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@Gargron At first glance, that sounds like a good alternative. However, if you read the legal notice, you'll find the operator is:
AMAZON WEB SERVICE, INC
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Somewhat understandable if you want a redundant infrastructure for your service.
Thus, a lot of the money paid flows back to the USA again, and the servers with my account, data, and user behavior are not located in EUROPE
@Gargron I really miss a Linux app. The web player is the only way to go on Linux.
@Gargron I've had a good experience with Qobuz. In terms of finding certain artists/albums they have some that I didn't find on Amazon for example.
@Gargron It is in 24 bit quality often also. Not that I can hear the difference ... I hate the paltry sums Spotify pay artists
@Gargron I’m sure I’m not the first one to suggest Deezer as another alternative if Qobuz doesn’t work out for you. AFAIK they’re French.
@Gargron I dropped Spotify (because of AI slop) and got Qobuz, No regrets. Works on my sonos and in carplay.
Love the app, a lot better that Spotify for me. I only miss the ability to use voice in carplay to play something.
@Gargron Nice tip, been trying Deezer lately but haven't liked it, much better vibes from Quboz immediately
@gargron I’m enjoying #Qobuz for listening, having bought nice headphones as a treat for my ears and respite in busy days. I’ve appreciated their new music recommendations, discovering artists I’ve liked. Qobuz feels not pushy and also ‘made by actual music lovers’ not by machines and algorithms. I thought, when I bought my first iPod, I’d always use apple music. Things change. Sigh…
@Gargron I've really been enjoying #Qobuz, and the fact that it's based in the EU is not the only reason to switch.
This article by an American journalist convinced me to go with Qobuz:
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/a-complete-guide-to-quitting-spotify
@Gargron yeah it’s a shame that when they have that playful Q logo that suggests a turntable, that they don’t actually use it for the app icon on desktop or mobile.
I’ve been trialling using Qobuz through Roon app, which has so much more finesse as a UI, but… it’s yet another subscription
@Gargron Setup a Navidrome server and then buy FLAC files from Qobuz. You’ll be happier and feel more connected with your music library.
@Gargron Ich nutze das seit knapp einem Jahr. Die Qualität ist teilweise atemberaubend, insofern man nicht bluetooth-bottleneck betreibt. Benchmark-Album dafür ist bei mir "Earth tones" von den "Bahamas". Einfach mal probieren, wärmste Empfehlung.
let me know how it goes, I'm thinking of doing the same
@Gargron just switched from deezer to Qobuz as well and so far I really like it. It's not so bloated and I really enjoy the possibility to buy albums. Also they pay the most to artists among streaming services
@sturmsucht
What makes Qobuz better compared to Deezer?
I am asking because I had already a trial month one Qobuz and was missing some Metal compared to Tidal.
Qobuz plus points for me were:
- the reduced non-poppy UI
- the higher payment to artists
- the possibility to buy albums I enjoy
For the catalogue: I'm fine with mine, but since also albums I enjoyed on other platforms disappeared on those, I'm more into owning my favourite music again.
I also had some unsatisfied support conversation during my trial with deezer and never felt home there.
Graph by musician https://www.instagram.com/patriciana
@sturmsucht @timmoe85 @Gargron I'm a big spender on @bandcamp and the chart makes me feel even better about it.
@ Chris 🦑 > FOSDEM Also a reminder: Spotify only pays for songs that have been streamed more than 1,000 times. Thus, 88% of the music on Spotify does not generate any revenue.
@sophie yeah I know. And the rest are their own AI generated bands so that they don't have to pay them as well.
I quit Spotify beginning of last year already and never missed it.
@sturmsucht @timmoe85 @Gargron Every company that has a checkmark with "has AI artists" is not an option.
PS:
Reason: Every AI benefits Trump & ICE and kills the environment. So all othe points are moot.
@PaulaToThePeople: Very true from your standpoint but only bandcamp is no option because not all artists are on bandcamp.
From artist perspective:
They need the range that's why they are listed on the streaming portals as well as bandcamp or selling records. Same reason why they are using big tech social media. This is a fact and not meant to be an accusation.
The solution would be to buy records again and rely on bandcamp for digital media
@sturmsucht
Where is the graphic from?
@timmoe85 @PaulaToThePeople @sturmsucht @Gargron Check out the artist-owned Bandcamp-alternative https://subvert.fm/
If that works for you, fine. I'm against AI music and not hearing any on purpose. But you see, it's hard to avoid a service that doesn't forbid it.
That's why I'm currently rebuilding my own music collection. Have done it with video streaming last year and am a very happy user of my own stuff today.
exactly. If your algorithm / search function proposes a new artist to you, better double-check with discogs, metal-archives, bandcamp or anything else if you want to avoid AI-created content.
@sturmsucht very neat table!
If you made it, do you happen to have a list of sources as well? (Also, in the tidal row, there is "per stream per stream")
If not, do you know who made it?
Thanks a lot for sharing either way!
EDIT: Found the author. It's a musician under https://www.instagram.com/patriciana
not my table so I can't 100% verify, but something I found online. The source referres to 'the internet' which isn't helpful as well. Some parts of the table align with my crosschecks about payment for artists and articles I've read, so I found it trustworthy
@sturmsucht thank you for this
@sturmsucht @coldclimate unfortunately it doesn't note how certain companies have been anti union like Bandcamp 🤕
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@Gargron Have been trying it out for a few days now and like it so far. I have come across a couple of songs they didn't have in their library that were available on YouTube Music, but I can live with that. The better sound quality is completely lost on me, but I like it for being European and not Spotify.
@Gargron nice decision. Get a DAC (I recommend IFI) and let the highest resolution shine. 👍
@Gargron Where are the lyrics?
@Gargron American here. I've been buying any music not available via Bandcamp from Qobuz for about a year and a half now, and I have no complaints.
I've had Apple Music as part of an Apple One subscription until now, but I've canceled that and I'm about to test out a Qobuz subscription for streaming new music to see if I want to buy it.
I also want to reduce my dependence on American tech companies, including Apple. They've largely been negative forces for the last decade.
@Gargron use with Roon if you can, I believe they have a free trial
@slatey Could you elaborate?
@Gargron you may not need it, but if looking for multi room audio streaming, with the ability to pull up metadata on the artists, as well as perform independent esp eq at each endpoint, Roon works great for this, qobuz and tidal are supported, qobuz generally has higher quality sources
@Gargron @slatey Roon is largely for audio geeks https://roon.app/ It'll act as your UI, unifying multiple audio services, & supposedly has a very good music discovery algorithm. But, it's another subscription.
One thing about Qobuz I've experienced in the year since I migrated from Spotify, is while it's not algorithmic, it is run by music geeks, so you need to move back to a more intentional method of finding new music. That means simply listening to albums they recommend or showcase.
@Gargron I just signed up for a family Qobuz trial on Friday. Liking it so far. The UI isn't the greatest but I like the increased depth/fidelity in their audio (and I'm not even an audiophile).
@Gargron I've been liking qobuz
@Gargron one nice perk of Qobuz over Tidal… they’ll *sell* you the music. High res FLACs.
@Gargron I've been using qobuz for over a year now. It works well for me and does what I want it to do. I didn't even know they're non-us. Now I'm definitely keeping them!
@Gargron I've been getting my FLAC files from Qobuz for years now. Like them a lot!
@Gargron@mastodon.social why is it such an issue that it's a US company? Yeah, the Reich is on their bullshit but Tidal seems like a good company from what I've seen, with much better contracts for artists than Spotify.
@julia @Gargron Tidal is owned by Jack Dorsey via Block Inc. Jack Dorsey is just another supporter of the maniacs in the Trump administration, he endorsed Robert F. Kennedy. He had a tech bromance with Elon Musk, culminating in Musk's purchase of Twitter and followed by Dorsey's support of Musk's 'leadership' there.
Supporting any US corporation means you're going to be supporting the extremist authoritarian oligarchs there. They're all intertwined.
@txtx@mastodon.social @Gargron@mastodon.social okay see the first half is helpful and makes me second think my support of tidal, and I'll look to other platforms for lossless audio.
The second half is stupid. Yeah, big companies are all circle jerking the big oligarchs, but being US based doesn't make something immediately fucking evil
@julia @txtx I’m not a geopolitical analyst so take what I say with a grain of salt, but the US abducted the leader of a sovereign nation what feels like two weeks ago while threatening to annex a European country just last week. Unless we reduce our reliance on US products, services and infrastructure, our options for defensive measures will be severely limited.
@Gargron@mastodon.social @txtx@mastodon.social mmm. Yeah, from that perspective. Fair.
I just kinda struggle atm because I'm locked to the US for a number of personal reasons, and it feels like things that I do are being unfairly put in a bad light, because of the cunt in power. Namely, I've seen at least 3 people claim that they need to move off of Sharkey because of the US' instability, which I feel is greatly unfair to me and the other contributors- the state of the world is far outside our control, and we're obviously going to do everything we can to resist against bullshit policy implemented here.
I wish I could get the hell out of here- but, like I said, I'm stuck, and likely will be for the next two or three years. Its frustrating to say the least.
@julia I agree Tidal is a nice app and much better than Spotify. I just don't think it's wise for Europeans to rely on US infrastructure in the medium to long term. The sooner and more services we can replace, the better.