• Space Sloth@feddit.dk
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    1 year ago

    I’ve never used the free tier on Spotify and I don’t understand how anyone can. The ads alone would make me throw off my headset in disgust. So yeah, not going to affect me, and I do enjoy reading the lyrics a lot.

    That said, I am experimenting with swapping over to Apple Music because I feel Spotify has become too expensive.

    • rockhandle@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      With xManager, the free tier comes quite close to premium. No ads, play whatever music you like. The only issues are lower sound quality & no downloads, which are really non-issues since you can just find other sources to download the music from, at flac quality

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      The ads aren’t even for anything. It was just really patronising ads for Spotify Premium.

      Their business model is genuinely to just annoy you into paying.

    • satanicleftist@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I recently flipped to apple music and apart from seeing a few songs missing on albums i don’t really listen to anyway, it’s only been an improvement. the lossless audio is quite nice

      • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Spotify is not profitable right now; their current revenue doesn’t come anywhere close to covering their costs. The only reason they’re able to survive is investors holding on to the belief that, some day, it’ll be possible to actually make the numbers work.

        • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          The majority of their investors are record labels now, so there’s also an incentive to prevent competing streamers from taking Spotify’s position

      • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Musixmatch has a free, public database where lyrics are displayed. To contribute to the database, users can sign up and contribute lyrics, synchronizations, translations, and structuring to get points and move up levels. Musixmatch’s points have no redeemable value, but are instead a marker of a particular user’s contributions.

        So no?

          • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Spotify is receiving money for something they did not create.

            Neither the writers of the lyrics nor the fans who transcribed them get a cut.

            That is fucked up.

            • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
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              1 year ago

              Spotify is receiving money for something they did not create.

              Spotify are paying musixmatch for the lyrics.

                • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
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                  1 year ago

                  Irrelevant. It’s up to musixmatch to pay the creators or supplier of their content, not Spotify.

            • Sparky678348@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              It is fucked up that the fans who are transcribing do not get a cut, but it’s not like they were misled to believe they would make a cut before they started doing it. The people doing that are doing it out of a passion for the music.

              I’m not saying they shouldn’t be paid of course they should, if it was up to me I’d say make them all rich. I just think it’s a stretch to imply that Spotify is stealing anything here

              • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                I like stealing. According to my belief system theft is good.

                It’s the fact Spotify is charging users for something stolen is what I think is fucked.
                Something stolen should be freely shared.

  • kworpy@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I just love watching everyone freak out about Spotify’s shitty business practices while I’m casually looping YouTube videos with an adblocker.

    • DaDragon@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Eh, I switched to Spotify last year (++, of course) and there’s a lot to be said in favour of the Spotify algorithm when it comes to music recommendations, as opposed to YouTube.

      • Pleat1752@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        Spotify algorithm pushes artists that pay them to push them to you. Get your recommendations via more organic means if you can. That means blogs, real people. Screw the spotify recommendation slop (and I say this as someone who has spotify premium.)

            • UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              Have you checked out the made for you playlists? The Monday discover and Friday new music playlists have been key in how I find music the past like 10 years.

              • ѕєχυαℓ ρσℓутσρє@lemmy.sdf.org
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                1 year ago

                They don’t really work for me. I listen to different genres, different languages. Sometimes I only like a single song from an artist. My taste is weird. I usually discover new music organically through friends, or sometimes I’ll hear something playing somewhere and stuff.

                To me, it seems like the Spotify algorithm has a heavy bias towards newer songs, and also towards English songs. Both of those are a minority in my playlists, but somehow that’s all it recommends me.

    • crab@monero.town
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      1 year ago

      YouTube sound quality is poor, and 99% of your bandwidth being devoted to video is wasteful. Just use SoundCloud or something. Better yet revanced patched YT music or xmanager Spotify.

      Edit: or better yet vimusic

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        I finally got a sub to Apple Music when I learned I get lossless by default. Yummmmmm.

        I still hoard flacs, but Apple Music is dope.

        • crab@monero.town
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          1 year ago

          Waiting for Spotify lossless to ditch flacs, I really want to like Tidal but I’ve had major issues every time I try and stick with it.

  • XYZinferno@lemmy.basedcount.com
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    1 year ago

    Music is one of the easiest things to pirate, so much so that I often forget me downloading flacs of the songs I listen to is supposed to be a no-no

    Between a flac playing app (Musicolet on Android and MusicBee on PC) as well as YT Music Revanced, things go smoothly

    • ArcRay@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      The only reason I don’t pirate music is because of discovery. I haven’t found a good way to find new music without using a streaming service. And then, I’m already using a streaming service, so why bother.

  • lud@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It does make sense though since Spotify has to pay musixmatch for the service.

  • darkl1nk@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Recently ditched subscription services because of non-stop price hikes. Now I’m on Navidrome with a VPS and using Ultrasonic on my Android for mobile and Android Auto listening. For music, I turn to good old Soulseek and Telegram bots.

    Never going back. The control and savings make it all worth it.

        • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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          1 year ago

          As I mention further in the thread, I am a premium Spotify user and they have been removing lyrics from songs that used to have them recently. It may not matter if you have the features or not, if they’re just going to be removing the lyrics anyway. Which makes it even shittier that they would advertise it as a premium feature, just for users to subscribe and find out none of the songs they want lyrics for have them anymore.

    • pipes@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      It’s all about having the .lrc file, it gets read automatically (as long as it’s named like the song file) by mpv player and many android players.

      It’s a simple text file containing the lyrics with timestamps. You can get them from deezer for example with certain downloaders. Or look for them on Soulseek.

    • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Because it’s fantastic? Because it has almost all the music out there? Because it has an app on every device under the sun? Because it has amazing artist discovery? Because it lets you know of upcoming shows in your area?

      Why wouldn’t you use Spotify if you’re a music fan? I’ve got 200gb+ of music on my NAS that I use Plexamp to listen to but I still subscribe to and use Spotify more.

      • can@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I’m saying use one of the many streaming alternatives.

        Do people use “Spotify” as a generic term for steaming?

        • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
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          1 year ago

          Do people use “Spotify” as a generic term for steaming?

          No, they use it to mean streaming from Spotify…?

          You asked why people use spotify still, and I answered with many reasons why people specifically use spotify. Not every streaming service is the same, and spotify is widely regarded as the best.

    • Bobby Turkalino@lemmy.yachts
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      1 year ago

      If you have an eclectic music taste and don’t spend your life next to a computer, there’s practically no other option

      • rockhandle@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, Funkwhale, Apple Music, Youtube Music, just to name a few. Spotify has no shortage of competition.

        • Bobby Turkalino@lemmy.yachts
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          1 year ago

          My point is there’s little actual difference between them. Identical services provided by greedy corporations with shitty track records

          • rockhandle@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            You said there’s no other option, I just listed some options. Also Funkwhale is decentralised, there’s no corporation backing it. Ofc, you can also just download the music you like.

      • can@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Apple music, Tidal, etc.

        Spotify is funding military AI tech. That’s enough for me. I’m on android but I’d still rather use Apple Music, plus they pay artists slightly more, and tidal pays more than them.

        • Bobby Turkalino@lemmy.yachts
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          1 year ago

          I hate to tell you but everyone is funding scary military tech, even if you’re not an American tax payer. If you’ve flown on a Boeing plane, used Microsoft software, worn Oakley sunglasses… all that revenue goes to companies who do or support that research

      • Mothra@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        You can just use NewPipe background player. NewPipe lets you create and save playlists. No ads.

        • ඞmir@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Mp3s from YT are garbage quality, it’s double transcoding from YT’s already low quality input.

          • edric@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Yeah. If you’re gonna be downloading music from youtube, might as well just torrent flac or at least 320kbps quality instead.

            • ඞmir@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Then you probably don’t know any better because the vast majority of YT uploads are terrible quality. If you have anywhere near decent headphones/earbuds you can hear the difference immediately.

              • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                1 year ago

                Well I’ve used spotify with and without headphones on popular phones, I can’t tell the difference from youtube. I usually download the music directly from the original uploader.

          • Destragras@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            You can download audio from YouTube as 160kbps opus files, which aren’t lossless sure but it’s the highest quality you can get from YouTube if alternate means aren’t an option.

              • Destragras@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                For mp3 sure, but for opus standards 160kbps is great. I read that 128kbps is generally considered the most you need but 160kbps smooths over any artifacts, assuming the source file doesn’t have them.

          • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            I find it inconvenient to have limited skips and depend on one service to give you the song you want with the version you want. Also spotify ui doesn’t make sense to me, things just don’t work at times. Not to mention the ads.

              • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                1 year ago

                I don’t like paid services, especially when you can get the same or most of the same stuff for free. It’s just not worth it for me, so that is my suggested alternative, doesn’t work for everyone.

                • can@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  Unlike movie and tv streaming music streaming convenience is no contest for piracy if you’re an enthusiastic.

                  And this is coming from someone would download albums and discogrpahies, using programs to meticulously tag and organize them. I wish I had the time and patience now, and for the highlights of my collection I will, but with my music craving a music stream subscription is well worth it.

        • Psychonaut1969@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Can I use any of those at the same time I am playing a game on ps3/ps4/ps5 they way they have integrated spotify? I use spotify because it is available on the devices I use. I would use bandcamp on them if it were an option as I love my collection there but, it is not available on many of the devices I use.

          • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            personally I don’t find that convinience worth it for the money/ads and other inconveniences, but that varies from person to person

        • jochem@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I was big into downloading before streaming services were a thing. Music streaming is one of the few services that’s totally worth my money: no hassle and I rarely have to resort to other platforms to find what I want (very different from video streaming, which totally sucks when it comes to that).

          • ribboo@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            100% this. Paying $12 a month for basically all music I’ll ever want to listen to, is just an amazing deal. It’s so convenient. Felt the same when Netflix came about. But now when I need like 6 services, and there’s still lots not on them. Piracy is just so much more convenient.

            • can@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              Felt the same when Netflix came about. But now when I need like 6 services, and there’s still lots not on them. Piracy is just so much more convenient.

              Yep, that’s the step they forgot: be more convenient than the pirates.

      • Aopen@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago
        1. Listen on YT with adblock
        2. Download audio with Newpipe (OPUS 160kbps)
        3. Manage files with Amaze
        4. Listen with VLC

        I like this model, because YT has niche creators and I dont have to care about “Spotify changes X” news. Note: I have 1.5GB songs stored locally and listen ~30 minutes daily. I acknowledge discovering new songs is slower

      • can@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Well, piracy, but I’d say apple music or tidal, etc are even better than Spotify. There are services for transferring your playlists.

        Some are paid but if it’s just a one time transfer you could do them all in a free trial window.

    • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I don’t get why anyone would use the free tier - not being able to choose songs would actually drive me insane, let alone the ads - but $11 monthly for essentially all the music anyone could ever want, plus solid playlists and recommendations, is a perfectly good value for me. Admittedly, I listen to music all the time and it’s a pretty big part of my life, so it’s an easy sell.

      I guess the free tier is still an improvement over radio, but regardless, producing and distributing music has costs, and I’m more than happy to pay for it. Given that Spotify isn’t even profitable, having lost about a billion dollars last year, I’m not sure how long this situation will last, but for the time being, I really don’t mind it.