Ethical alternatives to Spotify

Submitted ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨harfang@slrpnk.net⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/73ff8001-eab2-4666-a968-255e70f09773.jpeg

Recent news revealed that Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek has been investing heavily in military tech companies, which adds another ethical layer to a platform already criticized for how little it pays musicians !

Spotify only pays artists about $3–5 per 1,000 streams, using a pro-rata model that directs most money toward major stars… By contrast, Qobuz (≈$18–20 per 1,000 streams) and Tidal (≈$12–13) pay far more fairly!

However Tidal is far from ethical. Most of its revenue is controlled by private investors and founders and small artists still earn very little…

More fair-minded platforms like Bandcamp, Resonate, Ampled, or SoundCloud’s fan-powered royalties prioritize musicians over investors.

With these more ethical alternatives available, why do we keep using Spotify?

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Comments

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30p87@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Pirate and pay creators directly.
Pirating is the objectively best, most private and future proof user experience you’re gonna get.

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- Mihies@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Pirate and pay creators directly.
  
  How does that even work?
  
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  - 30p87@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Contact them, ask for ways to donate.
    
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  - ober@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Personally I do this by buying merch. If I buy a shirt from a band than not only do I get a cool shirt but the band also gets paid more in that single transaction than if I listened to their music 5000 times on spotify.
    
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- _vote@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  That just sounds like buying CDs but without the offline backup and booklet
  
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grrgyle@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I buy on Bandcamp Fridays, but am suspicious of that platform since they changed owners so often without any input from the community or musicians.

I’m keeping my eye on subvert.fm as a hopefully more democratic option.

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- cityboundforest@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’ve heard that Mirlo.space is a good alternative to Bandcamp, and as an artist myself, it looks to be a good replacement.
  
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- jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  “So often?” I only heard about Epic acquiring them, have there been developments?
  
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  - jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Well, shit!
    
    Epic Games bought Bandcamp in March 2022.
    
    In 2023, Bandcamp’s workers unionized under “Bandcamp United.”
    
    In late 2023 (October), Epic sold Bandcamp to Songtradr, a music licensing company.
    
    As part of that sale, many of the former Bandcamp employees were not offered positions by Songtradr, particularly those involved in union organizing.
    
    Songtradr stated it would continue Bandcamp’s marketplace model and its “artist-first revenue share,” but declined to confirm whether certain features (e.g. user experience, Bandcamp Daily editorial) would remain unchanged.
    
    I had no idea. Union busting, now… What a great way to show you respect the people who generate your wealth.
    
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thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s worse. My music is on Spotify - while I would no longer meet their minimum for payments, even before that change they refuse to pay me or provide stats until I provide a twitter of Facebook page, which I don’t have - despite publishing through an established publishing company who could absolutely handle payments and play stats.

Spotify is cancer.

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Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Old fart checking in … why not just buy the tracks instead of paying for monthly access that screws artists? I mean, each song is unlikely to be more than $1.49, and then you own it. I don’t have a streaming music account and never will because the idea of paying repeatedly for the same thing – with the option of it being pulled at any time – is nauseating.

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- mcbenavides85@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  An old fart listens to entire albums! Fake!
  
  I’m an old fart.
  
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  - Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I prefer buying individual tracks to the Tower Records model of $20 before you know if that one song you’re getting it for is the only good one on the album.
    
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- Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Why would I? Pay $1.49 to listen to 1 song over and over or pay $12 to listen to basically the entirety of human creation any time I want? Not to mention custom playlists and whatnot.
  
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  - Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    My music collection spans some 1,700 tracks and several full albums. It’s not difficult to create local playlists, I don’t pay monthly, and I don’t have an excessive data plan because I need streaming. Look at the knock-on costs. It’s not $12/month.
    
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BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Qbittorrent

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- vga@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  That pays exactly $0 per stream to the artists.
  
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  - BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    You can donate to the ones who deserve it and still have access to the drm free music locally
    
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  - Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Tell me you don’t know how Qbittorrent works without doing so. It’s not a streaming service. If you’re redownloading on BT each time you want to listen, my god, are you wasting disk space.
    
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- Scrollone@feddit.it ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  That doesn’t solve discoverability of new content, which is one of the good features of Spotify
  
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  - Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    That’s slowly being replaced with “AI content”, Spotify is literally becoming more shot by the day.
    
    I don’t really use it myself, but you can scrobble to services like last.fm and get recommendations that way.
    
    And if you want to sponsor your favorite artists, just go to their concerts or buy some music or merch. You’re paying them way more that way than your plays on streaming platforms ever will.
    
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  - XenGi@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Is it though? Seems like their algorithm gives everyone the same shit.
    
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  - jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Do you want payola? Because that’s how you get payola.
    
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  - BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Wdym listening to new music
    
    This is a “those 10 good tracks on repeat” household !
    
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vga@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Daniel Ek is investing in European defense companies. This is not unethical.

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- lemmyknow@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’ve started on vinyls. They’re cool, but it’s some work. Gotta store it right, handle with care, clean them. And that doesn’t guarantee it won’t skip around or, worse, get stuck on a loop. I do like the big square that is the sleeve cover, and it’s just kind of cool. But I’ve been considering CDs instead. Cheaper, afaik, and can be ripped onto a PC with the right hardware (which I presume is allowed — so long as you don’t distribute it — given you pay for it). Cover art is unfortunately smaller, and I’ve seen some cool vinyl concepts that probably wouldn’t work as CDs (colourful? Semitransparent? Glow in the dark???). But far more convenient, and cheaper. Plus, with the right hardware, I could also listen to FM radio
  
  Vinyls are cool, CDs more are convenient (or so I reckon)
  
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  - Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    LOL. “I’ve been considering CDs” is not something I’ve heard since the '80s. And you don’t really need specialized hardware to rip tracks to digital. Literally any optical drive can do that.
    
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ozoned@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Bandwagon, Faircamp, Love a Brother Radio, The Indie Beat. Probably not what you're looking for, but direct creator support, Fedi powered, all wonder folks.

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- cityboundforest@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Also gonna suggest Mirlo.space as it’s open sourced.
  
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FatLegTed@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Why? They have more prog than the others.
Believe me, I’d love to stick with Qobuz as the sound quality is magnificent. Unfortunately they just don’t have the music I listen to.

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- bent@feddit.dk ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I had this problem at first, then I realized there’s so much music I never listened to before and I have enough new music between Qobuz and Bandcamp that I’m satisfied. But I see your point. I have pirated some music when the creator don’t allow me to purchase the songs.
  
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- scytale@piefed.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’m curious, which prog artists do you find on Qobuz that aren’t anywhere else?
  
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  - baggins@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m meant Spotify has the larger choice.
    
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- danciestlobster@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  While I agree with you for most alternatives to Spotify, I have yet to not be able to find any song from anyone on SoundCloud particularly in more niche genres. I obviously don’t know everything you listen to but the reason you describe is the exact reason I can’t always use Spotify
  
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fjordo@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I stream with Tidal and for my favourite bands I’ll buy their music on 7digital or Bandcamp.

I’d go with Qubuz but they have this whole Qubuz Coin thing that I really don’t like. If they removed that I’d switch immediately.

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- harfang@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Note that Tidal is owned by Black rocks funds …which make it very non-ethical platform
  
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  - fjordo@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah, unfortunately I don’t have much choice at the moment. I refuse support platforms with anti-consumer pricing models like Qubuz has, and I want artists to get the most money out of my streams, so it’s a bit of a catch-22.
    
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- Flatfire@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’m not sure about the coins but I’ve been using it for a few months now and have been thoroughly enjoying the service. I think the coins are literally just their store wallet, and whether you keep some store credit there or not doesn’t matter. It’s equivalent to buying an iTunes gift card or something. You can just pay for whatever you want outright.
  
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pfr@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Can some tell me how Deezer stacks up? I switched from Spotify to Deezer a little while ago, not for any real reason, other than Spotify kept increasing their prices and I don’t really listen to audio books or podcasts even. Plus Deezer streams hifi flacs as standard so it sounds nds way better. I’ve got no idea how ethical they are tho, but would be interested to learn.

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- 0x0@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  That’s been my take. Buy from the band or their merch whenever possible.
  Bandcamp is a close second best, as is HDTracks although they’re both from murica.
  Otherwise sail the high seas.
  
  I was never a fan of rent music until we stop you anyway.
  
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masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Why?

Lack of Feature Parity

Stickiness of library transfer

Stickiness of social network effects

It’s still better ethically than Apple Music or YouTube Music, which behave anti-competitively

1: I’ve tried out Quobuz, it’s pretty good, but it does not have the Jam / Group Session feature which me and my friends use constantly while gaming remotely. It also does not have an Xbox app which I use while playing games. I find Spotify’s recommendations somewhat underwhelming, but Quobuz has a noticeably worse recommendation engine, at least for my genres and tastes.

2: Quobuz uses a third party service to automatically transfer your library, which worked pretty well, but did require jumping through a bunch of hoops and subscribing to a trial subscription that I then had to cancel. It also did not find matches for some songs.

3: In addition to friends on Spotify all using Jams, there’s also an inherent niceness to just being able to text people Spotify links, especially since there’s no cross platform linking service that would make that easy.

4: supporting Spotify may not be great, but its still better than supporting a trillion dollar anti-competitive corporation.
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BaroqueInMind@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Because Spotify does everything better in every way possible, there is literally no way to argue this fact without baseless opinions spoiling the discussion.

So much so that, short of an angel investor coming from heaven itself to pay billions of dollars with zero stipulations, there is no way for any other company to catch up without being offered an extremely ridiculous lucrative buyout from Spotify that only the dumbest of MAGA cultists would refuse.

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- bl4kers@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Not if you want a music player. They’ve added podcasts everywhere possible
  
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BurgerBaron@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I find Spotify is dogshit to navigate I can't find anything. If I let it autoplay it'll just start playing generic shitty dance music. I don't get it. I've never discovered an artist through Spotify.

I exclusively use Bandcamp lately. Unfortunately, American owned. Looking into other suggestions here.

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- jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Not just any American: Tim Sweeney!
  
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  - BurgerBaron@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I heard that news. Swiney owned yeah, my future prediction is the same as yours.
    
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- Schmuppes@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I used to discover artists on Pandora. That site was great.
  
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- Powderhorn@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Generic and shitty is the most common form of electronica.
  
  Source: was raver in the '90s.
  
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rozodru@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I prefer to pay artists I like directly either via merch, patreon, or going to their concerts.

for my music? soulseek/nicotine+ on my server.

the problem is Spotify is by far the best streaming platform out there, bar none. I've tried the other's like Tidal and Deezer and what have you and just didn't like them. Amazon Music was absolutely horrible. The only other alternative would be youtube music with an adblocker. How do I find new artists? youtube shorts believe it or not.

But yeah I'd rather pay the artists directly.

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BunScientist@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I buy stuff on bandcamp during bandcamp fridays (which allegedly gives all revenue to the artist), but you need the artist to be there in the first place.

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ToxicWaste@lemmy.cafe ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
leshicodes.github.io/blog/spotify-migration/

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TerHu@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
this is an awesome video on why other streaming services are just marginally better than spotify and not a long term solution: youtu.be/gDfNRWsMRsU

with that in mind i’m trying to transition away from streaming but am using tidal as what i hope is the least bad option for now.

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Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Because no one cares.

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- jerkface@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The available evidence says otherwise. You really got your ego wrapped up in this somehow. Which is WEIRD.
  
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  - Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    What evidence is that, jerkface?
    
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ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m still on Pandora and honestly have no idea how they stack up. I just use it as a radio station on long drives.

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kehet@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s the same old reason as always. Most users value their convenience more than ethics or long-term money savings.

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amol@communick.news ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I have been using music.inlinestyle.it ( www.inlinestyle.it ). I buy albums by myself so that the full royalties go to the artist and them keep my collection there.

It’s also nice to be able to listen to fediverse indie music I didn’t know about.

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