Reader
The free tier: the Friday newsletter and every public story.
$0
- The Waveform every Friday
- Every public story, review and scene report
- Save stories to read later
Join Wire
Reader-funded, ad-light, and answerable to nobody else.
Membership plans
Supporter
For readers who want the whole magazine and the archive behind it.
$5 / month
$50 / year
- Every members-only story and interview
- The full Wire archive, back to Issue 01
- The Waveform, plus the members-only Tuesday note
- Comments on every article
Studio Pass
7 days free
Everything in Supporter, plus the parts of Wire you can listen to and hold.
$12 / month
$120 / year
- Everything in Supporter
- The monthly Wire Mix, downloadable and unmixed
- Interviews a week before everyone else
- 20% off the Print Annual and the Tape Club
- Two invitations a year to Wire live sessions
Where your money goes
Wire has no owner, no group, and no advertising sales team. Three tiers pay for everything: Reader is free, Supporter is six dollars a month, and Studio Pass is twelve and adds the monthly Wire Mix download and a discount on the print edition. Roughly, each dollar splits like this.
- 70% to the people who make it. Writers, photographers and the two freelancers who keep the archive from falling over. Everyone is paid on publication, at the same rate.
- 20% to running the thing. Hosting, the audio library, travel to places that do not have a press bus, and the insurance that lets us record in other people's basements.
- 10% to the work that never pays for itself. Overnight programming on Wire Radio, the reporting that takes four months, and the print annual.
Questions we get asked
When am I billed?
On the day you join, then the same day every month or every year, depending on which you picked. Annual billing costs the equivalent of ten months. Payments are handled by Stripe, so your card number never touches our servers, and every charge sends a receipt.
Can I cancel?
Any time, in two clicks, from your account. No email, no retention offer, no survey. You keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for, and you stay on the free Reader tier afterwards unless you tell us otherwise.
Can I give a membership as a gift?
Yes, for a year, at either paid tier. Write to members@wire.example with the name and the date you want it to start and we will send a printed card rather than an automated email at 3 a.m. Gift memberships do not renew on their own.
Is there a student rate?
Supporter is half price for anyone with a student address, and Studio Pass is a third off. Mail us from the address and we will apply it for the academic year. If you are not a student and simply cannot afford six dollars, say so in one line and we will do the same thing. Nobody has ever been asked for proof twice.
Can I add print to my membership?
The Print Annual ships every November: 180 pages, no advertising, one essay per contributor. Studio Pass members get 30% off and first refusal before the general preorder; Supporters get 15%. Add it from your account page at any point before the run sells out, which it has done twice.
None of this changes what we publish. Members get the archive, the members-only reporting and the mixes, but no tier buys a review, a place on a list, or a quiet word with an editor. If you cannot pay, read for free and forward the good pieces to somebody who can.