Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging
You can download music via Newpipe if anyone is curious
‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app
Submitted 5 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.zip
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/12/spotify-boycott-artists
Comments
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I stopped using it. I have a navidrome server I run and purchase songs from artists directly when possible, otherwise, I acquire them and support artists directly in other ways
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 5 months ago
So you pirate their work, giving them nothing, instead of using Spotify where they actually do get paid?
So you don’t really care about the artist, it’s just an excuse to justify piracy lol.
Dude just say you prefer to pirate. You don’t need to pretend to be doing it because of morals.
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Additionally Spotify pays them shit. A number of artists have done “pay what you want” including 0 for their music on Bandcamp, they all reported making more money in a week than multiple months of Spotify.
You are also assuming I don’t find other ways to support artists, like merch, shows, patreon and Bandcamp.
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I never said pirate. You are assuming.
Peck@lemmy.world 5 months ago
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
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Listenbrainz and chosic work great for me
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Is there another service that has anything comparable to Spotify’s family plan? I have like 4 other people on the family plan I pay for and I really don’t wanna fuck them over by switching lol
curiousaur@reddthat.com 5 months ago
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.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 5 months ago
Artists have never made any significant money from album sales unless they self publish. 90%+ of the revenue from a cd sale goes to the publisher, producers, executives, marketing, etc. Going to live shows and buying merch has always been the primary way artists actually make money.
UndergroundGoblin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
I’m using Qobuz. As I know the 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.
ryper@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Apple Music has a family plan, and it’s cheaper than Spotify’s, at least in Canada (16.99 vs 20.99).
FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Apple is hardly the giant corporation you want to be switching to, though.
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 5 months ago
None of us have apple devices.
pfr@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
Deezer? They still don’t pay artists much, but I think it’s still better than Spotify
mrdown@lemmy.world 5 months ago
The Artist-Centric model sucks. The artists that benefits the most is the biggest artists like Drake etc. This system does create a two-tier royalty structure that favors bigger or more established artists with a loyal fanbase
simbico@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
I’m switching to Tidal, they have a family plan
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Is tidal user friendly? The people I share Spotify with aren’t tech savvy.
Reginald_T_Biter@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Where do like… buy… music?
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
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.
Unquote0270@programming.dev 5 months ago
Bandcamp, qobuz, amazon
alt_xa_23@lemmy.world 5 months ago
7digital is another option, if you’d rather avoid amazon. It also has higher quality audio.
slampisko@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I do it on Bandcamp.
ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I don’t mind sourcing my own music, but what I want is to be suggested songs based on what I listen to. My musical horizons have broadened a lot thanks to that.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Im sorry, but I dont get this. Why do we need to be baby sat and have an algorithm tell us what to listen to?
Go to a record store. Get a couple unknown ones. Use internet radio. Surf bandcamp. Hell. Use YouTube if you want! I’ve never needed an algorithm to tell me about music. Its literally everywhere. Ask friend what they’ve been listening to. Be a human.
This isnt directed only at you, i just keep seeing this sentiment of " but my spotify tells me what music to like! "And its a little sad.
End of rant.
Khrux@ttrpg.network 5 months ago
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.
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
There used to be audio scrobbling programs I think they called it that would run on your computer to keep track of what you listened to and publish on a user page and also use the site to get recs, check out what your friends are listening to, etc. I think last.fm fucked up the official client or something but there were a couple open and universal scrobbler that might still work, but they do still only connect with last.fm I don’t think there’s a self host option.
Phegan@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I use both listenbrainz and chosic for suggestions. Both work well.
pfr@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
Unquote0270@programming.dev 5 months ago
Gnod
FishFace@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Last.fm?
Echolynx@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
Pandora is still pretty good.
oopsallnaps@piefed.ca 5 months ago
Bought myself a little digital audio player (basically the new name for mp3 players) and have been enjoying porting rockbox to it / listening to my local library.
There's a still a few cd/record stores in town which is pretty awesome for second hand stuff.
Valmond@lemmy.world 5 months ago
What are your thoughts about old music, should it be pirateable? I mean I don’t think those 1990 bands will get a cent from Spotify, or do they?
It would be lovely sharing songs with fellow online people IMO.
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
Bands? No or at least not all of them. Labels? Certain!
Lemminary@lemmy.world 5 months ago
What if I block all its ads?
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Mp3s are at it. Because Spotty doesn’t have some of the songs I actually like, and even remove tracks that were previously available on physical media.
sobchak@programming.dev 5 months ago
I’ve been downloading FLAC (lossless), and when I transfer to my phone, I encode to Opus, which is supposed to have better sound quality than MP3 at comparable file sizes.
Jaysyn@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I did this 3 years ago.
archchan@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
As a hoarder, I spend more time listening to new music than not, and Spotify’ features and personalized discovery algorithms help tremendously with that.
These days more and more AI songs are creeping into my Spotify and I notice them. That has caused me to be suspicious of every song I hear enough that even when I find a good real song, the enjoyment is undercut by that constant underlying feeling of “this could be AI” even though I know it isn’t.
I’m absolutely livid and disgusted at Spotify for making me feel that way. Discovery was the one thing keeping me on that wretched platform. I imagine I’ll be slowly migrating to a self-hosted solution. I just really wish foss had more private and open personalized discovery features (or any at all for that matter, and not just for music).
JesusChristLover420@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
yt-dlp, ffmpeg, Picard, jellyfin, musicolet
mistermodal@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
Seconding Picard. MusicBrainz is the only part of my little ecosystem where I stick my neck out and constantly broadcast all my listening activity. The suggestions are awesome.
BanMe@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Spotify’s personalized stations kept me hooked for years but it was surprising how fast I got used to creating stations based on individual songs or artists in Apple Music, and eventually I do think I’m go back to having a music collection again, but it’s going to take time out of my week to collect and organize music again… in my 40s time is no easy feat
boboliosisjones@feddit.nu 5 months ago
I want to jump ship it’s just daunting when the other platforms I try can’t match the library. I ported a small playlist to Qobuz and only a third of the tracks were available. I have an offline library but I have been lazy and its unmaintained.
Mihies@programming.dev 5 months ago
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.
boboliosisjones@feddit.nu 5 months ago
Does Tidal offer trials or is there a way to. explore the library without buying/ playing the music?
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 5 months ago
Not an mpd, not interested.
LumiNocta@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
The Big problem I have now is. I have a Vinyl collection, and I enjoy listening to music (many different things) whenever I feel like it. The Spotify app itself is just so nice. Integrates well with my car, and I have a few huge playlists. Much of this music I bought already physically. But if I were to switch to a different app I feel like I need to change alot more, and in the example of Bandcamp i would have to pay a large sum to get my playlist back up.
Also. I have gotten so used to it and so tired of trying to do the right thing. I just want to listen to some music ffs.
BurgerBaron@piefed.social 5 months ago
In my experience, buying vinyl on Bandcamp comes with the digital versions pretty often. Check your account’s purchase library.
Edit: Looked it up. The default is this way, digital is bundled in with a vinyl purchase unless an Artist opts out.
LumiNocta@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
But I would have to buy a lot of albums :,)
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Its not fast, but physical media does have the benefit of being able to be digitized
melisdrawing@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
I switched to deezer and it wasn’t too painful.
stoy@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
I buy individual songs on iTunes, I can back them up without DRM to my NAS.
I dislike the entire concept of renting my music.
Since I started using an iPhone back in 2016, I have bought 781 songs, songs that I don’t have to pay to access.
graymess@hexbear.net 5 months ago
I can respect this practice, but in fairness, that’s like $1000+ of music purchases. Most people can’t just drop their $10/mo or whatever it is subscription and suddenly buy all the songs they want to listen to.
shalafi@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I used a free online service to rip my Spotify playlists to MP3s. Now what? (for Android)
JesusChristLover420@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
Musicolet
dimjim@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
If you just want to play music locally without hassles, there are a slew of music apps that can do it for you, my personal favorite is Musicolet.
If you wanna get fancy you could always spin up your own music server with navidrome, and combine that with the android app Symfonium (what i currently do). If you don’t like the idea of always streaming your music, for example if you have bad internet service outside your home, you can temporarily or permanently cache music to your phone.
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 5 months ago
You have a bunch of mp3s? Just add them to an app that plays mp3s like Winamp
eodur@piefed.social 5 months ago
Navidrome + any of a number of subsonic players
IHeartBadCode@fedia.io 5 months ago
Streaming is all the bad things about the music industry but made a thousand times worse. The pay outs, the requirement of specific laws surrounding streaming that make it different than every other method of music delivery, the lack of control by the consumer, the lack of any kind of ownership, the requirement of always online connectivity, and on.
I don't want to be that boomer type person, but I'm pretty happy with staying with my CD and DVD collection that I have. I have a massive amount of portability, archiving, and it just works wherever I want to work. No fees, no internet required, and I have an immense amount of control over everything.
This is just one of those things that I'm glad that I didn't get into this. It has sounded terrible since it was first pitched and I think it's only gotten worse.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 5 months ago
im on yt music,
it’s now flooded with AI music, going to cancel
BingBong@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I jumped ship about a year ago or whenever it was they signed on Joe Rogan. Now my policy is no subscriptions and only by DRM free. So mostly bandcamp and garage sale CDs for me. If there was a record shop within 70 miles I’d probably hit that up too but unfortunately not an option.
Mighty@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I finally made the jump to tidal this month, my subscription to Spotify is running out. I hate giving my money to Spotify. Yeah, tidal ain’t perfect, yet. But I hope with more people joining, it’s going to be better soon
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 5 months ago
I started buying music in 2015 (mostly Bandcamp) and I have no regrets. I have a big library now of drm free music. Some months I spend nothing and still enjoy music, without ads.
Quill7513@slrpnk.net 5 months ago
for anyone this inspires to make the jump, i recommend Tidal and Bandcamp.
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Yeah, I think I’ll be jumping ship soon … like most people mention … at one point you only listen to the same 100-200 tracks all the time anyway.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 5 months ago
Good for them. Bands don’t need ai training on their songs without compensation.
Maeve@midwest.social 5 months ago
And no one in their right mind thinks it is a death wish to actual people, but to everything horrible it embodies.
MrSulu@lemmy.ml 5 months ago
I moved to Qobuz. Meets my every need.