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--- spotify [2025/09/24 21:18] – ultracomfy
+++ spotify [2025/12/03 15:57] (current) – ultracomfy
@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 <wrap lo>Satirical, made up strawman person:</wrap> "But, you know, who cares about local artists, right? Those are all pussies, anyway. If you don't make enough you're not working hard enough. They should improve their music and cut down on unnecessary expenses. Less Netflix, it's a distraction, anyway. **I** make enough money to pay for a monthly Spotify membership and I get all the service I want. I get the music I care about, I can listen to it at 256kbit/s as opposed to the peasantly 128kbit/s (and can definitely hear the difference), the music I listen to is only from people who actually made it as individuals, so I don't have to listen to the riffraff."
-The problem in reality is, unfortunately, that you and I are riffraff ourselves. The same structural mechanics keeping people from earning livable wages on Spotify is why you and I are barely making any money in real life. If you can buy a Spotify membership you may not be a Taylor Swift, but you definitely enjoy a good amount of [[privilege]]. And, unfortunately, this privilege is //required//. Good for you that you, as a paying customer, don't have that problem, but for many of us this problem is real. Very real. Some of us have to accept massive cuts in their quality of life if they want to do something as basic as listening to music through Spotify. And this may sound acceptable if you consider that Spotify is a service offered to you, but people have their entire music library on there. If you stop paying for Spotify for //whatever// reason, then that's it for you (Covid happens? Trump tariffs happen? Inflation? Job loss? Healthcare/Surgery costs? Had to fix your washing machine? Just "didn't get as lucky and were born into a poor household"? Make your pick!). Even the music you downloaded, it's gone, you're //fucked//. You see, unlike a one-time purchase of a CD where you can just keep listening, not only do you have to pay Spotify a fee equal to the cost of a CD, but the money is also given to Taylor Swift //and// the CD is ripped away from you if you don't pay the next month.
+The problem in reality is, unfortunately, that you and I are riffraff ourselves. The same structural mechanics keeping people from earning livable wages on Spotify is why you and I are barely making any money in our own lives. If you can buy a Spotify membership you may not be a Taylor Swift, but you definitely enjoy a good amount of [[privilege]]. And, unfortunately, this privilege is //required//. Good for you that you, as a paying customer, don't have that problem, but for many of us this problem is real. Very real. Some of us have to accept massive cuts in their quality of life if they want to do something as basic as listening to music through Spotify. And this may sound acceptable if you consider that Spotify is a service offered to you, but people have their entire music library on there. If you stop paying for Spotify for //whatever// reason, then that's it for you (Covid happens? Trump tariffs happen? Inflation? Job loss? Healthcare/Surgery costs? Had to fix your washing machine? Just "didn't get as lucky and were born into a poor household"? Make your pick!). Even the music you downloaded, it's gone, you're //fucked//. You see, unlike a one-time purchase of a CD where you can just keep listening, not only do you have to pay Spotify a fee equal to the cost of a CD, but the money is also given to Taylor Swift //and// the CD is ripped away from you if you don't pay the next month.
 So ultimately... Spotify controls who gets the money - Spotify controls who gets to be in a position of making money - Spotify controls your access to music. Don't like you? Kicked out. Don't pay their small monthly fee? Kicked out.\\