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?
OK. Lots of assumptions here. I haven’t listened to the radio since the '90s, and I’ve never paid for cable.
My preferred genres are progressive house and trance, and I got into the rave scene about the time I stopped listening to the radio. I started my collection via fservs on IRC, ratio FTP sites and then Napster and P2P, totally obviating the record labels. I’m subscribed to various music producers on YouTube for when I’m thinking I want something new, and if it makes me cry, off to Beatport I go.
So, like, not to be rude, but you got every assumption wrong.
Zero assumptions here, you said you were, and I quote, “not seeking out new stuff”, I didn’t assume that.
So you DO enjoy streaming music…
I hope you enjoyed feeling like you had a “gotcha” moment. When on my computer, yeah, I watch some YouTube, but mostly news and late-night monologues. I sure as shit don’t pay for it.
I have no interest in “gotcha moments”. Just having a discussion about the virtues of streaming music platforms vs. buying.
If you don’t pay for it then you are pirating, which is a whole other discussion.
“If you don’t pay for it then you are pirating” is not a discussion, it’s an erroneous blanket statement.
Good thing that’s not the discussion we were having then.