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Google admits Spotify pays no Play Store fees because of a secret deal | TechCrunch
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this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
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What alternatives do you guys use besides Bandcamp? I am open to paying a sub as long as the artist is getting a decent cut.
Pirate and buy official merch, they make more of that anyway. Also live shows
LiveNation has fixed the issue that artists got paid for playing live, not the companies can take that cut as well.
Are you sure "fixed" is the correct word?
https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/live-nation-ticketmasters-promises-are-no-substitute-for-break-up/
buy the cd and rip them into your phone
It's pretty much one of the only ways to make sure the artist gets a half decent cut though.
Unless you want to use bandcamp, which is much easier.
Bought out by EPIC, sadly.... we'll see where things go...
Not anymore, EPIC sold it to Songtradr
https://blog.bandcamp.com/2023/11/22/songtradr-acquires-bandcamp/
https://www.songtradr.com/blog/posts/songtradr-bandcamp-acquisition
I hate epic, but I also can't tell if this is good or bad... my statement stands: we'll see.
Well songtradr did essentially fire a lot of staff.
https://www.vulture.com/article/epic-games-bandcamp-sale-layoffs.html
Uh oh
Well I guess at least for dubstep there's 140plates.com
Edit: nevermind... Damn it
the first CD i ripped was like 2 years ago
Not ideal but artists get paid proper. Just don't share then you're mostly fine.
P.S.: Subject to your local law which may prohibits ripping a CD. This is NOT a legal advise.
Edit: I don't know if my statement is right or not given the downvotes. Can someone explain?
Tidal seems nice
Can confirm. Tidal has "lossless" audio, but app is horrendous, albeit better than Spotify's.
Also tech support is absolutely useless, still would prefer over Spotify every time.
Honestly love its Daily Recommendations
Buying the music and selfhosting a streaming server is an option, though obviously not for everyone
It’s actually really easy if you just invest in a Synology NAS. You can install the music server package with a few clicks and copy music to the folder, then open a port on your firewall and the Synology music app streams it. Pretty nifty
Doesn't even need to be Synology. Plenty of solutions that can be installed on your own "open" hardware (old PC, mini PC or just a more powerful server)
For sure. The Synology is just dead simple because it already has the package to install and there’s a mobile app it pairs with.
As a Spotify user, I'm not really ok with how much they pay artists... But I don't use Spotify for "streaming" even though I stream a lot from them, I use it to discover new music, find obscure bands, their algorithm is amazing at that.
I could easily selfhost as you suggested, but then it would be my own music bubble.
I go to concerts and buy merchandise as much as possible when I want to support an artist.
7digital has a reasonable selection, but it's not all available lossless, which would be almost incomprehensible in 2023 if it wasn't for the fact that we're talking about the music industry.
Im not really sure what cut 7digital gives to artists either
Apple Music pays more than Spotify. It's probably still not "decent", but it's more.
NetEase Music. It's a spotify clone from China, and the VIP version costs like $1.20 a month.
It doesn't spy on your phone and requires zero permissions (I've tested this extensively), but you will need a VPN set to China, Hong Kong or Taiwan for it to work (assuming you don't live in either place).
China and doesn't spy on your phone, I'll take things that don't go together for 200 Alex
I'm in China and work as head of IT security for a European company. As such I monitor my phone religiously for any transgressions. Netease Music works with zero permissions (unless you want to use the downloader) and doesn't try to exfiltrate any data whatsoever.
Install PCAPdroid and see for yourself, you can monitor all traffic on system level on a per app basis.
at the very least, I expect it to make requests for every song you're streaming which are associated with your account and payment information.
they also get your music consuming habits, because they know the times you listen to music and to which music at each time.
that's a hell lot of data to analyze and sell.
As if Spotify and other services don't lmao.
Spotify even dug your bluetooth device name.
definitely. You're absolutely right, Spotify is a privacy nightmare and I didn't say otherwise.
The post I was replying to was arguing that the service they were using was private, I just told them that even if the app doesn't need any permissions they still have the ability to spy on their users and most probably do so.
And how, prey tell, should a music streaming service that delivers suggestions based on your preferences deliver content if not by analyzing your listening behavior?
If you're afraid of that, then there's no music service whatsoever you can use.