I'm kinda surprised that "newsstand" isn't a popular payment strategy. You just have an account with WaPo and when you want to read the paper you pay $1.50 and get the "digital print edition" which has all the articles published today organized into neat little sections.
Newspapers don't have to become Spotify; iTunes is also good.
Re:Won’t Subscribe
by StillBored on Monday September 28, 2020 @11:09AM
(#24617460)
But even with the newsstand model, you could always subscribe and have it delivered (usually at a discount vs the news stand).
The publishers (and lots of other busineses, think fusion360/photoshop/etc) are just greedy, they can't see the value in thousands of people randomly selecting their product today, and their competitors product tomorrow. They want lock in because its easier.
This makes me wonder how effective a Jetbrains model would be for publishers. Pay once to receive access to the entire archive as of the date when your subscription ends. Or a one-time payment to just get access to the archive as of the payment date.
Here in .it most newspapers cost less than 2.50-3€, and you get a physical good.
I just checked on one of the most relevant newspapers in Italy (IlSole24Ore) and if you want to browse the current issue there's no option for one-time payment, only subscriptions.