Spotify is raising the cost of Premium subscriptions, again

I'm all for pirating, but tbh music streaming apps are a service that is still in the "worth it" range. Not where Spotify is going, but, maintaining a library of high quality music with all the assets, and serving it to all your devices over the Internet is not a small feat to do securely.
I'll probably switch to tidal for now while I start building up my library to include stuff beyond what I like...
- You should check out Plexamp while you bridge the gap. It has tidal support built in, and you can self-host your own collection as you build it up. Then when you’re done with tidal, you don’t have to learn or download a new app.
- Plexamp, Lidarr, Lidarr extended, Tailscale. Done.
As someone else said: it doesn't replace streaming even a little. Pirating is replacing buying music directly. Streaming facilitates finding new music and trying it out. Being able to listen to anything at any time. You simply can't do that with downloads; no one can download everything. Piracy in this case really just works for people still listening to their highschool favs and not people looking for new stuff all the time.
- I used to download exclusively when I was younger, but as I get older I’m trying out new genres from different cultures than my own and I’d miss out on it all without a streaming service.
  In my opinion it’s worth it.
- Yes and no. It's more cumbersome for sure but I used to find music on YouTube and all that back in the day then download it.
- I never had trouble finding new music without those recommandation algorithms.
- This dude hasn't heard of pirate streaming services.
- It replaces paying for Spotify because its possible to download Spotify premium. Best of both worlds. Use Spotify or YouTube to find stuff, send it to a seedbox, load it later at home.
  Biggest downside is most phones don't have SD card slots anymore.
  Sent from my (slightly salty) hacked pixel 7
- Dear lord no. You can still use Spotify, YTM, and a host of other services to discover new music. The argument was valid back in the days of the excellent Google Play Music, but the algorithm has gone to shit since. There are also tons of sources of user curated playlists you can use to fund new music.
  I am 51 and if I let algorithms pick my music I would never discover most of what I find and constantly be fed thirty year old music. Just this past month I discovered mehro, King Woman, Sugar High and Parra for Cuva.
- InnerTune. Its on F-Droid
- Or put some effort into finding new music? The algorithms have never suggested me anything good anyway.
I use a cracked Spotify client but if I do legitimately pay, it will be for Tidal. I want that sweet sweet lossless audio people have been talking about.
I'm just here to appreciate the Buccee's icon, carry on!

I don't mind paying $10/mo for access to millions of songs on demand, even if the caveat is that I don't own anything at the end of my subscription.

I understand costs have gone up, so I can accept a $1 increase in subscription. The problem is that Spotify wants to do a bunch of side projects at my expense. I have no interest in podcasts or audiobooks yet I must fork up the extra money to fund it. I have no say in what my money is being used for and I hate that.

It's why I moved from it to Tidal and then to Apple Music (even though I'm on Android). Both have their own issues but at least they're focused on music.

The problem is that Spotify is losing money each year. They aren't profitable. And if they are keep focusing on music, they never will. Their deal with the music labels says that they need to give 70 % of each subscription to the music labels. So by getting more people to signup, they only marginally increase their revenue. Same goes for raising their prices.
Thats why they tried focusing on Podcasts and Audiobooks. Those are a lot more profitable, either by adding ads (Podcasts) or by charging a premium (audiobooks).
- It's amazing to think how incompetent their management must be that they're charging more, delivering lower audio quality, and paying less to artists than competitors like Tidal, yet still aren't profitable.
- There is an episode of Tech Won't Save Us (2024-01-25) discussing how weird the podcasting play was for Spotify. There is essentially no way to monetize podcasts at scale, primarily because podcasts do not have the same degree of platform look-in as other media types.
  Spotify spent the $100 million (or whatever the number was) to get Rogan exclusive, but for essentially every other podcast you can find a free RSS feed with skippable ads. Also their podcast player just outright sucks :/
- Hang on. 70% of the subscription before any royalty / streaming costs?
  So in a $10 payment, $7 is immediately removed, then another say $1 for streaming costs leaving only $2 for profits which Spotify takes 30%?
  From each $10 only $1.40 goes to artists?
- Interesting. I wasn’t aware that they weren’t profitable.
  Funny enough, right after your comment I got recommended this video on YouTube talking about the points you mentioned: https://youtu.be/yDWgOwb8kj4
Hope you like Joe Rogan and the crap he peddles because he is getting a nice chunk of Spotify money... I left because of that particular deal
Any particular reason you went from Tidal to Apple Music? I see a lot of people here recommending it, so I'd be interested to hear any negatives it has.
- The simple reason is because I got a lengthy free trial for it (saving me money on the Tidal sub) and then stuck around.
  Apple Music was hot garbage when I started using it but over the months of my trial it improved tremendously - to a point where there isn't much difference between it and Tidal. App performance is good now, it provides song recommendations for your playlists, many bugs I was facing have been fixed.
  The Android Auto experience is better for me compared to Tidal, it has Shazam integration (Spotify does too, Tidal doesn't) and it has many of the Japanese city pop songs I like that Tidal was missing.
  I can always jump ship if needed. Services like Soundiiz and TuneMyMusic make it pretty easy.
I don't mind paying $0/mo for access to millions of songs with limited skipping and occasional adverts. ,

Spotify locks music is new to me? And for the few Podcasts I personally couldnt care less
- Platform agnostic = you own the mp3/FLACC/ect file, and can play it through whatever client you want
  Platform Locked = you do not own the files, and they are DRM locked to their proprietary media player (see: spotify, kindle, ect)
  Of course there are ways around those locks, but it's illegal to remove DRM protections (in the us)

More money More crap nobody wants like audio books Still haven’t seen cd quality streaming yet

I used to happy with Spotify before the enshitificatuon happened…

What annoys me is you still have to pay for audio books.
- I have used Spotify's 15 free hours a month for shorter light novels, but beyond that, buying the rights to listen to a book, or buying more listening hours is very much not worth it through them.
- I got Tidal for a month to try it out because I had gotten some XM4s and wanted to check out the 360 Reality Audio tracks, and I was disappointed to find just how few of them there actually are. 😕
  Edit: I see not that they did away with that ultra premium tier and folded those 360 Reality Audio tracks into the regular plans...they really did make it cheaper. Looks like I'm switching back to Tidal.

About 10 years ago I got rid of most of my cd's because I thought I would just use spotify. Now I'm slowly gathering a cd collection again from thriftstores (or buy albums in store if it's newer music and I want to support the artist). I rip them all to flac and add them to my Plex.

I've noticed I listen to music more now. I find new cool songs by artists by listening through whole albums again. Because of the time commitment of ripping and physically flipping through cd's, I actually care again about the music that I gather and listen.

There should be a app that worked with most music players and with the data suggest new things to try. Something that worked with local players, streaming players, etc. Something like the concept of last.fm but with good suggestions.
I can't believe that these days we don't get one app like that. Even streaming apps with all the data they got from listing hours and still fail around 40 to 60% with my suggestions, and rarely suggest something that I haven't heard before.
Nowadays with the state of efficient AI in learning from patterns, and still nothing mind-blowing like a kind of MiniMe that has almost the same tastes but have heard more stuff than you and can recommend as a more educated version of you. That is something that I would want to, hell if it worked so well and to have it, I would have to pay , then I would pay up to a price.
- Although not tied to your collection, you might find Everynoise cool and interesting.
Eh, I just switched to audiobooks. I get them from my library and listen while I drive, work in the yard, ride my bike, etc.
I'd really like a self-hosted smart speaker though that I could call out a song and it would play. So like Alexa, but all the AI is local. I'm willing to pay for the music service, but I need to own the platform and be able to change music services easily. The only time I really listen to music is when entertaining friends/family, and using my phone is getting old.

How does this compare to other music streaming services these days?

Tidal is $11/mo for an individual and $17 for a 6 person family plan. I recently switched because they supposedly give a better cut to artists and serve flac files.
- Yeah. Never thought I'd see the day when Tidal was cheaper than crappy Spotify.
- £2 a month for a HiFi subscription if you use a Nigerian VPN.
- Tidal is great but IIRC it either doesn't support Amazon Echo or the integration is poorly implemented.
Apple Music only raised the price by $1 since the launch in 2015 (9 years ago). But they added cool features like lossless audio quality and Dolby Atmos. They also had lyrics like 6 years before Spotify added them. I think you can even get it for $6 dollars if you're a student.
- They also payout about 2.5X what Spotify does to artists.
- Some lyrics are now disappearing from Spotify :-(
- The $6 student plan also includes Apple TV+
I feel they're all fairly similar. I won't do apple music because I don't do iOS, and I moved from Google play music when forced to the inferior YouTube music. I wonder if tidal or any other service has comparable pricing.
- I've been using Apple Music on Android for years, I definitely recommend it. The app is totally fine, I think it's still better than Spotify's crappy app. On desktop you can use the Cider app, which is much better than iTunes. It's even available on Linux.
- I use YT Music because I get it cheap (VPN shenanigans), you can upload your own music (hello Nintendo soundtracks), and I mod the Android app to stop it being a mess (ReVanced Extended is the GOAT).
I use Apple Music, primarily because I need to pay for the higher tiers iCloud storage for my wife’s photo addiction and it’s basically “free” for the family plan.
If I didn’t already have the higher tier iCloud, I would probably prefer tidal for higher quality, or Spotify for the more diverse library.
I use YouTube Music and it's pretty good, but the best feature is no more youtube ads.
I use Deezer's family plan that includes FLAC/HiFi for $15.99/month.

Well considering the last price hike got us gems like the music 8-ball/magic crystal thing, I can barely wait to see what banger they'll come up with to bloat my music player with next.

And removal of much of Spotify curated playlists...
So mad about that part >:(
Every "Zusammengestellt für" playlist is a autogenerated playlist and probably not a single human touched that shit. So much less discoverability.
- I HATE these 'made for you' playlists, just repeats of my liked songs and songs it's always trying to shove down my throat. Some of them barely fit the genre/vibe of the playlist too.
  Part of the original appeal of Spotify for me years ago was the curated playlists.
It should be audiobooks this time, if I heard correctly.

Their CEO just boasted about how making content for their platform comes with zero cost for the creators. So, why are they raising rates? Is the whole "you pay to support the creators" trope a lie? I am confused.

/s

Well it's probably the music labels. They basically only exist to steal money from the actual creators.

Just a reminder that the Tidal family account at the maximum subscription "grade" costs €16.

So you and 4x buddies can get very high quality audio for €3.20/mth.

I tried tidal for a bit, but ran into a number of issues with the various privacy methods I used and the lack of a Linux native client made it difficult to justify staying.
I am currently running a navidrome server and supporting artists directly for their music where possible.
I switched to Tidal recently from AppleMusic and I like it.
It should be noted if you’re listening through Bluetooth like most people then you can’t get high quality.
Also, they allow you to copy your music from other services, using a third party service which was great. It does have a charge and annoyingly it is a recurring charge. So I signed up, transferred my music and then cancelled.
I then sent them a message to say it sucks that they don’t have a one of few for doing this. If you use it and agree I would send them a similar message so they get the idea that most people don’t need continuous syncing.
- The bluetooth remark is a bit misleading, there are codecs that provide better audio, which is even noticeable on Spotify.
  If you have earphones that support LDAC for example (sony XMs are popular where I live), you can even use that with Windows via 3rd party software (search Win A2DP - not free, but can recommend).
- I fucking hate what apple music has become. Their clients are a complete disaster. Im gradually switching to tidal and the only thing that pisses me off is an ad for waze that comes up while you’re driving which cannot be disabled.
- What the fuck kind of service is that? Aren't there free ones—there were the last time I checked.
I listen to a lot of smaller black metal bands. Can Tidal keep up?
- Best way to find out is to search for all of them inside Tidal. I don't know if you need to make a free account or what to do it.
  They usually have great black Friday deals though. I think I paid like €2/mth for my first year.

Ahoy!

No, that's a youtube channel /s

I'm all for going sailing but if there are features you want that that can't quite replicate, it's also a great time to look at a VPN service with a server in Turkey... Sign up on a Turkish IP and the exchange rate puts you under $2/month USD. This works for a lot of other things too.

I love you.
- I know.
I believe a dude on YouTube for a very popular streamer used an IP from Argentina to get 50 subs for YouTube premium to giveaway for only a couple bucks.

Still happily buying music on Bandcamp. Their discovery stuff is pretty good, too.

I'll add the old school method of scrobbling to last.fm for discovery still works pretty well too, and you can play music directly there now using Youtube (probably been there for years I assume). Just found some pretty obscure stuff that isn't even available on the mainstream streaming services, so that's a win.
- I forgot last.fm existed. I sort of used them years ago.
  They did not handle separate artists with the same name gracefully at all. The page for a riot-grrl adjacent band and an Australian rapper (?) got merged and the fans were going at it on the page.
  Looks like it's still kind of a problem

I was a Google Play Music person and loved it, and then they changed to YouTube. I got mad and tried Apple Music, but as a classical music lover it's vastly less than ideal for several reasons, so I went to Spotify and realized they liked to shuffle Britney Spears into me listening to lieder, so I went back to YouTube because at least they didn't do that. But it's just so basic compared to the absolute perfection that was GPM, and difficult to navigate. I don't know where to go next. I've been buying records on Bandcamp but I also like the streaming service to discover music with.

You could check out deezer. It's European and they have a classical music section. Not sure how good it is. It's like $110 for a yearly subscription and they offer hi-fi streaming. Just another option for you to check out. 🤷
- Sounds good actually. I wonder if I can look at their content and see if they have what I want before subscribing? Any idea?
Just to let you know, Tidal is not that great either.
Frequently having issues with downloaded albums, where I go into offline mode, pull up an album, and it says "can't connect" despite being in offline mode and the album taking up storage space on my phone.
Also, the discovery and new releases sections aren't very well made.
- It doesn't sound great. Maybe I'll just use Bandcamp only. It's just some classical albums are only on certain platforms.
I was also a Google music enjoyer and also find the other streaming options pretty crappy. I've actually moved over to more curated options like internet radio for when I'm not in the mood for anything specific. Shout-out to NTS, I love you.
- What is NTS?
You should get back to apple music, they launched an app dedicated to classical music, and it's by far the best for this type of music. Also it's lossless 24 bits
- Unfortunately due to licensing there's a lot of stuff I want they don't have, and some of it I can't purchase.
Maybe try Napster: https://www.napster.com/ Sounds a bit like a joke, but it's not. It used to be Rhapsody, but was re-branded.
- I'm ok with that!
If you like to upload your own music (like Google music), iBroadcast is the tippy tops. You can still use bandcamp (with or without yt-dlp) for discovery, and then upload what you like to iBroadcast.
- Nice suggestion thank you!
If you like classical music, give qobuz a try... High quality audio, large selection of classical music.
- Thanks for this, never heard of them!

Bookmarking this page so I can learn modern sailing techniques. Audiophiles who sail the seven seas, please teach me your ways! My most hasn't hit the surf in a hot minute.

Deemix-gui + Deezer subscription or SoulSeek/Nicotine+
- In theory you can go Deezer method without owning subscription. Plenty of publicly available ARL cookies.
- I use the former. How does it compare to the other two?
just PUT some magnets IntO a service
As an audiophile it's like, way less exhausting to just go with Tidal, over pirating good quality music. Especially if you're like me and listen to nearly anything and everything.
- Yeah, but enshittification will happen there too. It's just a matter of time.
Xmanager if on Android.

For anyone who hasn't checked their Spotify subscription for a while, I recently discovered a new basic tier created underneath the premium one that is a little cheaper simply by not including the 'free' 15 hours of audiobooks. I've never used it and don't intend to. YMMV.

Is the audio quality the same?
- Yeah! It's 'premium' in all ways except that audiobook offer. Prettttyyyy shitty behaviour from them.

Who else is still using YouTube Music ReVanced?

Just canceled my family plan. I like Apple Music more anyways.

I gotta start direct downloading my music again soon. Spotify has just left me feeling so frustrated lately.

I've emailed support thrice for intrusive full screen ads. "these are promotions". Yeah, ads... "Sorry you don't like our promotions, we will note it"
Uh huh.
- I can't updoot you enough. I hate that so much too.

It's a good thing we haven't risen Wages between last Price Hike and this Price Hike. Otherwise Spotify might be forced to Raise Their Prices!

Im just happy my cracked apk somehow still works. Lol

I wish we could offload podcasts and audio books. I have zero interest in them, or paying for them.

And fucking Joe asshole Rogan. We're paying for his Neanderthal 150 million contract.
I like them but not on my music service. It's in my way all the time. I have audible and I use a different app for podcasts. At least give me the option, but they won't because I'm sure they get an incentive.
I use libby via local library for audiobooks.

I'm sure this is the last time. 😉

Surely it's because they want to increase the amount they pay the musicians.

If your library supports it, there's Freegal music. It's the library version of Spotify.

https://freegalmusic.com

Nice!

Quality isn't good enough to justify the price. Apple Music and Tidal have better quality of sound.

even apart from audio quality, Spotify is just plain terrible as a music library.
For someone who lives in playlists, it might be fine. But I like to pick and choose albums and songs, and be able to sort the whole collection on the fly. Spotify, and unfortunately a whole bunch of the competition, will have three separate lists for "liked" songs, albums, and artists. Only want to save the studio tracks, and not the demos and live versions? Fuck you, you can like the album or not, it's all or nothing! And the special edition is the only version we have! enjoy the solid hour of shittier versions of the songs you actually wanted!

You're supposed to vaguely imply the existence of those, not just give away secrets in public bruh
What is this? I can't find a description anywhere on GitHub of what this is
Does this get rid of ads? It just looks like a UX redesign.
- The android app for sure gets rid of ads. I just use browser + adblock for PC so unsure there

I might make the move to tidal as well, I just have a crazy big playlist though on Spotify that would be sad to lose.
- When you create a tidal account they tell you how to transfer your playlists automatically via a 3rd party service (Limited to 500 tracks, unless you pay). Qobuz does the same, but if I'm not mistaken actually partners with the 3rd party service to offer it for free without the 500 track limit.
- On your Spotify account page, you can request a copy of your personal data which includes your playlist data.
iBroadcast is what i use. That plus rutracker and you can sail the high seas like it's 1699.
Take a look at Deezer, too. It's what I went with because it offers high fidelity FLAC audio for paid subscriptions, and integrates with Google home voice commands, which Tidal didn't when I was looking.
- I went with deezer for this reason as well. But deezer has gotten really bad and the interface is just God awful. I recently moved over to tidal and love it. It's way better than deezer at this point

Prices will continue to go up until the number of subscribers lost due to the price increase outweighs the additional profit from the subscribers who agree to pay the higher amount.

Capitalism machine goes brrrrrrr

Obligatory Fuck Spotify comment.

If switching services, this web service that moves your music between streaming services worked well for me. Paid $5 for one month then canceled https://soundiiz.com/

Same, YTM to AM. Also linked my last.fm if I remember correctly. 1 month for like $5 and canceled after the move.
Worked great when I moved from Google to Spotify due to YTM. A few songs didn't transfer correctly, a few saved as covers of the original but as they shuffled I'd just manually search them and correct it.

Cool. I trust that extra money will be going to the artists who upload their music!

Probably going to Joe Rogan's "over $200" million deal with Spotify instead.

It is worth the extra features, like not being able to remove an unwanted podcast from your play list. Why Spotify, why!?

Any love for Qobuz?

Mad love for Qobuz.
Never heard of that one. It work with Android Auto and Apple Carplay? And cost less than or equal to Spotify?

"Nugs" sounds like it should be an online weed delivery service.
Ah man I forgot about nugs since my sound tribe days

Then the rest follow. If Apple music hike their price again, time to dust off my eye patch. Ive already cancelled all my streaming and went with plex, radarr, sonarr.

Life hack: get Plexamp and Lidarr with Lidarr extended scripts. Then sign up for a free month of tidal with a throwaway account. Add said account to Lidarr extended. Add all the artists you want to Lidarr and let Lidarr Extended download all the stuff from Tidal for you. Once it has run out, register with another throwaway adress.
- Basically doing this already but my only issue is discovery. That's why I pay for Spotify. I used to have a script set up before the API closed that would run automatically monthly to snag all my liked songs.
- Thanks mate. Will definitely look at lidar. Maybe its time, some music like doom eternal arent available in apple music and this might push me.
- Does this work with any other services like spotify? I know Tidal is lossless but I already have Spotify and Lidarr.
I do all these plus the streaming services 😂.
- Music streaming the only one i cant be bothered with since i have family plan with my gf plus discovering new music and new album from fav artist is too much to pass on.

And I'm assuming they're not adding any benefits for the cost like more audio book hours on the family plan...

I don't understand why people pay for a music subscription when you can just use YouTube Music (ReVanced or FOSS YTMusic clients) for the freezies.

Do those things give you DJ and radio options? I'm too lazy to go find the songs I want. I'd rather just let the app put on tunes and learn what I like based on feedback and behavior.
- SimpMusic allows you to login to your Google account, and will sync your YTMusic recommendations. It also has radios. :)

In the early 90s I used to pay around 10 to 15 euros (20 to 30 with current inflation) for each CD release.

And still we still complain nowadays.

We got a problem with the streaming industry but it's not the price we pay. We must be reasonable, say that the price is 15 bucks, is that really unreasonable for getting at your fingertips and everywhere most of the music even produced? I don't.

I think the major problem with Spotify isn't Spotify problem, but an industry problem. If I remember correctly, Spotify gets around 30%, then there's the distributor, and it gets around 40%. Whatever's left of the cake is divided between the label and the artist depending on the contract. The industry created something that didn't need to exist, another intermediate, the distributor. First apple used them cause of the work they do arranging all the needed metadata and keeping it tidy. The industry created them, now it can't get rid of them, and they "eat" the most part of the money.

Then why does tidal for the same price as spotify with way less users pay four times as much to the artists than spotify? Spotify has the largest market share and now they are trying to milk the cow as much as they can because people are too lazy to switch. Most people don’t even know that you can transfer playlists. Same with Netflix (although they at least have more exclusive content).
- I don't really like Tidal, but this is why I have stuck with Tidal instead of switching back to Spotify. At least the artists get more money, and I get my higher bitrate. Now it seems that prices are getting even closer to parity, so that's less of a reason to switch back.
  I considered trying Qobuz or Deezer, but I'm too lazy to switch right now.
- Then why does tidal for the same price as spotify with way less users pay four times as much to the artists than spotify?
  I wonder why too. Spotify takes a 30% cut, but even if Tidal takes 0% cuts, how come it can pays 4x as much to artists? There must be more to the math to make it check out.

Already switched to Deezer and liking it way more

I pay about that already (~$14 a month), but for Napster, which afaik gives the biggest cut of any streaming service to artists. They also have really good custom playlist management, I never get intrusive popups or emails, and premium means no ads, even with hours of listening. I switched after the Joe Rogan thing happened with Spotify and never looked back honestly.

Did you use a time machine to get here from 2002?
- No actually! Napster bought Rhapsody and now runs a music streaming platform.
  I get the reaction though lol. That was my reaction too when a friend of mine recommended it. But I tried it and it is actually really nice, and the price hasn't gone up in the years I have had it.
What joe Rogan Spotify thing?
- Spotify spending millions to have the Joe Rogan podcast on their platform.
  If you just want music, Spotify is wasting a lot of your subscription fee on unwanted features like podcasts, AI nonsense etc.

SpotX works quite well.

Faster than inflation

Spotify pays very little to artists, And the sound quality is not high.

I will be switching to Tidal very soon, as it offers HiFi and it pays more to artists. I believe it pays much more.

Spotify has been greedy and cheap in my most humble opinion!

It's to support all those artists right? Right?

I get Apple Music for “free” as part of my Verizon plan, so I’ll keep using it.

(Yes I know it’s not really free but worked into the cost of my plan, but I don’t pay a separate streaming music service, so there’s that.)

wow,lemmy hates corpos but upvotes this guy, jeez

It's funny: I haven't paid for any streaming/cable/media service in 10+ years; instead choosing to sail the seas, hord media, and host my own streaming service using tools like Emby/Plex/Jellyfin.

Spotify was the one and only service I had been considering, mainly because managing music files is still a PITA; but I keep running into articles like this one and renewing my will to fly the Jolly Rodger.

That's gotta be a running gag now. Fuck em with a cactus.

"it's just another dollar, brah"

I switched to Tidal and the only thing I miss is the lyric search. Otherwise, far better platform.

UNDER JOLLY ROGER!

It's time to move away. Anyone know how to download the metadata of a playlist? That's the only thing keeping me subbed.

Yes there are several solutions, just search for Spotify Playlist Backup/Export. There are free services as well as GitHub projects. You of course have to link your account with the free service.

There are literally two albums that I love that I can't find on Bandcamp or piracy, but they are literally the only thing keeping my Spotify subscription alive right now.

I think I'm just going to have to stream them into my DAW and do a poor man's rip, then cancel this shit ass.

Seriously? Like, finding and buying those two CDs used would be cheaper than maintaining a Spotify subscription.
- No kidding. Consider the possibility that this was the first avenue I pursued and was nevertheless stymied in my efforts.
  One of the bands only sells vinyl outside of Spotify (I have the record on Vinyl, but the process of digitizing it is similar to recording straight from Spotify but harder), and the other band is based in Mexico and doesn't have a digital marketplace. In both cases I've literally emailed the bands offering to overpay for raw digital files but haven't heard back yet. I am seriously considering flying to Guadalajara to catch them live and pick up a CD there. They don't really tour in the US north of Texas.
  But I'll keep my eye out for CDs.
Are they on Deezer? If so, look into deemix-gui.
- I'm not familiar with Deezer but will investigate. Thank you!
- Has there been a new maintainer for deemix? Can you use it again without paying for a Deezer subscription?
Check if they're on Tidal, Deezer or Qobuz, then your problem is solved
- Thanks! I wrote off Tidal as an also-ran like a decade ago and haven't heard of the others so these were not on my radar at all. I will check them out. I didn't even know Tidal was still a thing!
shirt-dev/zspotify will do fine actually downloading the audio.
Edit: The original repository got nuked and this seems to be a fork. Proceed at your own discretion (I used the original repo and a dummy account)
@modifier Now I'm curious what these magical albums are, that are not on the internet!
- They are on the internet, but only streaming on the Big Bads. If you can find me a hookup I will be forever grateful.
  The first Album, and the toughest case is an album by a band called Porter from Guadalajara. I have all of their albums except for my very favorite, Las Batallas.
  The second album really should be on Bandcamp, and probably will eventually, since the band has a page there. It's the most recent and self-titled release from an awesome little band called Mo Lowda and The Humble.
  All else aside, I highly recommend these bands to anyone who likes good rock music. Both albums are no-skip for me but two standout tracks for each: for Las Batallas you have got to check out "Himno Eterno" and "Hombre Maquina". For Mo Lowda, "O.O.Y.O" and "Dog At The Pound"
  The irony of these being the two I haven't been able to add to my Plex library is that these are probably the two most prominently featured albums on Spotify Wrapped last year.
- Going overseas makes so many albums disappear due to "muh licensing" and "technology and convience stinks" (cough japan)
  So many musics are not available beyond catching limited sales and/or physical only.
  Newer stuff isnt as bad but the <2010s are often pretty hard to find.
Zotify?

I wish they allowed more audiobook time per month, so one could finish a book past 11hrs. I'd be fine with an extra buck or two for a combined audiobook/music streaming service.

Just your local library for Libby or other electronic access. You probably have access to borrow audiobooks online for free. (assuming the US)
- Unfortunately, Spotify has it set where there doesn’t appear to be a limitation on how many people can listen at once, whereas Libby still only has so many copies to share.

Are there any other music service that has a decent Wear OS app? Spotify allows me to download and listen to my music offline, and the app is not too bad.

Maybe tidal?
Tidal is basically Spotify, but cheaper, pays more to the artists and is, imo, better.
Googling for "tidal wearos" has some interesting bits, but I don't have a smart watch so I have no idea what I'm looking at
- Nope, I used to pay for Tidal and I liked that app but it has no Wear OS app. They do have one for Apple Watch but I dont like Apple much.

Why does noone here mention Deezer as an alternative? Serious question, cause im currently testing their free trial. They also pay more than Spotify to the artists and have better audio quality. Also i like the flow playlist feature so far. Any reasons against Deezer? Or anything in specific that makes Tidal better?

Odds the cost comparable to Spotify and Tidal? Preferably cheaper? Lol
Also do you know if it interacts with Apple Carplay or Android Auto? Looking for an alternative myself if Spotify will keep raising prices.
- Same price if Spotify raises prices. But they have an annual plan that makes it cheaper than Spotify. I have no clue about apple stuff, sorry. And i never use Android Auto. Im no help here.

What’s “spotify”?

It's a paid alternative to "Spot-X" and "BlockTheSpot" 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️
- Tell me more.
It’s the “we have Apple Music” at home of streaming services.
Basically: more expensive, shitty UI, no lossless or high-res audio. Oh, and they pay the least to artists of all streaming services.

The problem is that creators aren't getting paid their fair share, and these platforms leech off of their creativity. I hate to be "that guy", but this is where NFTs actually have a use case. Give power directly to the creators of their music by allowing them sell directly to fans. This gives power to the creators and to the listeners who own the NFT. Embracing new technology is a way to break beyond corporate enshittification. We must break past "you will own nothing and be happy" and it seems like blockchain is one of the only ways to do it technologically.

Why not just use Bandcamp? Even with nfts someone has to maintain the CDN. Alternatively, run your own site.
- Because then they wouldn't be able to evangelize NFTs. You see this constantly with crypto/NFT tech, a solution in search of a problem
People have a negative image of NFTs because of the speculation and early (crappy) implementations of the technology. It's just a technology. I think web3 will be the answer to a lot of the corporate enshittification issues we see today. Community owned and operated networks and organizations are the future.

Wonder what it will go to in Canada. Glad I dropped Spotify for YouTube

I am the reverse. After the Google play music killing, ytm was worse. Ytm might be killed any time.
- Yeah I never used Google Play music and I only started Spotify because my car had integration for it. I used prime music for a while just cause it was free.
  If YouTube premium becomes shit I'll have to look into options

Wow Anyway I use RiMusic

People still use spotify? Huh, TIL.

You.... Are kidding right?
You would have to be living under a proverbial rock to have no inkling that Spotify is a product still in use, or be willfully ignorant.
It's like saying:
People still use Google?
People still drive cars?
People still use Windows?
People still go to churches?
...etc
Not that I agree that we should use Spotify. But playing pretend that they are small, irrelevant, and have no effect on the industry they are in isn't doing us any favors when it comes to pushing back against it.
- You on their payroll? You sound like you're on their payroll. Everyone I know ditched that garbage years ago.
literally just get audio files of whatever you wanna listen to and plop it on funkwhale
Spotify is the only good music app my car supports. It is what it is.