Pay for what you love
Rewarded enthusiasm and attention-friendly internet
I’m not a fan of free things. Free products tend to eventually get abandoned or sold to a corporation and turned to shit or simply killed.
I wish my favourite apps and creators were supported by someone else some magic pixie gold dust. But the reality is usually either surveillance capitalism or fleeting enthusiasm.
Attention-friendly internet
I wish to see what the internet would look like if Meta, Google, and news outlets weren’t incentivized to keep us in their apps for as long as possible to show us as many ads as possible.
That’s why I pay for my news (€5 + €2 per month), website analytics (€8), social network (€2), and newsletter service (€25).
I very much prefer indie creators, but I also pay for YouTube premium (€7×2)¹, and I’m happy that more and more people do the same. Attention-friendly internet won’t happen without corporations.
Overall, I believe the “ad-supported” internet has been a short-sighted wrong turn for humanity. I hope that future generations won’t expect to get value for “free” even when it comes in digital form.
We enjoy — we pay. As simple as that.
Rewarded enthusiasm
The same logic applies to content. I don’t want my favourite creators to resort to shady sponsorships or sell their channels to private equity, so I support them.
Here’s the list of my current recurring donations on Patreon, YouTube, and other places²:
€5 Pushkin.fm
€4 Arzamas
€2 In Deep Geek³
€2 Chris Spargo
€2 Paul E.T.
€1 Mustard
€1 Map Men
€1 Trash Theory
I also don’t shy away from an occasional one-off gratitude. The most recent one was N.R.M. documentary (€5), an important piece for my generation of Belarusians.
Outro
I’m typing this not only to feel better about myself (thank you very much) but also to normalize the paying-for-what-you-love behavior.
If you’ve been supporting your creators, thank you. If not yet, now is a great time to show appreciation to someone whose work you’ve enjoyed for months.
1Yes, I pay for two YouTube accounts: one is educational (what I usually share below), the other is brainrotational recreational (NBA, F1, WWE 🫣). God forbid these feeds mix!
2I didn’t always have that much disposable income. At first, I was only able to support my top-3, then top-5, and so on. It’s important to start somewhere.
3This essay was the final straw to put my money where my eyes are and support Robert’s deep dives into Tolkien’s legendarium.
Favourites
It would’ve been weird not to feature the creators I support in today’s section, right?
(🎬 12 min) As you might’ve noticed, I’ve been carried away by the world of the Lord of the Rings lately, having read the books and re-watched the films this winter. That being said, I’m not ready to cut my way through the Silmarillion with a mental machete — I’d rather listen to Robert from In Deep Geek explain which Two Towers Tolkien meant or when Saruman turned evil.
(📚 384 pages) This Way Up is such a passion piece from Map Men. If you fancy geeking out about geography and want to spend some time in the company of utter nerds who are also great storytellers, here’s your book. Surprisingly, the audiobook works alright.
P.S.
The irony of writing this essay for free is not lost on me! In my defense, I’ll consider donations when (if?) the share of my friends among subscribers falls well below 50%.
If you find yourself in a state of overflowing kindness, you can support the YouTube show I’m a part of or consider Fibery for your company.
This was issue #15, find more at antoniokov.com.
What is the subscription you are most happy to pay? Reply to this email and share your thoughts.
