Digital subscribers: Between freedom and constraint

Abstract

This article addresses the features, affordances, and limitations that emerge when purchasing and using digital subscriptions, particularly streaming entertainment services. Using a qualitative approach through 15 in-depth interviews with European subscribers of digital services such as Netflix or Spotify Premium, the research inquired into the users’ personal experience with digital subscriptions. The results show two scenarios: in one, subscribers enjoy the flexibility and freedom offered with the digital subscription services to customize their media consumption and entertainment preferences; on the other, digital subscriptions limit and restrict the activity of their subscribers, for example, by fragmenting audiovisual content on different platforms.