Monthly subscriptions in bitcoin

[HairyMaclairy]

Simple question.

How would a monthly subscription to Spotify work with bitcoin?

Spotify currently debits my credit card every month.  Would I need a third party debit card denominated in bitcoin to automate these monthly payments?  Is that the missing killer app?

[runam0k]

They send an invoice each month, you pay.

Auto payments are overrated IMO.

[HairyMaclairy]

I don't think we will get Spotify and other subscription services on board without automated payments.

If we don't yet have this capability it is a serious barrier to widespread adoption by merchants.

Possible solutions:

* Circle / Bitpay or other money processor to step forward
* Time based escrow? (Eg each monthly payment escrowed until relevant month)
* special wallet that accepts pull requests from authorised entities.

I am sure there are elegant ways to do this. 

[runam0k]

Agree that it may take longer for merchants to adapt but one of the key benefits to Bitcoin, in my mind at least, is responsibility for and complete control over your own finances. Single click payment of invoices would be great for the consumer.

Porn.com is an example of a merchant adapting. It's much easier for them to rope people in to paying more and for longer than they otherwise might, but nevertheless they see Bitcoin as an opportunity - new customers, publicity, no CC fees, etc.

I expect Netflix, Spotify, etc will eventually find a BTC business model they are happy with.