Wildly disrespectful to any artist that ever lived. I’m all up for sharing alternatives that are good/better towards actual artists. Still evaluating my choices, but meanwhile this seems like the only and rather easy signal the streaming community can give as to spread the word if they agree (next to stopping your own subscription). Context: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/22/spotifys-ai-bet-more-of-everything-less-of-what-you-want/
I’d have to actually use Spotify for that. No thanks.
Literally everyone pays artists more than Spotify. Even fucking Peleton, apparently.
Tidal seems to be the best option overall. Deezer pays artists less initially than the other services (but still more than Spotify), but the royalties increase for tracks with at least 1,000 streams from 500 unique subscribers each month. Popular artists with more play make more royalties. You benefit Deezer, they benefit you, which makes sense to me.
Qobuz seems to pay highly to artists, but their library is a bit more limited compared to Tidal and Deezer, and their radio functionality is utterly shit.
Apple is the only one I don’t have much info on. I’ve used all four at various points, but Apple Music the least because I don’t like my options being limited to playing it on my Apple TV, and Apple devices are limited to 24-bit/48khz, and Apple has weird EQ that pushes vocals way forward in my experience. I don’t like the music fucked with, just play it without DSP and let my equipment to the work, okay?
Currently subscribed to Qobuz and Deezer, and seriously, fuck Spotify.