This feels like a potential turning point, where all streaming services are not created equally when it comes to music available.
I'm gonna say something that might seem short-sighted and selfish, but it still seems to me like this only hurts the fans more than it actually hurts Spotify. I fully respect trying to send a message as an artist, but short term it's just a major inconvenience for pretty much everyone BUT Spotify.
You act like Spotify is the only way to listen to their music. There's several other streaming services a click away. Spotify is a piece of shit company that has done and is doing bad things. The band doesn't want to be associated with it any longer. I made that decision a few months ago. Maybe this will open a few others eyes as well.
Gotcha man, I get it - I downloaded Bandcamp and can listen there. I also paid for Tidal for a few months last year just to test it out and consider making a permanent switch - but didn't care for their UI and the streaming quality difference wasn't enough of a factor for me. Ultimately it's a selfish preference on my part, and I said that in my OP. I have literally hundreds of playlists with KG's catalog scattered amongst them, so simply going to another streaming service is only convenient if I want to rebuild the playlists or listen to single tracks or a full album. Selfish and lazy, sure. Also - never said Spotify wasn't a piece of shit company - just implying I'm not convinced that one band with a cult following's decision to remove their music is going to change that.
No one is claiming that Apple and Tidal are altruistic. Spotify is just particularly evil, from lobbying Congress to pay artists less money; flooding popular playlists with ghost artists and AI-created tracks; payola schemes; and now their CEO leading investments in a drone warfare company. So yes, I do think other streamers are substantially better options. There’s a reason why Spotify is the only major streamer that UMAW is leading a campaign against. I highly recommend Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine or at least her initial article detailing some of this stuff if you’d like to know more.
Streaming landscape is fucked, but supporting literally anyone but Spotify is the right thing to do. Plus honestly I don't see why anyone uses that shit when the fucking audio quality sounds like it was rerecorded through a sock and is thrashed by all of its competitors.
I tried Tidal for a few months last year, but it kept losing my queue, and it wouldn't work in Android Auto unless I had cell service (I couldn't even play music that I downloaded ahead of time). Maybe that's fixed by now, but I'm going to try Qobuz this time.
Yeah I mean look - sticking with my original comment - y'all should try Tidal and share your thoughts. I just was not impressed with their UI or app capabilities.... and because I am quasi-OCD with my playlist organization, it stressed me out after I merged all my playlists over and there were so out of order with no ability to re-organize. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS sigh
I like that Apple Music is more album focused as opposed to playlist focused. Yes it’s another evil tech company but the A.I slop and A.I military bullshit isn’t ruining this specific service
I would personally argue that Jack Dorsey/Block's work in legitimizing the cryptocurrency industry (which has brought us ransomware, trafficking, money laundering, Donald Trump 2, online gambling, the list goes on) is far worse than anything Spotify/Ek have done, but that might be a fairly unpopular opinion.
all of these companies are run by bad people, any sort of posturing towards moral superiority from one app vs the other is foolish
What about Deezer and Qobuz? The latter is unknow to me and I've used Deezer ten years ago for a little while
Qobuz is French run, pays artists well and has a pretty decent catalogue and probably the best audio quality of the bunch. The UI isn't great (yet I'd suppose) and doesn't give you great tailored recommendations. I might go back to it as it gets better in the future. I am currently on YouTube music (I know it's not great either) as I get it along with the regular YouTube subscription (we have it for the kids and they go crazy with ads interrupting their cartoons).