Technology

I can't picture a service which beats Spotify in what they offer which isn't just the same business model but more ethical.

Discovering music for free is an enormous benefit, and the fact that Spotify has practically all mainstream music is nice. People often cite that one quote by Gabe Newell that is "Piracy is not an economic problem. It is a service problem", as a highlight for steam, but largely Spotify offers what consumers want in a way Netflix or Audible can't. They have everything you want and guide your discovery in even more, and as long as their encroaching enshittification doesn't undercut this service, they will continue to underpay artists and fund immoral activities.

The developer of Ultrakill, Hakita, said something which I've often thought about. "You should support indies if you can, but culture shouldn't exist only for those who can afford it. ULTRAKILL wouldn't exist if I hadn't had easy access to movies, music and games growing up. If you don't have money, you can support via word of mouth". There are plenty of independent things I financially support, particularly things I attend in person in the city I live in. I may spend £100 per month paying for art and entertainment all said and done, and when that's spent, I will pirate everything else.

I split a Spotify family plan between 6 friends, I think that's about £3.50 per month, and I pay for no other media services. With video, I run a jellyfin server with a "parent friendly" interface, so they can have "netflix with everything", which I have at my place too. I don't read that much any more, if it's physical I just go to the library and if it's an audiobook I'll just pirate it. The benefit here is that even if I'm on a reading binge, that's not even a book a week. With Spotify, I often pick something and play it via song radio, which is probably 50/50 music I know and new music. Sometimes I just stick albums on, but it's not like that's harder. If I had a locally hosted music repository that I'd "paid for", I could enjoy albums, but not as easily have a radio like discovery experience.

One day, a pirate tool may appear that rivals Spotify, but until that day, I can't see myself moving away from it.

Go to your local live music, drag shows, theatres, independent cinemas and libraries. Don't feel obligated to pay for any internet service.

I use both listenbrainz and chosic for suggestions. Both work well.

Last.fm?

I think that's the point of all this. It's currently way too cheap for the consumers. Adjusted for inflation from the 80s, an album would cost over $30 today. Each album. To get infinite music for $10 a month, yeah the artists are getting screwed.

I'm using Qobuz. As I know they pay the most to the artist ($0.01873 vs $0.004 ). Qobuz Family costs 20,83€ per months and I think you get free access to a service which moves your Spotify playlists to qobuz.

Apple Music has a family plan, and it's cheaper than Spotify's, at least in Canada (16.99 vs 20.99).

Qobuz has a family plan too, a little more expensive than Apple's here but still cheaper than Spotify's.

Deezer? They still don't pay artists much, but I think it's still better than Spotify

But how do you discover new things? I don't mind paying for music but not if I don't even know if I'm going to like it

yt-dlp, ffmpeg, Picard, jellyfin, musicolet

Bandcamp or many artists have digital purchase options on their website.

If you can't purchase it online you could do physical media.

Otherwise you can find other ways to get the music and support artists in other ways. Shows, merch and patreons usually go directly to artists.

I do it on Bandcamp.

Bandcamp, qobuz, amazon

Try Tidal. At least it pays artists more and has better sound quality. Allegedly. The downside is that their catalogue is more messed up like albums from different same named artists grouped together.