_{By Zach Collier
Header Image By Brett Jordan}

Music (one of the major cornerstones of the former American monoculture) barely survived the brutal death of the CD and the rise of Napster and The Pirate Bay in the early aughts. The industry adapted by allowing everyone to listen to anything on demand at any time – essentially embracing and legalizing piracy in the form of streaming services.

Now that everything is available everywhere all the time in a few simple taps, there’s a strange moment happening right now where people are starting to think a lot harder about how they consume media – not just what they consume.

With renewed scrutiny around Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s questionable investments in military drone tech and the broader direction of Spotify in relation to artist payouts and the proliferation of AI music, many are asking: if you care about artists, ethics, or even just transparency, aren’t there better options?

Short answer: yeah. But like everything in music, it depends on what you value.

Take Qobuz. On paper, it looks like a simple Spotify alternative: 100 million-plus tracks, standard discovery features, clean interface. But the real differentiator is how it treats artists. Qobuz pays out significantly more per stream than most major platforms, landing near the top of the industry. On average, one stream makes an artist nearly 2 pennies – a huge step up from the $.003 per stream Spotify offers. That doesn’t magically fix the economics of streaming, but it does move the needle in a way artists can actually feel in their wallet.

It’s also refreshingly focused. No podcasts, no audiobooks, no worrying about whatever the h*ck canvases are. Just music. This is great for people who hate “everything apps.” If you use a real alarm clock to prevent reaching for your phone and immediately doomscrolling in the morning, this is good news. Qobuz might be for you.

For people into more niche and experimental platforms, there’s Audius.

Audius feels like the future that hasn’t arrived yet. Built on blockchain infrastructure, the platform flips the traditional streaming model on its head. Instead of artists fighting for fractions of a cent per stream, Audius offers something far more direct: up to 90% of revenue going straight to the artist, with fans able to engage through crypto-based ownership and support systems. Fewer middlemen.

That’s the pitch, at least.

In practice, Audius is still very much in its early adopter phase. Its user base is far smaller than the Spotifys and Apples of the world, and you’re not going to find every major release living there – at least not yet. But that’s also kind of the point. What Audius lacks in scale, it makes up for in intimacy.

Users feel like participants in building something instead of passive listeners. There’s a sense of ownership baked into the experience, and whether you buy into the crypto side of things or not, that shift in relationship matters.

And then there’s Tidal – the middle ground.

Originally launched by Jay-Z and now owned by Block (who makes the Square readers most Provo artists use to collect merch sales at shows), Tidal has long positioned itself as the artist-friendly alternative. It has some of the best audio quality in the business, and its per-stream payouts are among the highest in mainstream streaming. For a lot of listeners, that alone makes it a more appealing option.

But it’s not a clean narrative. Corporate ownership, lobbying activity, and a less transparent public-facing philosophy complicate the picture. Tidal might be “better” in some ways, but it’s still operating within the same system.

You run into the same issue with Bandcamp. Bandcamp was purchased by Epic Games in 2022. When workers tried to form a union, Epic responded with layoffs and a sale to B2B music licensing company Songtradr. It was a messy era, to say the least.

Now that things have settled down, though, it seems like Songtradr has been a decent steward of the Bandcamp legacy. The platform offers options to buy and download digital files; directly pay and tip artists; and also recently vowed to ban AI music from the platform entirely.

The downside is that not every artist is on Bandcamp, so from a consumer perspective you’ll have limited listening options.

And then there’s our favorite option – buying physical. You can do that in town through places like 3hive Record Lounge or Provo’s Vintage Groove. You’ll get a wider major title and indie title selection than Audius, and they pay more money to artists than Bandcamp, Qobuz, AND Tidal.

The downside? They sell physical mediums, which simply don’t have the convenience of a streaming platform. 3hive is also involved in politics. You can’t escape it.

(This is a joke – they host the monthly Provo Music Town Hall, and you should definitely come!)

Conclusion

At the end of the day, there is no perfect platform. Just trade-offs.

Some prioritize artist pay. Some prioritize independence. Some prioritize scale and convenience. What’s changing now is that listeners are starting to notice those differences and care about them. Caring is the first step.

Consciously and intentionally engaging with the world around you beats being a passive consumer any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Help us support local artists (and Satan) by streaming them on Spotify below.