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?
Daniel Ek is investing in European defense companies. This is not unethical.
Spotify paying like shit to their artists and platforming Joe Rogan are totally valid reasons to move away though. But the thing is that Spotify is sort of like radio. How much did radio pay for artists for each time the song was played? Genuinely asking.
What I do is I do 90% of my listening on Spotify. Then when I hear something really good, I buy and download their album, usually on Bandcamp and mostly keep listening them on Spotify because it's just so much lesser hassle. Seems like the best of both worlds. Thought about going to vinyls but I'm not hipster enough.
I've started on vinyls. They're cool, but it's some work. Gotta store it right, handle with care, clean them. And that doesn't guarantee it won't skip around or, worse, get stuck on a loop. I do like the big square that is the sleeve cover, and it's just kind of cool. But I've been considering CDs instead. Cheaper, afaik, and can be ripped onto a PC with the right hardware (which I presume is allowed — so long as you don't distribute it — given you pay for it). Cover art is unfortunately smaller, and I've seen some cool vinyl concepts that probably wouldn't work as CDs (colourful? Semitransparent? Glow in the dark????). But far more convenient, and cheaper. Plus, with the right hardware, I could also listen to FM radio
Vinyls are cool, CDs more are convenient (or so I reckon)
LOL. "I've been considering CDs" is not something I've heard since the '80s. And you don't really need specialized hardware to rip tracks to digital. Literally any optical drive can do that.