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Ethical alternatives to Spotify (lemmy.nz)

submitted 1 year ago by harfang@slrpnk.net to c/technology@beehaw.org

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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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[-] BunScientist@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[-] kehet@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's the same old reason as always. Most users value their convenience more than anything.

[-] TerHu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

this is an awesome video on why other streaming services are just marginally better than spotify and not a long term solution: https://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.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 1 year ago

Because no one cares.

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[-] amol@communick.news 1 points 1 year ago

I have been using https://music.inlinestyle.it/ ( https://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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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025

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