A price around $100, or perhaps $150, per annum feels about right for individual subscribers. Anything above that stings, especially for supporters who have donated to the Democracy Project over the years with the aim of keeping it going as a public service.
$300 per annum for paid content that is essentially a news aggregation service seems like an outlay that will be acceptable primarily to organisations, but not to individuals. That makes it less of a service to 'democracy' and more of a competitor to traditional media monitoring services employed by companies and government departments.
Something like a student / low-wage offering at half the regular subscriber price and offered on an honesty basis might do the job.
Yes, it’s very difficult to implement subscription fees, but the other option without funding is to just close it all down. We have never tried to make any profits out of this, and even with the new fees we will struggle to cover costs. We will continue to make most of the services entirely free, and will give away free or discounted subscriptions to anyone who can’t afford to pay the full fees. But for the large numbers of corporates and govt depts that subscribe, we think they can afford $25/month, and therefore help subsidise the whole service. At this stage I'm giving away free paid subs to students etc, but will also look to implement other ideas such as your suggestion of free subscriptions on the basis of honesty.
I'm disappointed in the pricing.
A price around $100, or perhaps $150, per annum feels about right for individual subscribers. Anything above that stings, especially for supporters who have donated to the Democracy Project over the years with the aim of keeping it going as a public service.
$300 per annum for paid content that is essentially a news aggregation service seems like an outlay that will be acceptable primarily to organisations, but not to individuals. That makes it less of a service to 'democracy' and more of a competitor to traditional media monitoring services employed by companies and government departments.
Something like a student / low-wage offering at half the regular subscriber price and offered on an honesty basis might do the job.
Yes, it’s very difficult to implement subscription fees, but the other option without funding is to just close it all down. We have never tried to make any profits out of this, and even with the new fees we will struggle to cover costs. We will continue to make most of the services entirely free, and will give away free or discounted subscriptions to anyone who can’t afford to pay the full fees. But for the large numbers of corporates and govt depts that subscribe, we think they can afford $25/month, and therefore help subsidise the whole service. At this stage I'm giving away free paid subs to students etc, but will also look to implement other ideas such as your suggestion of free subscriptions on the basis of honesty.