As noted before, Spotify is the digital equivalent of smearing shit on a musician’s face. I stand by that. But while my last Spotify-related post focused on the difference between Spotify and Bandcamp in terms of having your music on either platform, now I have thoughts about something else. Today, I want to talk about the alternatives I use to Spotify as a music consumer.
With Spotify in the news headlines, it’s a good time to generate original content that mentions it. And, it has me thinking about my relationship with the platform as a user, rather than a musician. Also, my friend Daisy doesn’t like streaming services either and asked me what I thought.
I know – normally this site is about making music, not listening to it. But, it’s important for musicians to listen to as much other music as possible. So, in a somewhat tangential perspective of creating, this is still actually relevant.
Background to needing Spotify alternatives
Google Play Music
To begin with, I think a lot of my perspective on music consumption comes from being a geriatric or elder millennial. I remember cassettes and CDs, and when “do you have the internet at home?” was a legitimate question.
My brain is a healthy balance of analog and digital.
When I got my Google Nexus 7 tablet in late 2013, I latched onto Google Play Music for, well, music. It appealed to me in a way that Spotify never had:
- I could upload the music I already owned and listen to it anywhere
- I could still buy albums, so artists would get paid fairly
- This meant I could still have ownership of a music collection, but without the space needed by my CDs
This was my first Spotify alternative. I was so happy.
But, the good times couldn’t last forever.
YouTube Music
In 2020, Google Play Music shut down, merging with YouTube Music. I didn’t like the sound of it as soon as it was announced, but couldn’t put my finger on why. When it launched, I disliked it even more.
- It removed the ability to buy music – it was another streaming service, like Spotify, that wouldn’t pay artists appropriately
- It focuses on algorithm-suggested music rather than my own collection that I had imported from Google Play Music
- You can only listen to music offline in the paid version; I’m not paying $10 a month to listen to my own damn music that I already bought and paid for!
- When you download music to your device, it’s strictly within the app, and not a user-accessible folder
I didn’t care for any of this. And I still didn’t like Spotify on principle. I needed another alternative.
The current Spotify alternatives
There still isn’t really a direct alternative to Spotify. However, there are three services I use to consume music that make me happy.
iBroadcast
At the recommendation of two friends, I started using iBroadcast to listen to music. It’s a website and companion app. It’s free to use and relatively user-friendly. I’ve uploaded my music collection there, and that’s where I listen from.
The only pickle with it is that it doesn’t have an online store, so no way to natively expand your collection.
7Digital
In this music-streaming era, it’s actually very difficult to buy MP3s. iTunes doesn’t jive easily with all my Google products, and Amazon is evil.
But, beyond the headlining music consumption sites, there’s – what seems to be – a little-known website called 7Digital.
From what I can make out, their main business is full-service music licensing. From their Wikipedia entry, it seems they used to handle the functionality of digital music stores when digital music meant buying MP3s.
Their music store seems to be a legacy thing. There’s nothing jazzy or snazzy about it, it’s a little slow, but it has all the latest music, and the classics.
And honestly, that’s all I need. That’s all I want.
It makes me think of it as the digital equivalent of an old-school record shop, but for people who don’t have time or space to gush over vinyl. I’ve bought everything from the first Slade albums, to Oasis’s recent Knebworth album, via 90s Prodigy and early Taylor Swift.
It’s not 100% perfect in the context of contemporary online shopping – the occasional sale and a wishlist function would be great, and the app is absolutely fucking dire. But, I’m enjoying browsing and buying albums again for the first time in a few years. It’s exciting to be expanding my collection again!
When you buy music on 7Digital, you can listen to it on their website or app. To add what I buy to my existing collection, I have to download whatever I buy, unzip it, and then upload it to iBroadcast. It’s a little bit of a fiddle, but as far as I’m concerned, worth it.
Bandcamp
While 7Digital has the major label releases of today and yesteryear, it doesn’t seem to have much in terms of independent, unsigned acts. As a basic check, Amuse hasn’t put any of my music there. With that in mind, it’s important to also highlight Bandcamp as a music retailer, and alternative to Spotify.
Bandcamp is probably the single most equitable option for artists. There are a few big acts on Bandcamp, acts that have enough clout with their label, or ownership of works, to do it: Sonic Youth’s early stuff is there, Radiohead is on it, as well as Blood Red Shoes and Alestorm.
Similarly to 7Digital, when you buy music on Bandcamp, you can listen to it on their website or on their app. But, also similarly to 7Digital, in the interest of keeping my music collection together, I download the MP3s and upload them to iBroadcast.
Alternatives to Spotify: conclusion
My Spotify alternatives probably aren’t for everyone. I’ll be the first to admit it’s kind of disjointed.
But, I’ve come to think of it as no different than when I used to buy CDs – there were still some barriers to actually getting to listen to it, like getting home and getting the plastic off.
However, if you’re interested in…
- Artists getting paid fairly
- A music collection that doesn’t take up space
- Artists getting paid fairly
… it all holds hands and works for me.
Of course, there will always be a few nice-to-haves with digital solutions. On both 7Digital and Bandcamp, I’d love to see:
- Wishlists so you can go back to something you browsed before
- Integration with iBroadcast – I don’t know how because I’m not clever enough, but an album I buy on 7Digital or Bandcamp appearing in iBroadcast without the download, unzip, upload… that’d be sweet!
- Better marketing to increase users so I don’t feel like a lone crusty sad sack bodgering things together, desperately clinging to the dated notion of a music collection that I bought and paid for, with albums that should be considered a single work, rather than playlists of good songs with no wider context
And that, my dear friends, concludes my thoughts on Spotify alternatives.
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