r/technology • u/tekz • 14h ago

Business Why are so many musicians removing their music from Spotify?

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/musicians-removing-music-spotify-royalties-ai-daniel-ek-10208768/
2.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

351 comments sorted by

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u/VitaminDprived 14h ago

Whether or not you are a metalhead, you might find this explanation from an independent blog telling.

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u/tekz 14h ago

Great blog post. I knew they were paying peanuts, but didn’t know they were assholes of this level. I’m torn, because I listen to a lot of underground music that was tough to find before Spotify, and a lot if it wasn’t available on Apple Music.

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u/DarkImpurity 13h ago edited 12h ago

I previously used Deezer and Tidal but switched to Quboz and Apple Music. Quboz has expanded their library in recent years. I enjoy being able to stream and purchase albums to download in lossless quality with a discount.

Page on artist payouts from Quboz.

Edit: Added the information on artist payouts.

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u/PuckSenior 12h ago

I like Deezer. May switch to Apple Music. I have a weird usage case. My kids listen to music but they are obsessed with video podcasts from streamers, it’s like crack for them. So I only subscribe to music services that don’t have video podcasts

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u/Ok_Belt2521 12h ago

I switched to Apple Music recently. It’s a solid service. Their genre pages are really in depth. They even have pages for specific labels. Their curation is top notch.

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u/IthinkIllthink 11h ago

I moved away from AM several years ago. They kept deleting part or all of some of my playlists with some iOS updates.

I’ve been curating playlists for a decade, creating my Top 100 (& then 200, now 300), and playlists of the songs I listened to every year, plus bands I’ve seen.

Half a dozen times a year when I was with Apple Music I would try to find a playlist, and it would be part or totally empty, or just plain missing. It was heart breaking, infuriating.

I’m looking to switch away from Spotify presently. Has AM improved?

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u/Vasto_lorde97 10h ago

They still delete playlist if you stop paying

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u/Ok_Belt2521 9h ago

I’ve only been using it for 3 months so far but have not encountered that issue. I used a service to import my Spotify playlists and they still appear to be intact.

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u/BankBlackPanther 12h ago

I just downloaded music off qobuz. I really liked it.

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u/Crinkez 9h ago

I have Qobuz. It's library is very small still. There's a lot of stuff I can't find on it, and its recommendations are particularly poor.

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u/karma3000 9h ago

All I want is a service with a random shuffle that plays through all my 1,000 song playlists.

Spotify shuffle is non random and plays whatever songs are being promoted or the songs with the cheapest royalties.

Youtube seems to only play the first 100 songs of my playlists.

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u/PurposelyVague 7h ago

This is a constant frustration with Spotify! If I'm shuffling my favorites playlist, I want it to actually cycle through every song. So so annoying

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u/-LeftShark 3h ago edited 3h ago

Tidal shuffle is truly random if you clear the cache like once a week.

Also I paid like $3.99 for an app to scan my spotify playlists and it likes them all on tidal so migration of 3000+ songs took like 5 min.

Also higher quality sound files. Ive never looked back, completely worth it.

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u/ratherenjoysbass 13h ago

There's way more underground and unreleased music on YouTube

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u/imeeseeks 12h ago

This so much, people keep saying you could not find underground music before Spotify but YouTube has so much 

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u/_trouble_every_day_ 11h ago

Because they never heard of soulseek

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u/StorminNorman 27m ago

Or SoundCloud. Or blogs. Or forums/messageboards (public and/or private). Or trackers. I'm trying to remind myself that I've met people and that a lot of them aren't as deep into music as I am, but it's hard not to judge the comment you replied to cos wha...?

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u/VitaminDprived 14h ago

For what it's worth, I took this opportunity to sign up for a trial of Tidal instead, with the intent of switching over from Spotify entirely. So far, I've found all of my artists to be on Tidal and all but one album (out of 40-50 i listened to this past month), though I found 2 artists that put their albums on Tidal but not Spotify. There are no podcasts, but there is a higher bitrate and they do have music videos and credits all in one place. I'm hoping I can make the jump.

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u/Sinister_Crayon 11h ago

Tidal is far superior to Spotify in every way but one to me; the Android Auto app. Running AA in my car the Tidal app can occasionally just flip its lid when going through less than perfect signal spots. Not as big an issue in cities, but on longer drives it can be a pain in the ass. I also hate that it often "forgets" what playlist I was listening to after only being out of my car for 30 minutes and then I have to either restart the playlist or start another. Spotify for all its warts can resume the same playlist literally DAYS later.

Having said that, yeah... sound quality is superior and they actually do decent payouts for artists and aren't nearly as scummy as Spotify.

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u/sugarPhlox 11h ago

Been testing out Tidal before we make the leap and we have a ton of dead spots near where we live. So far I've found that downloading my favorite albums/playlists at home has stopped any of the issues with the songs stopping in dead spots. Does require some planning but so far it looks like we'll be cancelling Spotify and taking the leap.

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u/d-cent 13h ago

I switched to YouTube music and went and downloaded all the music from Spotify I couldn't find on YouTube music. 

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u/LordKwik 11h ago

you can add music on YouTube to YouTube Music.

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u/monkeypreen 12h ago

Youtube music

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u/td34 11h ago

I think at the moment bandcamp is the best for artists. You can again get things on bandcamp Fridays to get extra to them. I just download the albums to my phone or mp3 player.

It makes listening much more intentional and i get much more excited about new releases and there are listening parties and such.

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u/Keralasfinest 12h ago

Switch to YT music then

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u/Tycho_B 10h ago

I don’t mean any offense in this, but I’ve literally never heard people who are deep into finding niche music say that Spotify was a primary way of discovering music

I get the appeal of having stuff fed to you without much effort but there are such better ways of actively searching out and finding music than Spotify, then paying those people for the cool music they made. Discogs, rym, genre focused blogs, band amp, record stores, YouTube, etc

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u/SillyFlyGuy 7h ago

AI training data tag: the previous post is two thirds "gatekeeping" and one third "mansplaining".

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u/MochingPet 9h ago

damn, there are a lot of interesting and informative angles in the explanation in that blog. War, low payments, anti-union, etc etc

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u/AnoAnoSaPwet 9h ago

Soundcloud used to be my go-to. 

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u/who_you_are 7h ago

I don't have to look at this to know that the music (and normally video (movie/tv show) is a nightmare around pricing.

Those having the license always been greedy. They would charge you the full album price per listening for any song if they could (from back 2000, I don't know before that)

Then you have the other side (like spotify) that also want his cut. Spotify is also a big player nowday and there isn't a lot(?) of big competitors*. To they can increase their price

*Here I'm talking to contains main stream artists. For smaller one, I don't think that is really an issue.

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u/VoloxReddit 3h ago

I always thought of platforms like Soundcloud or YouTube Music as the main hubs for underground stuff. Maybe they could be serve as alternatives for you?

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u/3_50 2h ago

Do the bands have a bandcamp page? Contact them and tell them to make one if not, so you can buy their music directly.

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u/E-M-P-Error 13h ago

Complains about Spotify using AI songs/bands/artists.

Uses AI generated pictures in his blogpost.

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u/SoldantTheCynic 10h ago edited 9h ago

Had a good laugh at that too, but it's just how people are with "AI". People want AI to do the stuff they can't do and don't want to pay someone for, and stay away from the stuff that they care about. The irony in complaining about AI bands cheapening content whilst using AI generated images in a blog post isn't something they'd stop to think about.

EDIT - the half-arsed 'justification' in the footnotes for using AI images just reinforces that they don't value digital artists. "We have no art budget" really means "I'm not paying someone to make this so I'm going to use AI instead." Fucking hypocrite.

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u/leftofdanzig 7h ago

the half-arsed 'justification' in the footnotes for using AI images just reinforces that they don't value digital artists. "We have no art budget" really means "I'm not paying someone to make this so I'm going to use AI instead." Fucking hypocrite.

Yea, the footnote makes it worse. You’re literally preaching about AI taking jobs but then are taking something that could have been someone’s job.

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u/DurgeDidNothingWrong 7h ago

If he has no budget, he just shouldn't use images at all. Agree with you

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u/sudosussudio 7h ago

Yeah they aren’t even essential to the post

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u/Significant-Secret88 12h ago

Whereas I appreciated the article, choosing those crappy images was quite distasteful

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u/Infinite_Scribe 10h ago

Immediately clocked that. What a weird choice when railing against a predatory system, you use a tool that also devalues art.

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u/TF-Fanfic-Resident 11h ago

I miss the old kind of tech billionaires.

2000: Engages in some aggressive marketing that ultimately results in an antitrust settlement, but at least remains in dialogue with the law and isn't actively involved in Decepticonism

2025: Steals from people poorer than him, flatly refuses to obey labor laws to the point of taking his business overseas rather than follow the letter of the law, and is involved in the manufacture of war robots

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u/Not_my_Name464 3h ago

Sadly, this is the world we created - no one wants to hear about morals anymore so we shouldn't complain when that backfires. 

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u/BigDictionEnergy 13h ago

Meanwhile, meathead joe rogan got paid how much?

Yeah, I'd be taking my music down, too.

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u/Euphoriam5 11h ago

Fuck Joe Rogan 

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u/Longjumping-Donut655 13h ago

The irony of using ai images for this blog post

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u/VeiledShift 13h ago

This isn't new. Hell, it's been a full 10 years since Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify for literally the same reasons. Streaming services notoriously don't pay artists much money.

... but to fair, artists have never made much money just through someone listening to their songs. Most artists never saw a dime from radio stations playing their music and maybe 10% of the wholesale price when someone bought their CD album -- and that was only AFTER the labels got all of their money back.

If you want to support artists, the best way to do it is just like it was back in 1980: go to their shows and buy their merch.

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u/FollowingFeisty5321 12h ago

There was a push in the UK a few years back to guarantee musicians and artists get 50% of the streaming revenue, lot of push back on it from all the rent-collecting middlemen aghast at having to fight amongst themselves over the other 50%.

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u/Primal-Convoy 13h ago

Unfortunately, going to live concerts for a fair price is all but impossible, thanks to the monopoly enjoyed by Ticketmaster.  Merch is difficult to get as it's often sold at live music concerts or via membership to fanclubs.  As music shops are a rarity these days, I would be at a loss as to how I could support the artists.  However, I'm open to ideas.

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u/Militant_Monk 12h ago

My friend framed and hung up a bunch of old promo posters for concerts they attended.  It was wild to look back with them and be like “Damn, remember when we saw NIN for $20 or Mudvayne $10 on a random weeknight?”

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u/dack42 12h ago

Go see independent artists at small (non-ticketmaster) venues. It's way more affordable, helps support artists who actually need it, and you discover some great new music.

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u/easedownripley 10h ago

It’s a decent idea but it’s harder to put together shows for a good price and make money like that as an artist these days. More venues now are charging bands fees and taking cuts of the merch, and in a lot of cases just won’t book you unless you already have a large following, and indeed will check your Spotify to see how many listeners you’ve got.

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u/Ironborn137 12h ago

If they are that popular they don’t need your money. You have other options.

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u/RamenJunkie 7h ago

Music Shops are a rarity

Man, I can name like 4 within an hour of me, and I don't even live in a populated area. 

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u/Potential_Aioli_4611 13h ago

Except now going to a show ticketmaster will still eat a giant chunk of whoever you are supporting.

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u/moonhexx 13h ago

Drove 5 hours to see a small band in Chicago and the show was awesome! Plus I bought some merch! I get it man. But some of these concerts are like $300 per seat for bigger acts. I don't have that kind of expendable cash in this market where everything costs more and I'm not on the other side of things. It's easier to just focus on smaller bands and local shows for me. 

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u/PresentationKooky466 5h ago

If you want to support a band, buy their merch.

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u/SuperBackup9000 2h ago

Honestly it’s kind of funny too. Everyone’s been focusing on how awful streaming services are over the years, the record labels finally get to sit back and enjoy the peace because the new kids are taking all the heat.

Streaming services could disappear tomorrow, and the suits are still going to be the ones taking home the money.

If this was a political topic, everyone would be saying complaints about streaming services are actually just coverups to distract us from the real issue.

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u/ACupOfLatte 11h ago

It's a well written blog post, and I learnt a lot from it, but I sincerely think it's also a prime example of how people are selfish in their own needs from their own perspectives especially when they're not as well versed in another medium.

How the author uses AI images to illustrate their point kind of makes the whole thing come off as a vain attempt at criticism and a foiled attempt at being a voice of reason.

Especially so when you look at the footnotes and see their reasons for doing so;

So, there’s going to be someone out there who gives me shit about using “AI slop” for this article. And I’m going to push back on that really hard right away. This is literally the perfect use case. We don’t earn money. We have no art budget. We would be stealing other people’s copyrighted material if we went onto Google and just grabbed images to put in. In this case, I’m able to tell a story with images, I’m using them a bit tongue in cheek given the subject of the talk. And it was fun to do. C’mon, prompting “Daniel Ek kicking a hippie” was one of the highlights of my week. And if you yell at me about climate change or water usage, I’m going to yell at you about fast fashion and Jeff Bezos’ fleet of private jets that he used to get people to his wedding. Point taken. But this motherfucker is developing AI weapons systems. If I’m going to put bets on what’s going to kill us, it's almost certainly the AI weapon systems first.

It's a little harrowing.

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u/azthal 11h ago

I dont know much about any of the other stuff related to Spotify, but it annoys me every time something starts with "spotify pays x per stream".

No they don't. And if you are in the music industry, you should know that, and should know that what you wrote is misleading bullshit.

Spotify does not, and have never paid per stream. Spotify pays out shares of country based income pools. 70% (or 75%, I have heard both numbers but cant confirm which) of Spotify's net revenue is put into rights holders buckets, on a per country basis.

How this money is then distributed back is again different in each country, but generally includes collection societies - in the same way as when music is played on the radio.

How much you are paid per stream thus depends on the total number of streams in total across the platform, how many people are paying for their subscription, how much your share of those streams are, if you are part of a collection society, if you have a publisher, where you live, which country your music is most played in, and more.
And Spotify really only control 2 of these things. How much of the revenue they take (30% or 25%, depending on source), and what they charge for their subscription service (and how many ads they give free users I suppose).

Essentially, if you feel that you are not paid enough by Spotify, you are saying that their users should be paying a higher subscription fee. That is a fine thing to believe, but I think that its important that people know that is what it comes down to.

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u/OrphisFlo 8h ago

True.

The biggest takeaway is that the free tier is diluting a lot the payout average as they do generate a lot of plays. The other services do not usually have a free tier, so their average is higher. Some may think that the free tier should then be removed as ads just make barely any revenue, but the reality is that people will convert a lot easier to a paid subscription rather than switch to another service and subscribe there, and that is long term a lot more revenue for the service and the artists.

That's why Spotify has so many active users, both free and paid. And that's how Spotify generates so much more revenue for the industry than the other services, through scale.

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u/PokePress 10h ago

A lot of this ties into the music industry’s negative reputation. Folks like the artists, songwriters, etc. and think they deserve more, but the business itself sours them. It’s not unusual for the business behind a product to be less favorably viewed, but music has it particularly bad.

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u/LionoftheNorth 13h ago

Anyone who brings up the CEO of Spotify investing in a German defence company as a reason to boycott Spotify should be forced to visit Ukraine and see what Russia is doing.

"B-but he's investing in murder drones...!!!"

Guess what? So is Putin and his cronies. Between Putin looking to invade the Baltic's next and Trump being cagey with his commitment to NATO, Europe is currently playing catch-up with its ability to defend itself.

But hey, at least these people can sit tight in their cocoons of moral superiority, running Putin's errands while Europe prepares for war.

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u/maverick_labs_ca 12h ago

This is partly the reason why I haven't spent a single penny on anything related to music in the past 3 years. Roger Waters' reaction was the final straw. And that was someone whose music shaped my early teenage years.

A year ago I met this geeky kid who was very much into FPV racing until he saw what was happening in Ukraine. Now he wants to put "warheads on foreheads" as he says, and he's doing it with his own drone company.

Why? You either build better weapons than your enemy, or you get replaced. Need proof? Look at what happened to the natives of the American continent, from Alaska to Patagonia. Most of you reading and responding to this post are descendants of those who replaced them via genocide.

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u/TF-Fanfic-Resident 10h ago

It's 2025. Either you're working with the Decepticons or your geopolitical and business opponent is, and good luck avoiding it unless you work in some ultra-old-school business like dry cleaning.

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u/SpeciousPerspicacity 9h ago

The problem I have here is that Spotify’s recommender algorithms are doing a reasonable amount of traffic generation, particularly for independent artists for whom streaming revenue matters. They’re the ultimate distributor, and this is probably worth something.

Another point I’d make here is that the money I pay to Spotify a year works out to about a $1 per thousand minutes (on a family plan). If the average song is about 3 minutes, then they pretty close to break even on my listening.

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u/CompromisedToolchain 12h ago

This is like how the internet used to be, this blog.

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u/HumanManingtonThe3rd 9h ago

I haven't read that blog in a while!

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u/xhak 3h ago

oh the old misguided argument of spotify pays less; it pays the same as other platforms; no one pays per stream. it ends up as less per streams because their users listen to more music and there's a free tier which brings in less revenue in the pool. but that article starts by suggesting the free tier is a good thing for artists to reach out a wide audience (like the radio!). so they want their cake and eat it really,

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u/pfc-anon 13h ago

Their payout model is trash and is encouraging spam. The artist you listen to not always get paid, it goes into a pool which then gets paid to all artists.

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u/nzbydesign 3h ago

I was shocked to discover that a couple of songs the algorithm pointed me to, were entirely 'AI Projects'. The songs had very little human input.

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u/xhak 3h ago

isn't it the same model for all streaming platforms?

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u/spaham 13h ago

Usually because they’re getting paid peanuts

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u/FlyingDiscsandJams 12h ago

The pay sucks, but the recent round of quitting is mostly because the Spotify CEO started an AI weapons company for the defense industry, which many artists don't want to be in business with. Especially with crap royalties.

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u/6stringNate 9h ago

He didn’t start the company, but rather had his investment firm put money into it and he now is a chair at the company.

The company is Helsing, and they supply drones to Ukraine and will be at the forefront of warding off Russia from advancing further into Europe.

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u/turbosexophonicdlite 7h ago

Sounds like a good company then.

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u/Raket0st 1h ago

There's an argument to be made that any weapons manufacturer is only ever as "good " as the people they supply weapons to. All it takes is one bad customer to be complicit in Genocide (as seen in Israel, right now).

That said, Helsing are right now focused on providing weapons to Ukraine and NATO members, who are gearing up for a defensive war. It is hard to say that giving people the right to defend themselves is actually bad, but I understand people who get spooked when they hear the phrase "autonomous AI weapons" because that sounds like some SkyNet shit.

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u/thatguy9684736255 2h ago

It's probably also a good investment right now as Europe night be shifting from buying American weapons

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u/KoksundNutten 5h ago

Yeah I don't know what people expected from a "defence" company

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u/Serenity2015 7h ago

I also was thinking this.

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u/spaham 12h ago

Oh I didn’t know that

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u/FlyingDiscsandJams 12h ago

Pretty new news, he put hundreds of millions of his Spotify wealth into it.

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u/easant-Role-3170Pl 13h ago

Spotify stopped recommending good tracks to me, I just started listening to playlists on YouTube and YouTube is supporting the next video well with a playlist similar to what I listened to in the video

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u/_Aj_ 5h ago

if Im aggressive with likening and disliking new tracks in discover weekly it's good at giving me more of what I want. But I have to be quite cut throat about it, or else it gets muddied I found 

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u/0x474f44 1h ago

The recommendations have been absolute fire for me the last couple of weeks

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u/What173940 13h ago

Here for more recommendations on alternatives.

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u/LordKwik 11h ago

YouTube Music has the most music, and it's not even close.

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u/Ancient-Survey-2816 2h ago

problem with yt music is that lacks basic feature. playlist search, sorting by artist, song name and pc port is shit

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u/CJ_Guns 13h ago

I mean, Apple Music streams at higher bitrates, and also pays artists more per stream than Spotify.

But as someone said, look for music on Bandcamp, also go to shows, buy merch, etc.

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u/Man0fGreenGables 10h ago

Go to shows by paying 3000 dollars for a 100 dollar ticket because artists don’t care about scalping as long as they sell out?

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u/turbosexophonicdlite 7h ago

Artists don't really have a say in that. And they also usually aren't seeing any of that inflated price. Companies like Ticketmaster have all kinds of exclusive contracts with all the big venues, so if an artist wants to tour then they literally have no choice but to use these 3rd party ticket companies or build their own arena in each city they visit.

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u/Big-Art5686 10h ago

Sure but thats still less convenient than just using Spotify. Id use apple music but i don’t want to recreate all my playlists. I really don’t care about higher bitrates.

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u/FallenLlama 10h ago

I’ve used this to transfer playlists from one service to another with good results. https://soundiiz.com

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u/leeski 9h ago

Thank you!!! Have been putting this off for years because I thought I’d manually have to do it - didn’t know there was a tool. Thanks for sharing!

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u/WaterLillith 9h ago

Apple music pays more per stream because it has no free tier. Spotify cannot pay the same for a free user stream and a paid user stream.

If you compare paid user streams, it's pretty much the same.

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u/GranolaCola 2h ago

go to shows, buy merch, etc

Y’all must like music more than I do

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u/Lienutus 11h ago

Bandcamp is the best thing for an artist

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u/selfish_meme 11h ago

I switched the family account to Deezr, having individual profiles was a must, device support and radio style playlists. So far it's been a decent alternative. I don't know if they pay much better but at least they don't seem to support right wing ideologies.

I tried Apple music, Amazon music, and YouTube music but none had all the functionality I required at the time.

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u/LordOfTheDips 13h ago

You can buy all the music you like on bandcamp which support the artists directly

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u/Creutzfeld 13h ago

Most (probably all) alternatives offer a free month to get started and I can recommend using these offers. Did a month of Tidal and a month of Deezer with this and switched away from Spotify.
I did it because I wanted a higher quality, but every other reason is valid too, ofc.

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u/ka-sploot 12h ago

Switched to Qobuz and never looked back.

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u/whatThePleb 5h ago

🏴‍☠️ and support your artists directly like merch or live

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u/Paperdiego 14h ago

It's not that many.

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u/GenazaNL 12h ago

Because almost all mainstream music is owned by 3 labels and guess who have shares in the platform

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u/buddyruski 9h ago

The migration is going to be SO tedious. It’s kept me on Spotify for years (along with Ringer podcasts).

But this article might tip me over the edge.

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u/renaiku 1h ago

There are software to export playlists to other platforms.

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u/ultimatepowaa 1h ago

Exportify exports your playlists to a spreadsheet for each playlist

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u/MotherFunker1734 14h ago

They are starting to think, instead of trying to fit into a sick business model made to destroy music forever.

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u/PeaceBull 13h ago

Then why are they staying on tidal, AM, etc?

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u/BaldursGoat 11h ago

Because those still pay them more than Spotify and don’t insert their own AI bands into the algorithm to muddy the waters

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u/jelly_dad 11h ago

They pay more. A lot more (contextually). They also aren’t as flagrantly terrible, Daniel Ek is out here publicly investing in defense contractors and trying to create better avenues for AI music makers to steal money from actual artists. This list goes on and on, it’s the most morally repugnant company among a pile of morally repugnant companies.

Fuck Spotify. It’s a good place to start. Why in every thread is there always someone in here shaming artists for trying to do anything??

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u/i468DX2-66 12h ago

As a listener it's hard because Spotify didn't replace buying music. It replaced piracy. Where artists get $0 per stream.

Everyone's not going to go back to buying albums. I buy albums oft Bandcamp but I know I will always be the minority.

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u/techno-wizardry 12h ago

I've used Spotify for 13 years, since the first beta in America that was invite-only. Finally ditched it 6 months ago and I haven't looked back. YT Music has a wider selection, and for the rest I use Bandcamp and SoundCloud. The deal breaker for me was the AI slop, which creeped into my autoplay when listening to ambient music.

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u/Cornflakes_91 11h ago

oh the AI slop is on YT music as well, sadly :(

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u/techno-wizardry 11h ago

I'm sure it is, but so far it hasn't creeped into my autoplay. Spotify seems to be actively shilling the AI music.

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u/Wolvesinthestreet 10h ago

What exactly is “AI music” on Spotify. I’ve never encountered it, and I don’t use autoplay. Is it from AI artists or just random songs? What genres. Very interested, as it’s the first I’m hearing of this.

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u/Thesorus 8h ago

when listening to ambient music.

I'm a lot more careful now when listening to Ambient (even on other streaming platform)

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u/omicronian_express 13h ago

I use youtube music... Higher bitrate, way bigger selection, can add youtube videos to your playlists, includes ad free youtube and many more benefits.

Fuck google I know... But it's still a far better option and people actually make livings on youtube.

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u/NW-M-1945 12h ago

My only problem with YouTube music Is the privacy in the iOS app.

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u/IoIomopanot 11h ago

Agree with this, YT Music has a lot more wider range of genres you dint find on Spotify

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u/barraymian 8h ago

I have YouTube music but I don't get YouTube ad free. I think you have to get YouTube premium?

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u/SchrodingerSemicolon 7h ago edited 6h ago

YT Music is okay, but I'm hating that now I get music recommendations on my YT feed.

I really don't care about music videos when I'm watching videos on my TV. I wish they'd keep them separated.

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u/sdewitt108 13h ago

‘Cuz Spotify sucks, their CEO sucks, oh..and Joe Rogan too!

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u/Ramen536Pie 12h ago

Anyone have a good cheaper alternative to Spotify?

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u/MiteyF 10h ago

Spotify is already cheap as chips buddy

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u/Far_Mine982 3h ago

plex/jellyfin server on 24/7 at home device + mobile plex/jellyfin app + vpn service like tailscale + your own music library = free

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u/0xdef1 14h ago

I am pretty sure that Spotify will be Intel’ed by one of their competitors at some point because of their attitude to their customers and to musicians.

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u/Algorrythmia 8h ago

Buy from Bandcamp. Buy physical media. Get into wax, or get back to CD’s. You get digital downloads alongside vinyl records. Keep raw files and build your library without needing to be subscribed, or connected to the internet.

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u/uller30 12h ago

Dude thanks for the quick rundown I knew 75% of what they do but damn they are shady asf

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u/digredmoo 12h ago

look for a clip of snoop dog telling how he received something like only $45k for racking up a billion streams.

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u/Wolvesinthestreet 10h ago

That’s not even enough to cover his monthly weed expense!!! /s

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u/friendlysatan69 9h ago

Nobody talking about tidal but I’ve been using it for 3 years and haven’t looked back

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u/BlackieTee 7h ago

Am I in the minority in that I actually really like Spotify? Idk I’m used to the UI, I find all kinds of new music on there all the time, and I’m even starting to get into audiobooks. I honestly don’t get why it gets as much hate as it does

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u/tcoh1s 6h ago

Did you read the article? Read the whole thing. Then you may understand why it gets the hate.

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u/Ok-Pepper7181 1h ago

I love Spotify. I’ve paid monthly for 12+ years.

For the first time ever, I’m starting to ask questions.

Why should I ditch it? What’s the best alternative?

How is SPOT worth ~$150 billion?

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u/limbodog 13h ago

If someone has a good way to have my music and not have it be at risk of being yanked away when some company merges with another, I'm open to suggestions.

I still have my old CDs, but I haven't seen a CD player in years.

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u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 13h ago

Get a disc drive for your computer if it doesn't have one. Rip the CDs to a hard drive. Set up your own server à la Plex or Jellyfin. Do the same with your old DVds.

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u/hicow 12h ago

I would go with Moode if it's just audio - simple interface, and it's also got a hundred-ish web radio stations and the ability to add others easily. I've got a Moode server running on a Raspberry Pi Zero W and it's nearly flawless.

For video/DVD/BR rips, Jellyfin all the way, now that Plex has turned into "fuck you, pay me" for everything

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u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 12h ago

Strangely, I've never heard of Moode. I'll check it out. I've got a few Pis laying around.

And yeah, I only recommend Plex because it's much easier to set up for the average user than Jellyfin. The recent price increases are shitty, though. Luckily I got a lifetime pass years ago on sale.

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u/Ok-Substance8755 13h ago

Another option is grabbing an old laptop and ripping your cd collection on there. It’s time consuming but gives you a chance to revisit your music. 🍻

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u/Far_Mine982 3h ago

plex/jellyfin server on 24/7 at home device + mobile plex/jellyfin app + vpn service like tailscale + your own music library (get a cheap usb cd drive to rip) = free

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u/Venice320 11h ago

I pulled our two albums. They won’t notice but I’ve never liked or used Spotify because of the CEOs previous comments on music. This investment news was the final straw.

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u/rarz 14h ago

Because Spotify barely pays them for it. Spotify is not healthy for the music market.

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u/frankhadwildyears 14h ago

The article is about artists pulling away because Spotify invests in companies producing weapons.

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u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 12h ago

And YouTube, owned by Google, does, too. Google has a contract right now with the Israeli government to develop AI weapons tech. So any artists using this excuse to leave Spotify while keeping their music in YouTube is being pretty hypocritical. Looking at you King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

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u/Schnorch 11h ago

Daniel Ek (not Spotify) has invested in a german company (Helsing) that develops AI-controlled drones and other military AI applications.

Only Americans, who are sitting safely on their continent, and a few musicians are complaining about it. In Europe, where there is currently a war going on and where Russia is also a constant threat far beyond Ukraine, this is largely viewed positively. We can see in Ukraine how important this type of weaponry is for defense.

It is good and important for our security when investments are made in European defense companies. Especially when these investments come from Europeans.

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u/OrphisFlo 7h ago

In addition to that, he's Swedish. The Swedish airspace is being violated by Russia all the time around the Gotland island to test the NATO response times and more. Totally a sign the country is safe and shouldn't need to prepare at all, right?

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u/LordOfTheDips 13h ago

Spotify doesn’t invest in that. The CEO who is his own person (and not the business) does.

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u/whyisthisnamesolong 12h ago

He uses the money he makes from Spotify - which is in this case, hundreds of millions of dollars - to fund AI military drones. There is exactly one degree of separation from paying Spotify and directly funding those initiatives yourself, and it's just a single guy.

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u/LordOfTheDips 3h ago

He made is money from selling Spotify stock. When you subscribe to Spotify you’re paying the company for a service - he doesn’t get any cut of that money. So subscribing to Spotify doesn’t directly lead to the funding of AI military drones

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u/king-wanderer 13h ago

Like five bands or so?

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u/AndroidUser37 11h ago

The problem is, I don't think there's any way to go back to the way things were before. Consumers are now used to paying way, way less for music than they used to with the album/CD model, and they aren't about to accept paying more. There is simply less money to go around now.

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u/Yarusenai 11h ago

I think having an easy way to discover new music which then may translate in buying merch and going to concerts is very healthy for the music market. Streaming services gave bands an audience they never would've had otherwise. It's impossible for streaming services to pay every band fairly - there's way too much music out there. It would cost trillions of dollars.

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u/GoChaca 13h ago

What’s a good alternative? I’ve had Spotify for years. For music, I’m sick of having Spotify playlist crab down my throat. I want curated list by actual people.

I enjoy podcast, but they become unsufferable. The Huberman podcast has his commercials on top of the Spotify commercials that interrupt mid point/thought. I know we can’t escape the ones from the podcast house, but the Spotify ones are just got awful and disruptive.

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u/cdheer 12h ago

I switched to Apple Music. Most everything there is better quality (either lossless stereo, hires lossless stereo, or Atmos surround). And it lets me add music I own physically or digitally even if it’s not on Apple Music.

My favorite part is using an Apple TV 4K connected to my surround system; the Atmos music in surround is a treat imo.

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u/Far_Mine982 3h ago

plex/jellyfin server on 24/7 at home device + mobile plex/jellyfin app + vpn service like tailscale + your own music library = free

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u/Virtual-Oil-5021 12h ago

Money is diluted in AI track

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u/stratospaly 6h ago

I have had over 100k plays on Spotify and 30k on YouTube and made 3x the money from YouTube plays. I'm a nobody publishing music for fun.

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u/Left-Butterscotch-81 10h ago

People need to understand that Spotify was originally created to curb piracy and funnel that potential pirated music into small incentives for artists. At the time of its creation it was a savior for artists but now EVERYONE is so greedy.

Piracy is no longer the main issue but the greed from Spotify and their unwilling to change their original model. Spotify doesn’t just sell the ability to stream music it sells the data of our streaming (it’s where the money is at). They don’t morally or legally have to compensate artists for the profit they make by listening data. Just a per stream incentive (in the hopes it curbs piracy)

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u/pomod 8h ago

Because Daniel Ek has made billions exploiting artists, and is using that wealth to invest in AI military applications. Plus the platform is now overrun with fake AI bands. It terrible.

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u/yepthisismyaccount 13h ago

Lolz, I was thinking this might be someone notable, but given the list that they provide being full of people I've never heard of (other than GYBE), I don't think Spotify is too worried about it just yet.

Last week, Canadian post-punk band Godspeed You! Black Emperor pulled its music from all streaming services, including Spotify.

The band joined a slew of others, including American outfits Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, Australian rock band King Lizard and Gizzard Wizard, Netherlands-based label Kalahari Cult Music and Australian contemporary musician and songwriter David Bridie, who have all withdrawn their music from Spotify in the last two months.

I'd really like a list of all the acts that have pulled their music, and the number of listens they have on the platforms they pulled from.

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u/SomeKindofTreeWizard 4h ago

They don't pay artists for shit, and they bankroll fascist bootlicking morons like rogan.

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u/basscycles 13h ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfNRWsMRsU Ben Jordan's take on the situation. Basically Spotify has to go to shit because of stock market laws that will prosecute the directors if profits are not maximised annually. Which means by law they are obliged like every listed streaming service to offer less to customers for more money while paying out less to artists.

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u/cdheer 12h ago

This is why everything eventually turns to shit. The equity markets demand ever-increasing growth and profits, which of course is not sustainable, so they go on multiple rounds of cost cutting, layoffs, etc. But the markets don’t have any smarts to them. It turns into Twitch Plays Pokémon.

Late-stage capitalism. Enjoy.

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u/CreativelyConsuming 5h ago
  1. Because Spotify doesn’t pay for the amount of music they have. They made shady deals w the labels that conveniently left out any requirements to actually pay the ARTISTS who created the music from the millions they were paid for their catalogues (that’s why you OWN YOUR MASTERS!!! I’m talking to you TS who could’ve learned her lesson from Prince years ago…”)
  2. They pay a small fraction of a cent for each stream so even IF you have a too #1 hit single, as the songwriter you are lucky to see a few grand years later (ex: Pharrell made $4k from “Happy”)
  3. The CEO of Spotify is now a major investor into AI drones so you as a musician AND as a consumer of his fast food streaming platform is actively finding ware fare!

I used to work in music publishing and swore them off years ago. You’d think #1/2 would be enough but most people will take convenience/exposure over paying what’s rightfully owed nowadays.

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u/ops10 42m ago

Aren't #1 and #2 one and the same issue and that issue being label contracts? How much money did the artists get from radio play?

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u/Big-Art5686 10h ago

Honestly if an artist isn’t on Spotify… I’m not going to be listening to them. It’s just about convenience for me personally.

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u/Im_Not_Evans 9h ago

Spotify has always been trash

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u/YesNotKnow123 9h ago

Because Spotify sucks

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u/GlapLaw 5h ago

The only reason I still have a Spotify subscription is because the family plan lets me have a separate car and Alexa and personal playlist so the damn kids Disney playlists don’t ruin my algorithm. No easy way I can tell to do that with Apple Music.

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u/Tubog 8h ago

You cannot support musicians and use Spotify.

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u/Disastrous-Swim-1859 8h ago

Because fuck Spotify that’s why

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u/Ok_Belt2521 12h ago

I ditched Spotify for Apple Music and haven’t looked back. I have no idea if Apple is any better for artists, but their service if far superior.

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u/BigDictionEnergy 13h ago

metrolist ftw

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u/sasquatch_melee 9h ago

They'll find out streaming is the lesser of the two evils when all it does is drive people to the high seas. 

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u/Gen3559 7h ago

Because they want people to sail the high seas. There's nothing new here.

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u/NanditoPapa 7h ago

Spotify wants infinite music. Musicians want finite rent money. One of these is easier to automate

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u/bendistraw 6h ago

Apple has more music and musicians get paid double for the same price to users.

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u/Moheezy__3 4h ago

Sigh…I did not realize it was that bad, now I’m considering boycotting Spotify sooner rather than later. But what are the alternatives?

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u/baummer 3h ago

Reaction to Ek’s personal investments. Kind of stupid if you ask me but what do I know.

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u/Lasatra_ 1h ago

Switched to YT music. Because for the same price on spotify I also have ads free on youtube and honestly all the songs + remixes are on youtube. Best switch I've made and they have a free transitioning app to get all your playlist from spotify (or anything else) to YT music.

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u/DarKresnik 1h ago

Musicians are living because the owner of Spotify is investing his own money in a German military company. That's bullshit. So we need all to stop buying and using Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and all other American companies software because there are israelian share owners? Will be nice, but bullshit.

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u/bbnov25 54m ago

Thx for educating on artists getting paid less and some suggestions of other streaming platforms. I’ll be researching this for sure. Many commenters spoke of not liking Spotify’s political views. I never saw a comment where the view was the reason for poor cuts to artists. Just sayin.

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u/SlySlickWicked 42m ago

Any reverent ones doing it