I have multiple iPods but what you do seems like the move. As much storage as possible.

Ethical consumption doesn’t rly exist in America

Youtube music with ad blocker

I bought an mp3 player & use bandcamp & p2p networks

I did find it kind of amusing when there was the big Spotify boycott and suddenly a lot of ppl went to Youtube and Apple cause honestly those companies might just be even more evil, it's definitely hardly a difference.

I did the switch to Tidal for some 5(?) years and unfortunately the way lower userbase also meant soo many more bugs, offline downloads straight up didn't work, the worst thing was not being able to seamlessly switch playbach between devices.

I think some of ease of use things like that has by now been adopted by some competitors but the truth is that Spotify had its near-monopoly status bc it has BY FAR the best user experience and functionalities, even though they also always had this horrible startup/ business-first, art-second approach.

as someone who listens to a ton of old and new music it has been an invaluable tool for music discovery for me for the 10 or so years I've used it, it's honestly incredible to be able to have access to 95% of music I would want to check out from the brand new to oldies.

I also despise the company though and it's only a small satisfaction that they only see 3€ a month from me bc I'm in a family account and most likely cost them way more than that. 3€ for having this access is pretty much unbeatable as a consumer too

atm this is just kind of where I'm at still I'm kind of cynically enjoying this moment in time as a consumer and try to get the best out of it.

I do also look out for companies with a more art-centric approach like NINA Protocol and try support and learn from them what I can.

I also try and support indie gigs, venues and festivals because those are the best ways to invest into the industry nowadays and also have the side effect of building community. I also avoid arena shows and big festivals bc those are to me maybe the biggest evils milking all the money out of a struggling industry tbh.

on the whole it's a very dystopian landscape for anyone actually trying to contribute to a healthier music industry rn, be it artists, writers or organizers that actually want to push culture forward and not just suck off drake, taylor, etc.

but also awareness for how bad things are rn is strong so I am hopeful that in this moment there will be some people able to dream bigger and conceive a fairer way to distribute money in the industry. it will take some years but I do hope by the end of the decade we have some real alternatives

Skill issue. I only beatbox and sing songs from memory

Surprise, but alot of big bigness is unethical to someone somewhere, whilst the ethical business never gets to be big…

all of them are bad and we should return to buying albums where possible or just downloading them

but im not fully on board with the idea that theyre all as bad as each other

The point of a boycott is to hurt a company financially so they know their actions have consequences.

Think Puma being put on the BDS list for their contract to be a sponsor for the israeli football team. that and even their own collaborators like Skepta calling them out and saying he wish he knew about that before he signed his deal, clearly worked cos puma didnt renew their contract with the football team.

In this moment the worst streamer by far is Spotify (lowest payout, CEO investing in AI military, ICE ads, etc) so its a bit lazy to say well all the others are evil to so theres no point in switching

Apple is evil yes, but theyre not like spotify where the whole business model is the music streaming. if you need a streaming service, you can still hurt spotify's pockets by switching to a different service.

Beautiful post.