Ether DiverSpotify to raise prices, then pay musicians even less.
If your music is on Spotify, why? Are you so successful that you enjoy subsidizing Spotify executives' extravagant lifestyles?
Society is increasingly a series of more and more obvious and exploitative scams that we're tacitly "required" to participate in, but guess what? No one's actually required to have their music there and if everyone stops, they can't run their scam any more.
It's especially easy for most of the people who will see this to pull your music; I'm willing to bet most of you are making, at best, a few hundred a year, maybe a couple thousand if you're very lucky.
Is that worth it? Really?
And for the non musicians that see this, please consider discontinuing your use of Spotify. It's incredibly exploitative to the musicians whose music you're enjoying (unless you're only listening to the most popular acts on the service).
Honestly, even piracy is better for most musicians: at least that's not enriching someone else at their expense.
Spend your money on music as close to the source as possible. The Internet makes it possible to put money directly in most musicians' pockets.
forestine@etherdiver also supporting shit like the Joe Rogan show with your spotify sub
@forestine 100% a reason not to spend your money there
SLSI completely agree!
I would never use Spotify for small musicians - sadly many people want everything for free & it's usually people who can afford to pay artists directly
I'm only using Scamify right now for the sake of my mother (who has dementia and I'm her primary #caretaker) because she gets very confused when she hears the ads on the radio & sometimes only being out in the car on a drive is how she has peace & safety because every cunt in this world doesn't fucking mask - more to rant
I know MULTIPLE PEOPLE even one particular person who pirates movies and who knows what else spend hundreds on multiple streaming platforms - then they say they have not much money, they claim they're frugal in their spending - but you know they would die before subscribing to my #KofiPage for even $5 a month - they'd rather give it to #Twitch or some huge streamer who isn't #disabled or in #poverty because capitalism and colonialism always fucking wins in this society - that's reality MORE
I'm sick of this world honestly - I really try to avoid being a hypocrite because I see it every damn day from every fuckin "activist" on every fucking platform - people won't care until it's a noose on their fucking neck. The marginalized are DYING, there's genocide in every fucking nation, these stupid gadgets we use, the clothes we wear & more are made from the blood of CHILDREN yet here we are playing games & rotting away with "entertainment"
Fuck Spotify
Fuck Netflix
Fuck YouTube
Not done
So many people spew "support small" all over #Instagram but let many people go without housing, without food, without health care, without safety, without mental health, without community
I was just thinking this morning how so many cunts don't respect a human being as equal unless they've met them "on person"
That's the world we live in, a bunch of cowards with their head in the sand
Dr. Unabart 
@etherdiver Go to shows.
Buy the merch.
Buy the merch.
sidereal@etherdiver As an actual, real life musician I pirate everything I want to listen to and then send money directly to the person/people who made it (usually by going to a show and handing them a wad of ca$h directly -- one day I'll like a musician who is successful enough that I can't chat with them after their shows, but it hasn't happened yet)
I have never had another actual, real life musician react poorly to this, they always think it's hilarious and wholesome. I have received many hugs.
@etherdiver I don't make anything tbh and never will either way thus - #homeless
But I agree
Bob Jonkman> Society is increasingly a series of more and more obvious and exploitative scams...
Did you mean "Spotify is increasingly..." ???
Although what you wrote isn't wrong.
@bobjonkman no I meant society š
Spotify is simply one of many of those scams
David Cantrell š@etherdiver Iāve never used Spotify but my understanding is that itās more like radio than buying music, and that the payouts were similar to radio too. Am I wrong?
@DrHyde I don't think they're directly comparable, and no, the radio is required to pay mechanical royalties on all the music it plays, not pick and choose who gets paid.
Also radio is kind of a ripoff for most musicians too ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
PartHairCut@etherdiver I do not pay for Spotify, nor would I, but I do want MY music to be heard by my friends and colleagues. My last EP is on Bandcamp and SoundCloud but people just donāt click to listen. Iām not going to make any money off my music (and Iām lucky enough that itās just fun for me), but since I canāt āgive them a CDā any more, putting my music where they listen is the only way.
Iād rather no one else made money off it either but I donāt know how else to āshare itā? I need people to be able to add it to their āregular listensā playlist, and not have to make any special effort to get my music in their ears.
If there are any suggestions Iām all ears.
@PartHaircut you do pay for Spotify tho. You're paying a middle man to even have your music on there, and donating your creative labor toward their bottom line.
You have to do what works for you, but I'd take a hard look at what you're putting in vs what you're getting out...
And if your friends won't even click on a Bandcamp link or download with a free code, are you sure they're adding you to their playlists? IDK.
@etherdiver not committed to doing it yet, but considering it. To be honest not even a playlist but just a listen would be nice
Opaque Mass@PartHaircut @etherdiver Some people listen to radio, some people listen to "their" music. Spotify combines those two models. Bandcamp really only suits the second model; its other features are mainly drivers to the page where an artist sells music. As long as Bandcamp has no way for people to share personal playlists, we're stuck with finding a way to do that ourselves. Would love to see a fediverse platform like Funkwhale step up to that task.
@opaquemass @PartHaircut @etherdiver
Yes, SoundCloud does this but is just as bad and getting worse
@etherdiver This why I don't use Spotify. #Bandcamp is so much better.
Christian 
@etherdiver Phew. And people still ask me if I can put my music on Spotify as well beside Bandcamp and YouTube. I know why I won't do this.
@ravetracer_22 š¤šš¤
Voight Kampff@etherdiver Spotify is a horrible company! Never gave them any of my money and I never will! #FairPayForArtists
ghostdrone
Mari Marenzers@etherdiver Transitioning away from spotify and just buying albums I enjoy has been a bit weird and inconvenient but seeing more news like this makes me happy to have gone away from it.
draeath@etherdiver I wish Magnatune had a larger catalog and was more well-known.
samiamsam@etherdiver fuck spotify and fuck them for paying rogan so much to spew nonsense and then rip off actual creative people
fuck spotify
Reilly Spitzfaden (they/them)@etherdiver I teach a music business class and one of my students' presentations included Spotify codes. The student added "...or I included embeds for anyone who doesn't use Spotify" and gestured to me.
I had forgotten that I specifically mentioned not using it, but I'm glad it made an impression on the students.
Moonshine Brigade@etherdiver yeah i hear you.. it sucks.
We've no expection of moneytizing our music on any streaming platform. For us it's a place where we hope that people will discover our music. It's a long shot..
In the long run it could mean a (small) recurring income which could be useful on tour.
But as it stands at the moment, we might pull our music in a couple of years.