When Neil Young asked us to switch to Tidal, I went along and loved that it paid the artists 10x more per stream.
But Tidal is American owned, spotify isn’t…
I’m struggling on this one, a lot of the lil punk bands I love could really use the revenue but, y’know, trade war etc.
Anyone have any thoughts to assuage a guilty conscience on this one?
Spotify gave Joe Rogan a platform, which likely contributed to the current situation in the US.
How many specific bands are you trying to support? It might be better for everyone if you just send them $5 directly and pirate their stuff.
Appreciate the thoughts!
I listen to a lot of weird little bands and sending them all $5 would be much more expensive than several years of streaming.
I also don’t see myself going back to non streaming, the convenience of almost all conceivable music in my hand is too much.
That being said, some folks have suggested a few French alternatives that seem worth a shot!
Spotify CEO also invests in AI military tech. . Try the French providers but also consider that many especially small acts put their stuff on Bandcamp at pay what you want/can level.
Qobuz. It’s French and it pays more than Tidal. It’s a privately owned company. You can also actually buy music from it in addition to streaming. Fuck Tidal.
If you buy music from there, does it include DRM that prevents you from playing it without their online service?
24-bit FLAC.
Very nice! Thanks!
Does that just require a subscription?
I haven’t used Qobuz in the past so take that with a grain of salt but I believe the downloader works with the streaming subscription. You can purchase album properly in FLAC, and even some in DSD and DXD.
Oh super cool, I will definitely check it out! Thanks!
Deezer is also french
Another option, I love it! Thanks!
And it also has a reputation for paying artists better than other platforms (at least better than Spotify, amazon and the like).
That’s great to hear!
You should buy Canadian where possible, but don’t upend your life over it.
Feeling guilt over the whims of politicians isn’t very useful. Just do what you can.
Oh, I don’t think this is upending my life, apologies if I sounded dramatic. Just trying to balance my “help the artists” vs “help all of Not America right now.”
I wouldn’t say dramatic. I understand how you feel though. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism regardless of how hard we try. It’s infuriating at times.
Personally I’m going for the level headed escalating approach. As with the real thing, I’m not actively buying anything American. I drive a Tesla (bought before all of this), stream Netflix, whatever else. But I’m willing to escalate if this drags out. Your god damn right if the used car market goes haywire again, that I’m going to dump the car (it’s awkward to drive it now after all of this). I’m willing to escalate my anti-american stance, I’ll cancel Netflix and whatever else. I’m willing to be reasonable. Problem is, I’m not sure they are ever going to be. The trump administration certainly isn’t showing a willingness to be level headed.
So Tidal pays royalties at about 4x the rate of Spotify, not 10. That is still only US$ 0.013 per stream, compared to spotifys US$ 0.003.
However that is not the whole picture - the big 3 music companies (All American) control the market and get the lions share of revenues from all platforms. They actually get more of the pot and all the other labels and independent get less.
So the choice between Tidal and Spotify for artists is not as significant as you think.
Meanwhile Tidal has been bought by an American conglomerate owned by Jack Dorsey (the founder of Twitter), a lot of staff have been laid off (Dorsey laid of a large number of staff in 2024 and said the company needs to be “more like a statrup”), and they removed the subscription direct-share with artists in 2022. It is very likely artists will be squeezed more and more to save money.
Tidal is just another tech-bro owned company. Even if we park all the Trump/Canada stuff for a moment there are plenty of reasons to dump it. At least Spotify is a publicly listed independent European company for all it’s many flaws. The rest of the market is sewn up by American tech companies: Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google YouTube Music.
Maybe your money is better spent outside the big US tech companies.
Interesting, thanks!
I thought it was ten times but on reflection that was probably some exaggeration by some artists outside a punk show who somehow got really stoked upon learning my buddy and I had tidal etc.
Anyway, thanks for the detailed response!
Yarrr. Matey if buying isn’t owning then stealing is what ye shall sail too.
I’m not opposed to it I just honestly find streaming more convenient. I love being able to listen to almost any song I can think of or hear about at any time.
You got an android device?
I do!
Revanced YouTube will be your new best friend. Or revance music If you don’t prefer videos wasting your data.
Thanks, I’ll check it out!
It’s not going to help for Neil Young but for smaller artists always check Bandcamp first.
Edit: they are, of course, American, but so are many artists.
But most of the money goes to the artist soooo… I guess swallow that pride and don’t buy from American artists 🤷♂️
i’d actually recommend to not use any of those and buy music another way.
I do buy/support music other ways but I will not deprive myself of the convenience and majesty of playing almost any song I, or anyone around me, can think of at any time.
Just pirate it then. Artists are making pennies from all the services and real ones would rather you still listen if you can’t pay.
Ehhh pirating everything ahead of time is more hassle.
But folks have suggested some interesting French options that I’ll give a whirl!
Depends on how you listen I guess. I have Seeker on my phone and listen to albums so it works for me.
Thanks, I hadn’t heard of Seeker, I’ll take a look!
It’s a soulseek client. Use nicotine+ on desktop.
