Spotify

[Phoebe]

I have a family subscription and was content to keep it until the actual CEO made his BS statement. What's the best alternative streaming service/interface?

Also this is THE moment for the BTS ARMY to en masse leave the platform, but they have no alternative? Spotify lives and dies by ARMY and its lesser imitators who organize streaming campaigns to keep their artists on top of the charts. Basically ARMY ensures each BTS release goes to #1 and stays there, and they need to use Spotify because US radio is the other factor, and they can't influence it even when they call in locally. I note as example: BTS topping the call in ranking but not going into heavier rotation. Some other money rules radio that way.

Anyway, hoping for both a personal alternative and a fan army exodus.

You may wonder why: I was content to remain when I thought it was a choice on principle for the company to be a neutral interface. But it's not: it chooses who gets paid MY money, chooses very badly, and the CEO thinks regularly saying racist things is not in fact racist but is merely "insensitive". What exactly does he think racism is, one wonders, if calling people the n-word and comparing them to animals isn't enough? Screw that dude, he's terrible and deserves no $.

Also yes, Rogan is a terrible racist and I find it a useful thing to see how all the white guys who love him simply cannot or will not admit it, or truly do not care, or actively love that about him. It's one of those things where we see the truth of all this Maga BS and they pretend it's not there. Nah y'all, this is your very essence.

[poorpete]

I subscribe to YouTube Music -- the detriment is that their catalog is rather sloppy compared to their competitors, but there are some benefits, and their collection is large and has 99% of the music I'm looking for, new and old. The main is: ad free music and music videos -- I regularly click on YouTube music videos via sharing here and other places. I rarely come across a link to a spotify song in the wild, and certainly not any other streaming service, but youtube I see daily. Like everything shared in the "Silence Between" thread I've never seen an ad with those. I also have two Google Home hubs, and it's nice to say "hey google, play blah blah blah" and it does so, again ad-free.

[Tahlvin]

We have a family Apple subscription that includes Apple Music.

[Mike]

If you want ad-free and plays from your Google home devices, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, and YouTube Music will all do that. Prime is slightly cheaper than the other two but also doesn't have as large a catalog (but is still huge). If you are an Apple user, then Apple Music is second only to Spotify in terms of catalog, features, quality, etc. If you are an Android user, the Apple experience is supposed to be a little glitcher, which tracks with other Apple stuff, but Tahlvin might know more.

All of the above cost $10 per month, except Amazon, which knocks 2 bucks off if your already a Prime member.

All of this taken from this recent article: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and- ... g-service/

It also mentions some smaller services, notably Tidal, which it says is the best about artist compensation.

[poorpete]

Also YouTube Music has a setup where you can easily move between the audio-only track, the music video, and the song lyrics. All it needs is to attach the wikipedia page if it exits, and it'll satisfy all I'd want from a music app -- oh wait, how about guitar chords

Tidal is the closest to when I close-my-eyes and imagine a fair way to reward users in the streaming era. They give more money to your most played artists. Though I'd like the option to override that if I want to, to say put money towards an artist I care about who might need the money more. Like last year, most of my money would have gone to Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, and Ruth Brown, and those first two I'm happy to give money but they are doing quite fine financially, while Ruth was denied royalties for decades, and wouldn't mind giving a few extra bucks to her estate.

And how about each month it buys you your most-played unowned song, to own forever.

[Mando]

This is a time when I could use the "Interjections" emoji for the guy who goes "Yay! I'm for the other team" because I am seeing so many things from a different point of view.

Spotify lets you have your music offline and I CBB about Rogan or anyone else

[Kyle]

I have no knowledge of his comments and there's plenty of N words in rap music ergo I am not that bothered, neither do I care about the opinions of self-important has-been musicians.

I also have a Spotify family account and don't plan to cancel it. Joe Rogan is an offensive pseudo-intellectual idiot who spreads misinformation to lunkheads- but there's plenty of that everywhere. I'm not cancelling my cable subscription because they carry One America Network. I'm not going to ban Comedy Central because it has a near infinite number of stand-ups that refer to women repeatedly as bitches and whores.

HOWEVER- I take objection to the argument that "Black people use the n-word in rap, so it doesn't bother me that Joe Rogan does." Here's my problem- there is a definite difference between black people using the word and non-black people using the word. I don't like it. I don't think anyone should use it. But I also understand a historically discriminated-against group trying to take back a slur and make it their own word. I have a gay son who freely calls things gay and sometimes uses the F-slur (which I've told him I hate and don't want him using around me, so he doesn't). There is a definite difference. Gay people have taken back the term "queer" so effectively that it's not even a derogatory term anymore. My point being, it is definitely not okay for Joe Rogan to use the n-word. Particularly in the clips where he's just calling someone that word. That has a different force and effect that is terrible.

[Mando]

I edited most of that post out, sorry..I decided I was being too inflamatory.

[Mando]

HOWEVER- I take objection to the argument that "Black people use the n-word in rap, so it doesn't bother me that Joe Rogan does." Here's my problem- there is a definite difference between black people using the word and non-black people using the word. I don't like it. I don't think anyone should use it. But I also understand a historically discriminated-against group trying to take back a slur and make it their own word. I have a gay son who freely calls things gay and sometimes uses the F-slur (which I've told him I hate and don't want him using around me, so he doesn't). There is a definite difference. Gay people have taken back the term "queer" so effectively that it's not even a derogatory term anymore. My point being, it is definitely not okay for Joe Rogan to use the n-word. Particularly in the clips where he's just calling someone that word. That has a different force and effect that is terrible.

Here is Rogan's apology:
New York, NY (CNN)Joe Rogan issued an apology on Instagram Saturday after a compilation of the podcaster frequently using the n-word on his podcast spread widely on social media.

Rogan used the word more than 20 times in the clips from different podcast episodes, which he said were compiled over a span of 12 years. In his apology, Rogan said it's the "most regretful and shameful thing" he has ever had to address publicly.
"I know that to most people, there's no context where a White person is ever allowed to say that, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that," he said. "Now, I haven't said it in years," Rogan added.
Rogan also addressed a video of him comparing a Black neighborhood to a Planet of the Apes movie. "I certainly would never want to offend someone for entertainment with something as stupid as racism," he said.

[Phoebe]

If they were a neutral content provider, fine, you would attribute the outcome to the fact that this guy unfortunately has a huge audience. The problem was, I found out they choose to pay only certain people like Rogan vast sums (while explaining his content as "insensitive"). This is but one example out of many, but Spotify makes many, many millions on the backs of artists like BTS, and then turns around and hands that money to racists like Rogan instead of BTS. That's where I stop wanting to pay for it.

For a long time I didn't even know who Joe Rogan was - apparently he's Howard Stern, if Howard was a dumbass and racist with no redeeming wit or humor. I stopped listening to Howard Stern a long time ago because he became boring, offensive, and stupid (and I mean, I listened to his morning show fairly regularly for a long time, and it was always offensive - it got so many times worse over the years), so why would I listen to this new schmuck, much less give him money? Schmuck is too great a compliment for this dude: it is tragic people see this dried loaf of bread as a model of a manliness. My dad has more manly in one toenail clipping than this man will ever see in a lifetime. This is the audience trying to restore their own feelings of manliness by drinking some type of protein-hormone potion while hating trans kids.

[Mike]

I hate to sound numb and jaded, but I don't know enough to make a fully informed decision, and when you look at the big three options that aren't Spotify, your options are Apple, Google, and Amazon. Is paying Joe Rogan for his racism worse than the horrifying business practices of the rest of them? I feel like Rogan is the egregious flavor of the month here. He is a terrible person who glorifies terrible things and has been so since his comedy days, his turn on The Man Show, Fear Factor, etc. He's just terrible. But is he worse than Bezos and the rest?

[Mando]

In an article that quoted Neil Young, the website Qobuz was mentioned as a music streaming service.

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/music/streaming/offers

[Phoebe]

Is paying Joe Rogan for his racism worse than the horrifying business practices of the rest of them?

This is the crux of the matter. Can one do better and still get conveniently streamed music? I've already got all my apples in the Amazon cart no matter what horrors are involved with that, so I'll probably keep going that direction and at least know my drop in the bucket was part of sending a message that it matters. There's a moment when doing it will have an impact if enough people do it at once.