It’s Time To Own Our Media (Again...)

I’d imagine your bank statement looks pretty similar to mine (nondescript payments to my marijuana connect, Juan Valdes ESQ notwithstanding), showcasing a number of combinations of $10,$15, and even $20+ monthly subscriptions to a potpourri of digital streaming services to scratch your movie and music itch. The escalation of digital subscription model platforms will be studied for decades to come, and for some, the revolution will not be televised, as they’re already helplessly dependent on the algorithm hand-picking and curating their taste in records and films, and the thought of unplugging seems like too much of a chore. If you fall in that category, this article is meant to serve as a wake-up call, of sorts.

I’m gonna set the stage here with the sheer economics of it all. In 2016, the average price for cable or satellite packages was around $100/month for hundreds of channels, pretty much any live sporting event, and some add-ons for Premium Movie options like Cinemax and HBO. Fuck you, do your own research, I’m not citing my fucking sources. Fucking Google it, you fucking whimp. Right now, if you were to have the basic packages (with ads) of the following: HBO MAX, $11/mo. NETFLIX, $9/mo. PARAMOUNT+, $9/mo. AMAZON PRIME, $14.99/mo. DISNEY+ HULU, $9. APPLE MUSIC, $11. Basic Internet Package, $50/mo. (average). Not too bad, right? That keeps you around that $100/month budget from 2016, but you’re riddled with an ungodly amount of the same ads over and over, and your internet spends more time buffering than not.

Let’s be realistic here - I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you (and me both) have been conned into some premium plans and bundles because nobody has time (see; patience) for ads. Let’s see what that number looks like: HBO MAX, $23/mo. NETFLIX, $27/mo. PARAMOUNT+, $14/mo. AMAZON PRIME, $14.99/mo. DISNEY+ HULU, $20/mo. SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC, $12/mo. Fiber Internet Package (ideal for streaming), $75/mo. So, I’m not gonna assume everybody is doing premium pricing on EVERYTHING in this economy, but if you were, you’d be sitting at around $185/month to get the ad-free experience for music and movies we were all promised at the rise of this whole movement.

Like most things, big tech has added pay walls to most of the shit we had for free because they can and we do nothing to combat it. On top of that, if you really dig deep in the Terms & Conditions of some of these services, you’ll be surprised by what you find (ie. Disney), and if you’ve been living under a rock for the last 15 years and haven’t heard, platforms like Spotify exploit creators with fraction-of-a-penny per stream payouts, and by flooding their platform with AI artists to avoid hearing a real, living human-being that requires food and to be paid for their music. It’s pretty grim out here. The rest of this is gonna be far less analytical, more emotional and practical.

I can’t help but think about art consumption from the perspective of the creator or the artist. As a consumer, having every single thing ever made available at your fingertips is incredibly easy and thoughtless and convenient. Yay, you. As this whole digital streaming/AI/algorithmic experience has evolved into a fucking Ponzi scheme, you’ll start to notice the things you wanted to see in your feed are dwindling, the movies and shows you wanted to watch are slowly becoming unavailable for streaming and that you can, conveniently, purchase these titles (WAIT, not permanently).

I will not deny personal usage of these services. I’m a community college dropout and film school daydreamer just trying to collect my Criterion Collection and TCM notches on my bed post and I have, at points in time, had Premium Plan indoctrination in which hundreds of dollars per month were going towards subscriptions. A decade ago, I curated a vast movie collection (that you can now pick from at McKay’s in Bellevue). I begrudgingly parted ways from it as I purged items after moving into a smaller space. It’s hard to find storage for (5) 27 gallon storage tubs full of a lifelong collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays from place to place to place to place. I regret this immensely, and although I kept the good stuff, I’m trying to recover more of it. Vinyl, CDs, and even cassettes are on the rise and have been for quite some time. Even local musicians will sport physical media on their merch tables, and vinyl is at one of its highest sales peaks in decades. Again, do your own research if you want stats and shit. I’m too busy for it right now, thanks.

Physical media is nostalgic, yes, but it’s deeper than surface-level nostalgia. Each find is connected to a time and place, where you first saw or heard it to where you rediscovered and snagged it for your collection. I romanticized having a study, or a baroque little nook at the end of a winding spiral staircase, tucked away in my estate where marijuana smoke marinates the volumes and I could be alone with my thoughts. Ornate shelves (designed and handcrafted by a local artisan, no less) decorated with pop culture trinkets, vast collections of classic films, gaming systems, rare vinyl, cassette tapes, and literature (see; graphic novels). Complete this vision with the best vintage audiophile, hi-fi technology from the 1980s (not very baroque). In this economy, I’ll settle for some cinder blocks and two-by-fours holding up my John Carpenter collection and Lord of the Rings Pez Dispensers. Adjacent, a second-hand VCR and tube television set that weighs the same as a 2012 Kia Sorento. Chef’s Kiss.

It feels so secure to just have the thing in your hand. There’s no risk of it being taken away from you. One day, you wake up to finish the Director's Cut of Apocalypse Now! (that shit is like a whole business day to watch, so you gotta break it up into sessions) and notice it's not free to stream anymore. It’s $12 to rent (for 5 days) or $24 to buy. I mean fuck, you might as well get the PS4 pull-started and buy a DVD copy for that price, plus you get SPECIAL FEATURES. Kids, that means you got multiple short form documentaries for the same price as the feature film. Helluva deal. Most importantly, you will never have the anxiety of booting up an app to find your “Watch Later” list dwindling because of some cigar-smoke-filled backroom deal brokered by the 3-to-5 worst people you’ve ever heard of buying up and centralizing all studio works behind a paywall in their entertainment monopoly. Unplug. Unsubscribe. Quit supporting billionaires.

We’re gonna zoom in for a second on physical media in music. It is not fun or cute or easy to be a professional creator sometimes. Touring is almost always in the red, and if it’s ever in the green, it’s because of merchandise. A fantastic way to support your favorite up-and-coming act is to buy vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and shirts directly from their merch store or in-person at a show. More of that money goes into their pocket so they can A. eat more than just a truck stop dinner B. make it to the next location C. continue to create more pieces of media for you to collect.

Streaming is pissing in the wind for a mid-level touring act. We contribute to it as artists because music consumers create the demand for the platforms. They believe you’ve given them a mandate to undervalue the art you provide them on their platforms. Between the label splits, management splits, and publishing splits, that leaves less than crumbs for the people actually recording and performing the songs. Many aim for table scraps as an elevation from the current situation. While a useful tool for discovering new artists, streaming services are problematic and exploitative at best. My advice to you is for every month you pay for a premium subscription plan to a streaming service, you should also purchase at least (1) piece of physical media from an artist you’ve discovered on that platform.

Unplugging cold turkey is never the answer, and this is a complicated mess we’ve inherited. Playlisting, monthly listeners, and stream numbers are all still important litmus tests for overly cautious, uninspired, uncreative industry leaders to gauge whether or not you have any surface-level value to the overall zeitgeist of pop culture, touring, and the label marketing machine. The days of development are over. Artists are expected to be a finished product on signing day that can be divided up 10-15% at a time and served on little dessert platters for shareholders to consume.

You may ask, “How can I unplug in such a way that doesn’t feel like an electroshock to my daily nervous system regulation?” There are many free/close-to-free services that offer a decent streaming experience. Tubi is, in my opinion, one of the most stacked, free-to-use streaming services. Yes, it has ads, but you can stream the entirety of the Rock of Love saga and its offshoots. IYKYK. There is no shame in keeping some services around. It’s always been about moderation: shed the services that no longer serve you, or that you haven’t opened up in a while. If you’re gonna stream music, find some platforms that are ethically superior to Spotify. Qubuz has been my music streaming service of choice because of its audio quality (Spotify sounds like dog doo) and its elevated payment to creators.

This year, I’ve been shedding one streaming service per month from my roster. In its place, I’ll treat myself to a piece of physical media that I need to curate the correct vibe at my place. Campy, 70s and 80s horror and sci-fi is my drug of choice right now. Keep a running list of titles you would love to find and collect. It can be like Pokémon: find them in the wild for the best results, or you can just pay extra to find them online and ship them right to your door. Nothing beats the endorphin release of spotting a title on your list while rifling through crates in the pre-owned media section.

As you shed services and save money, you allow yourself those treats here and there and you get to keep them forever. I’ve also been cycling in reading to my nervous system regulation process, and I've just finished my first non-audio book in over 15 years. In the age of instant gratification, the importance of boredom has been forgotten, as we’re forced to tap into our creativity to keep ourselves entertained. Maybe turn the TV off for a while? Journal, paint or draw, get an adult coloring book, dust off old school gaming consoles and have a retro night for some friends.

Lastly, there’s a resource we all forget we have at our disposal as tax payers. They have most forms of physical media you can think of, and if they don’t have it, they’ll find it for you. Best part is it’s fucking free. GET A LIBRARY CARD. We have a wonderful public library system here in Nashville. If you haven’t visited one this decade, I highly encourage you to take some time to explore the one nearest you. Now more than ever, it's important we utilize this system we all take for granted. If you’re younger, read the banned books state lawmakers don’t want you to read.

Keep expanding your knowledge and understanding of the world around you. Watch films that challenge you and your stylistic preferences. Find a record that calls to you visually and see if it does the same for you musically. The library has all these for free and you can bring them right back and try again if they aren’t your vibe. Paywalls are not to be normalized any longer. They aren’t necessary and exist only to line pockets of management suite executives, the board of directors, and their shareholders. You can circumvent that whole process and discover things for yourself, while saving money for the things that matter. – sR