Medium suddenly shutters paywall program →
Jon Russell at TechCrunch:
The company this week shuttered a two-year program that let media run paid subscription services on its site. Nieman Lab reports that Medium contacted its 21 remaining subscription publishing partners at the end of April to give them a week’s notice on the shutdown. Although Medium said it offered to extend the deadline for those who needed more time.
A lot can happen in a week, but it’s not a lot of time when it comes to rejigging business models — particularly in the media industry where revenue is sacred and direct relationships with readers are savored.
Putting all of these “build your own platform” arguments aside, this move should have a serious impact on Medium’s credibility—not just as a service or a platform—but as a company.