• The Indie label Stones Throw just launched a subscription service by which members would get ever song/album they released delivered to their Inbox
• Hitch.me lets singles date by ‘hitching’ into their LinkedIn profile. The site has only three questions: two about finance and one about what type of car you drive (which, as a native New Yorker, I found to be a curious litmus test of net worth).
• Rhapsody just acquired Napster International in order to compete with Spotify.
• Meredith Corp just bought AllRecipes.com from Reader’s Digest.

On the other side of the equation, a number of sites are experiencing growing pains:

• Gods & Heroes is dropping its subscription service in favor of a flat $9.99 fee.
• Netflix is keeping its subscription service but phasing out its DVD rentals, moving more to a SaaS model with streaming movies.
• AOL, the original online subscription service, seems to be going down the rabbit hole with their resistance to subscription services and rapid growth of the Huffington Post abroad.
• Slader.com, a new service to help kids with math homework, downgraded from a promising subscription model to free!

Of course, there’s no one algorithm to success. But recently, Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com fame went on Big Think to give her opinion on the matter. We just love how she emphasizes getting to know the daily workings rather pondering abstract business models. Perhaps that’s why Paywall Times readers are finding success in the subscription industry?

Note: Don’t worry about being too formal.  Just jot down a rough idea of what you’d like to talk about here and then our editorial department will help you refine your speech.  The important thing is to nominate yourself.

SuperEmbed lets Wistia users customize any video that they share via YouTube, their own blog/site, or through other social media platforms. Not only does this allow for easier manipulation of design elements, like color and presentation, but users can also include a call-to-action. The service also lets you simply check a box to share the video via a variety of social media platforms.

This is good news for sites that have videos in front of or behind the paywall (the latter would be able to link to more content within the site). Also, the SuperEmbed site looks pretty user-friendly, with enough options to increase opt-in rates, but not too many that you get lost or overwhelmed.

The one feature that may need to be used with caution — the overlay option for the video. Instead of streaming inline, you can make the video appear as a pop-up or overlay. While this has been shown to work well for opt-ins and conversions, users will have to test whether it’s a good idea for video (from personal experience, I sometimes like to play a video and listen to it as I scroll down the page–the overlay prevents you from viewing other content on the page clearly).

Have you used SuperEmbed? If so, please write us and tell us about your experience, especially the overlay feature.

AOL is hiring a COO (apply here) to lead all of its technology properties, which include Engadget, Joystip and The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and collectively produce 250 million pageviews, according to TechCrunch.

TechCrunch is also hiring a lead product manager, who will report to the COO and own the product roadmap for the TechCrunch site, Crunchbase, TechCrunch TV, and future mobile apps. Both positions are based in San Francisco.

Israeli company Sarin Technologies is launching a Diamond Assay Service, an online subscription service that “enables members of the jewelry and diamond industry to verify whether a diamond is authentic; ascertain its geometric parameters and cut grade; issue printed reports; and propose possible solutions for re-cutting and re-polishing.” B2B subscriptions services are usually pretty good bets and we think this is a great idea, especially given the rise of “recycled” (i.e., used) diamonds due to the recession. But the lack of any competitors in the field also means its a risky venture.

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, the DNA testing and genealogy service 23andMe is taking some heat for a change to their subscription policy. In short, they changed their terms without notifying customers, discontinuing services that they previously stated would not end regardless of whether customers kept their subscriptions. They seem to be facing the same conundrum many Internet businesses do — they first offered a service that grew in popularity, and now are faced with the complicated task of trying to fit it into a sustainable and profitable business model.

This serves as a lesson to us all — while unique services can be conducive to a subscription model, the hard thinking has to happen up front.

If you’re in the planning stages for your great online venture, check out the handy financial calculators on our sister site, Subscription Site Insider. And take heart that slow growth can lead to high profits — a new report found that most Americans prefer getting their movies through online subscription sites than any other method except “live on TV.”

In November, Paywall Times wrote about how the Financial Times discontinued its use of Newsstand and created its own app in order to dodge Apple’s 30% cut of sales, a particular thorn in the side of many online publishers. But recent data seems to suggest Apple’s Newsstand may be a boon to some online publications like Popular Science. The consumer magazine has seen a noticeable uptick in sales last October, corresponding with the launch of Newsstand. Furthermore, as the chart by All Things D depicts, the pace of sales has been steeper since the launch of Newsstand.

Clearly there’s an algorithm to making Newsstand work for you, and Popular Science may have been helped by the fact that its audience is pretty digitally-savvy. Fortunately our sister site, Subscription Site Insider, has an exclusive Webinar with Popular Science’s Mike Haney, in which he reveals how to design and present app-friendly content, as well as how to work with Apple. Check it our for some real-world tips to help you navigate the changing app world.

We will not be publishing this week, but look forward to resuming our daily posts January 3, 2012. Until then, feel free to peruse our archives, full of handy tips and news highlights from 2011, or drop us a line to tell us what you’d like to read about in 2012!

To say the project is ambitious is an understatement. Players can choose from eight characters, each within a certain “class” story, and each story in contained within a three-part trilogy that requires them to make moral decisions about the path they’ve chosen. And among the smattering of English, German and French dialogue, there’s also 21 different alien languages, sound effects from droids and Wookies, and a soaring musical score that makes the game as emotionally manipulating as any Hollywood blockbuster.

The game is employing a subscription billing model, much like other MMO games. After an initial purchase and 30 days of play, subscribers can continue playing at either $14.99 per month, $41.97 for 3 months ($13.99 per month), or $77.94 for six months ($12.99 per month). The game has similar pricing models for the UK and Europe.

Electronic Arts (and its subsidary Bioware) is taking a big gamble on the game, which cost over $100 million to produce, so we would have liked to see them release the game a bit sooner in order to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.

But “Star Wars: The Old Republic” has one draw its direct competitor, World of Warcraft, doesn’t — a huge movie fan base that can enter this emotionally compelling world without any prior knowledge of gaming and easily become engaged. As a non-gamer but long-time Star Wars fan, the game’s 5-minute preview had me hooked. It was the first time I even considered playing a video game, not to mention paying to do so. Which says a lot about how well they know their audience.

Paid content is not cool. At least not yet. Those of us in the business meet skepticism and outright disdain from time to time. But comedian Louis CK’s recent online success may be an inflection point in the “paid content x coolness” bell curve.

Through humor and honesty, CK gambled his crop of jokes by posting them online for viewers to download for $5. He didn’t put any restriction on how they could view it — a move that’s usually ripe for torrenting. However, he made an impassioned and funny appeal (laced with a bit of profanity) explaining his production costs and reasons for charging (i.e., feeding his wife and kids).

In four days, he collected $500,000 in revenues, and claims to have made $200,000 after expenses (his math is a bit fuzzy). He’s also added attitude and grit to best practices — his “Add to cart” button says “Buy The Thing”. Talk about knowing your niche.

Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if CK is able to continue reaping dollars months from now. Loyal fans who visit CK’s site may be willing to fork over $5, but a wider audience may not. And CK could have saved money by ditching PayPal and going through more traditional payment processing gateways. But it’s an interesting experiment to keep an eye on.

Because it’s Friday and you’re probably looking for a way to procrastinate at work, here’s a free outtake to view (warning: some profanity and explicit language… but still very funny). Enjoy!