Hey everyone. So for the last year or so I have been contemplating on leaving Spotify. Even though I do not pay for premium and use ad blockers to not get adds I still do not like it that much. I am considering some other choices such as Last.fm or Bandcamp.

My question is what is your streaming service when listening to music on the internet? And also I have seen many people using Last.fm. Is it better than Spotify or Youtube Music? YT Music also seems pretty good to me.

I buy 90% of the music I listen to on Bandcamp and also subscribe to Apple Music since not everything is on Bandcamp. I can then upload everything to Apple Music's cloud locker. This essentially gives me access to 100% of the world's music since they allow you to upload stuff that's not otherwise on Apple Music.

I have never heard of anyone using last.fm as a streaming service, I'm pretty sure they just link to Youtube, and I've only heard negative things about Youtube Music.

YT music is pretty good if you download music, but also want it available to stream, you can upload like 100,000 songs. No idea about their paid for service though.

Streaming on bandcamp is fine but I think it's more geared toward downloads, and Last FM doesn't have much in the way of a streaming function, it's more just for tracking what you listen to from your machine/streaming platform of choice.

FWIW I was reticent to use spotify for a long time as I didn't think they'd have much of what I want, but since I got a free trial last year I've been impressed by how much they have, it's not everything, but probably at least 95% of artists I look up they have everything or almost everything they've done - which for our kinda genres which however where you splice it isn't exactly mainstream that's a damn good ratio.

Last.fm isn't a streaming service - it simply tracks what you're listening to and creates charts based on that. It used to have a streaming service (back when it was a lot more relevant), but these days if you're streaming anything on there it's from Spotify or Youtube. Still a fun site for the charts (and fun for posting those 5x5s on Facebook music groups with I guess).

Anyway, I've been using Spotify since it came out and have yet to stop, though I did try Tidal for a while... but I started to realize it had less stuff than Spotify. It does offer a better payout to artists than Spotify does, but even then, buying albums and merch is still the best option when you really wanna support the bands you like.

Apple Music and Bandcamp are my main go-tos when it comes to streaming. I also have Spotify, but I barely use it.

Spotify Premium.

Spotify Premium doesn't let you upload music that's not on Spotify. Do Spotify Premium users just not listen to music if it's not available on their platform? Why not just use Apple Music that lets you upload anything you want so you can have all music in one place?

It does. You just have to have the music files on the device you're using. It doesn't carry these across devices though (eg if it's on your laptop, it won't be available on your phone unless you put it on there too).

I use Spotify to stream.
I buy physical records (CDs) as often as possible.
I buy records on Bandcamp as well.

When it comes to streaming specifically, Spotify is fine, really. It's nowhere near perfect, and they don't give enough money to the artists, obviously, but the platform works just fine and has a lot of music.

You can't have knowledge nor talk about what you haven't lived.

Exactly.

That completely useless then. I have three computers and a phone, so even after paying for Spotify Premium I have to keep track of which files live where and still be limited? Apple Music is the same price and lets you listen to anything you upload on any device.

It's not ideal, but it's not completely useless either. It works fine for me. And at least the option is there. Obviously it would be better if it was more like Apple Music, but I'm guessing Spotify feel it isn't worth shelling out for cloud storage. Perhaps not many people use local files, or most people only use Spotify on a single device.

I just use Spotify premium and bandcamp. It works well for me and I do not need all of my music in one place.

I listen to music on Youtube and Bandcamp. I can't bother to make some playlist or whatever nor do i want it. I rarely buy music

I pay for Spotify Premium, Deezer Family HiFI, Mixcloud, Soundcloud, Listen and Purchase on Bandcamp, Youtube but have no idea why anyone uses youtube music

Have access to Apple, Amazon

On the topic of uploading music on to your spotify, you have to have the music on your computer and add it to a playlist while on your computer. Then on your phone while on the same wifi, you have to download your playlist. Sometimes you might have to temporarily disable your firewall to get it to work.

Yeah, that's been covered. Don't understand why anyone would bother with that or be okay with their music library being split across multiple services/devices.

Because apple music is just not very good.

Bandcamp, no ads, plays with phone screen off, doesn't charge to be able to non-shuffle. Best one by a mile.

I just put everything on my computer and use iTunes there and VLC for my phone these days. Don't need to mess with any weird subscription shit.

I use Apple and Tidal.

Also limits how many listens you get before you need to pay. There are negatives to every service.

Well, it was and still is better described as a radio service. The change they made is that it uses audio hosted on YouTube rather than on their own servers, so actually you can now stream a lot more albums in full via their site so long as the tracks are linked to YouTube somehow. Whereas previously labels and independent artists had to explicitly set their albums to stream in full on Last.fm.

Last.fm's more useful for the radio element though. You can choose to play things like the 'death metal' tag radio, or 'artists similar to band X' radio. Then it's basically like a shuffled playlist but with less visibility as to what might come up next. Only useful if you want something more random/surprising than a pre-made YouTube playlist. Especially since their system still muddles up different artists with the same name, haha.

I use Spotify and youtube for streaming and I tend to buy from bands bandcamp for cds and merch.

I've never actually been blocked, I get the "it's time to open up your heart and wallet" pop up, but the thing just keeps playing under it.

I have multiple times.

I use Spotify Premium, and I use PowerAmp, which was recommended to me by a user here about a decade ago. PowerAmp is just a music file player, that allows me to listen to tunes not available on Spotify. Between the two, I'm satisfied. I do find the audio quality of my stuff is often better than what Spotify has to offer, and stuff like early Judas Priest or singles and demos from older more obscure bands from the 70s and 80s aren't, and never will be available on Spotify.

The audio quality is most likely to get better when they offer their hifi option.

Audio quality is one thing, but in my view, and more importantly, I look forward to the day, which will never happen, when Kraken's Fantasy Reality or Blitzkrieg's A Time of Changes is finally uploaded. Or if Rob Halford swallows his pride and allows the missing 4 Judas Priest records. Or if Sharon stops being a cunt and allows the Tony Martin era of Sabbath to be uploaded.

Well, you can gain access to it without getting the files on your phone (as an example). If you put some music from your PC onto your Spotify list, and then open up that list on your phone (while still online on your PC), you can download the playlist (for offline use) and gain access to those songs you added yourself.

Same, I'd assume, would work cross PCs if you do it the same way.

And I use Spotify Premium.

Wow the background playback feature is based as fuck. I just use YT Music Revanced on my phone and Brave for that.

But I got to say I will definitely check out more bands from there. Good place for crating obscure albums for reviews.

Spotify is the only one I own/use, the algorithm for music recs works fine imo, though the audio quality is lacking.

This is me. I usually only use Spotify to discover new bands/albums and give them a few spins over different days to see if I really want to buy an album (I've fallen prey to waaaay too many impulse buys over the years).
It is also great when travelling and, like now, when I don't have my collection with me and am not able to buy any records. My shopping list is getting pretty huge ready for when I can again...

Obviously. You cannot pretend to receive all the money in the world, if you are not an independent artist (apart of that, owner of your masters). The labels keep almost all the money that the songs/albums generate and with the masters (which is the title of ownership of each song), that is how 99.9% of the labels are managed unfortunately and disgustingly. I don't know what world 99.9% of artists have lived in for years to sign with a record label. However, it's extremely extremely hard to keep yourself as artist independent and also a super challenge. On this side, I'm surprised that Shadow of Intent is still keeping 10 years later without signing to any label and at the peak of their career.

I just go on YouTube and find some YouTube to mp3 website if I actually like what I hear

If I am streaming I use Spotify simply because it's the best option by far. I dislike the lack of money the artists get, but they do get something, which they don't if I download the files, et cetera.
I tend to buy CDs, Tapes and LPs for the most part and still stream after. I like giving them money after I've given them money.

Apple Music for sure. Less cluttered, cleaner interface, and best of all they pay the artists nearly double what Spotify does.

I use Spotify Premium, and when something isn't there, I use YouTube Music. But almost every band uploads their stuff on Spotify; things like Katalepsy and Kraanium are there. The only things that I don't find on Spotify are bands with lyrics that deal with extreme right-wing politics, for obvious reasons, like Arghoslent, Peste Noire or Grand Belial's Key.

I use Spotify Premium as well and then buy stuff that's not on there via bandcamp and download it to spotify.