We Built This Country on Free Content, and Now It’s Collapsing

A Story Unfolding Across Timelines.

Current Time.

How Did We Get Here?

The world is changing before our eyes, but we do not understand it. We keep using practices from the industrial era, even though we know we are already deep in the digital world.

The Industrial Revolution, which started in the late 18th century, introduced many technological innovations and completely transformed industries. Steam power and mechanical processes enabled industries to develop products for middle-class people. During the 19th century, innovation accelerated and expanded to additional industries, changing the world entirely compared to what was known before.

One of the essential industries that led the most significant transformation was the mass production of printing. This innovation became a turning point, fundamentally shaping public knowledge, education, and opinion. The mass production of printed materials brought knowledge to the public, educated them faster, and became the most effective instrument for influencing public discourse.

Between the 1830s and 1900s, the mass production of printed materials took off, leading to the explosion of newspapers, affordable books, and widespread literacy. Until the internet became part of our lives, it was crystal clear to all consumers of printed materials that consuming content costs money and is not free. The internet changed this perception. Now, most content consumers believe content should be free and that they do not need to pay for it. Content became free to teach us how to use the internet, while companies’ main goal was to keep users active on the platform at all costs.

The Digital Shift and the Decline of Paid Content

In practice, we have been living in the digital world since the late 1990s, when websites started popping up like mushrooms after the rain. However, because this innovation was new, we could not clearly identify it and did not have the tools or knowledge to assess it.

The internet opened the door to the digital era, and we all entered happily, mainly because it was free. At our core, we do not like to pay if we do not have to, even when we understand the value of knowledge, accessibility, or the time we save using it compared to how it was before. We all got tempted and entered the rabbit hole. In the last decade, it became clear that this shift backfired on us.

The Problem: Why Has Written Content Become Devalued?

Reading online has become more the norm than reading printed materials. When most of the information we consume is online, but we do not need to pay for the vast majority of it, it creates a severe problem in many aspects of life. It affects awareness of the credibility of content, the quality of information, and the value we place on the time and hard work of the writers who create it. This develops a sense of entitlement and privilege, where readers believe they deserve to access content for free without considering the work behind it.

Writing here started as a side thing, mainly to cope with my personal issues. However, as I explore the possibilities of writing on this platform and others, I realize how critical our mistakes are in navigating this landscape.

When I invite people to read and subscribe, even for free, at first, I find myself spending 85 percent of the conversation explaining what a newsletter subscription is, which consumes all my energy. With my last breath, completely exhausted after giving the best sales pitch on how newsletter subscriptions work, I finally start explaining what I actually write about.

As mathematicians say, this represents a particular case, which is my personal problem. However, the general case is more critical and impacts large organizations like media outlets, newspapers, or information sources like Wikipedia .

Forcing Industrial Era Business Models Into the Digital World Does Not Work

We adapted business models for the digital era, but we have not yet found the right product-market fit because consumers are not willing to pay for content in the digital world. In the printed world, it is clear that consumers need to pay for a book, newspaper, or magazine, but if they read an article on a news website, it is not obvious to them that they need to pay for it.

This problem is so deep that even The Guardian , which has one of the largest digital audiences in the world, operates on a donation model. It constantly asks readers for support to keep investigative journalism alive.

Why Do People Pay for Music and Video but Not Writing?

Yet, somehow, when it comes to music and video, the public understands the need to pay. Spotify , 苹果 Music, and Amazon Music have trained consumers to believe that at least one music subscription is necessary. The same happened with video platforms like Netflix , Disney+ ( 华特迪士尼公司 ), HBO , and Hulu , which successfully taught people that they must pay for at least one streaming service. No one questions why watching a show costs money. It has become an accepted part of digital consumption.

So why does this logic not apply to written content?

The Real Question: How Do We Fix This?

I do not waste time debating whether we should pay for content. That conversation is over. Now, we need to focus on how to structure budgets in a way that makes sense.

The solution must be developed around the allocation of individual budgets, not the justification of paying for content. After all, we consume content from various online sources and cannot pay for all of them. We need to develop a structure, define categories, and guide people on how to allocate their budget across groups. This would help them split their annual budget fairly. For example, here are the initial content categories:

• News and journalism – Newspapers, investigative reporting, political analysis.
• Reference and knowledge – Wikipedia , Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., educational databases.
• Creative and Commentary – Substack , Patreon , Medium , podcasts, cultural essays.
• Entertainment and independent writers – Newsletters, blogs, long-form articles, serialized writing, digital storytelling.

Structuring Budgets: How Much Should Go Where?

And then, we define the weights of each category. For example:

• News and journalism – 30%
• Reference and knowledge – 40%
• Creative and commentary – 10%
• Entertainment and independent writers – 20%

The numbers above are just random examples to illustrate the concept. The actual allocation of weights needs to be set thoughtfully, ensuring that consumers understand how to allocate their budget.

If People Debate Budget Allocation, We’ve Already Won

And if people argue about it? That is even better. This means we have reached a higher level of awareness, where the public knows they are paying for content and that the debate is not about whether they should pay but how to allocate their budget.

At the bottom line, regardless of people's opinions regarding the weight allocation, they must know they need to pay for content. Allocating the budget based on the value or benefit to society would be considered fair and would get us to the equilibrium point that balances all categories.

So technically, even if some people spend their entire annual budget on one category, they still keep the money in the market. However, this allocation would not be fair and might lead to deviations from the equilibrium point, shaping how consumer habits influence digital economics.

Final Thought

Unlike investors who avoid funding market education, this is an opportunity for competitors to work together. Media outlets have the world’s biggest stages and can amplify these messages to the public. They have the power to reshape this industry.

If music and video have succeeded in making payments an obvious part of digital consumption, why is writing still an exception?

What will it take to change that?

Please fasten your seatbelts and subscribe.

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Liat

In this journey, I weave together episodes from my life with the rich tapestry of Israeli culture through music, food, arts, entrepreneurship, and more. I write over the weekends and evenings and publish these episodes as they unfold, almost like a live performance.

Each episode is part of a set focused on a specific topic, though sometimes I release standalone episodes. A set is released over several days to make it easier for you to read during your busy workday. If one episode catches your attention, make sure to read the entire set to get the whole picture. Although these episodes are released in sets, you can read the entire newsletter from the beginning, as it flows smoothly, like music to your ears?—?or, in this case, your eyes.

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