You can make the same argument for the old CDs-in-boxes model too. "If there's a recession, sales will go down". The difference is that recurring payments vast

You can make the same argument for the old CDs-in-boxes model too. "If there's a recession, sales will go down". The difference is that recurring payments vastly improve your cashflow situation. Instead of giant pulses every 3 years you have a smoother pipeline of cash coming in all the time. Even if that pipeline shrinks, it still flows. It's far easier to plan for a 10% reduction that happens continuously than a 3 year plan with lots of "??$??" sprinkled throughout it. And far easier to recover from mistakes.