivator for companies, particularly equity-funded ones. This approach inevitably leads to a divergence of interests. When a company's revenue comes from a tiny percentage of its highest-paying customers, its priorities shift. The improvements that benefit the majority of "free" users are neglected in favor of building out features exclusive to the higher tiers. This creates a two-tiered system where the bulk of the users becomes something the company pays for, a group to be managed rather than served.
This dynamic forces companies down an ugly path. To offset the cost of supporting a large free user base, they are incentivized to find alternative revenue streams. This is where the user, who thought they were getting a free product, discovers the true cost. Their data becomes the commodity, sold to the highest bidder for ad-tech surveillance or used to train artificial intelligence models. The product, once a tool to serve the user, becomes a vehicle for data extraction. The features that are developed are no longer solely for the user's benefit, but rather designed to capture more of their data and attention.
An Accelerating Race to the Bottom
This trend is accelerating. The voracious appetite for data to train the next generation of AI is creating a new and powerful incentive to offer "free" services. In this new hellscape, the user is not just the product; they are the unpaid and often unwitting trainers of the very systems that may one day automate their jobs.
The whole framework is unsustainable. It erodes trust, degrades the quality of the software, and creates a digital world where our privacy and autonomy are constantly under siege. Beloved free apps become bloated with ads, core functionalities are moved behind paywalls, and user data being mishandled or exploited. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.
A New Way Forward
When every user is a paying customer (even if the amount is small) the dynamic between the company and its users is fundamentally stronger. The company is no longer beholden to a small subset of high-paying customers or the whims of the data market. Instead, its success is directly tied to the value it provides to its entire user base.
This is exactly why there is no free-tier for Tape Trade.
This "new contract" (actually just an old type of contract 🤔) creates a sustainable ecosystem for both developers and users. Companies can focus on building the best possible product for everyone, knowing that their revenue is directly linked to user satisfaction. They are incentivized to listen to feedback from all their users, not just the ones on the "big plan.
For users, the benefits are even more tangible. By paying for the software they use, they are not just consumers; they are patrons. They are directly supporting the development of tools that they value. They can have a reasonable expectation of privacy, knowing that the company's business model doesn't depend on exploiting their personal information. They have a voice and a stake in the future of the product.
Several independent software companies have already proven the viability of this model. You probably haven't heard of them because they may not have the explosive initial growth of their freemium counterparts, or VC backed marketing. They have built loyal, engaged user bases that value the integrity of their products. These companies are a testament to the fact that a direct, transparent transaction is not a relic of the past.
You should reevaluate your relationship with the software and services you rely on. Paying even a little bit for the tools that we use every day contributes to a tech industry that is more accountable, more innovative, and ultimately, more human.
