Sustainable Substitutes for Spotify

A digital music streaming service with very low artist compensation.

Reasons to avoid Spotify

Avoid Spotify due to its invasive data collection, lack of transparency regarding its integration of AI generated Songs, and low artist compensation.

Spotify tracks user listening habits, location, and even voice inputs, raising serious privacy concerns. Its opaque royalty system pays most artists less than $0.003 per stream, with only a tiny fraction of artists earning meaningful income.

On top of all that, co-founder and former CEO Daniel Ek has heavily invested in a military AI tech company, causing several artists to abandon the platform. Another influential billionaire having financial incentives to root for amplifying wars around the world, what could go wrong.

Sustainable Alternatives

Here are some sustainable alternatives to Spotify

Qobuz

A French high-resolution, human-first music streaming service.

Qobuz offers an ad-free experience, providing a clean listening experience.
Qobuz is the first streaming service to publicly disclose and verify its average payout per stream, ensuring artists receive fair compensation.
Qobuz is based in France, ensuring compliance with GDPR and strong European privacy laws.
Qobuz actively labels and removes AI-generated and fraudulent tracks, protecting artists and the integrity of the platform.
Website

Ampwall

A platform for independent music by a public benefit company.

Ampwall does not welcome AI generated images and music on its platform. It will remove such content as soon as it's detected.
Artists only have to pay a yearly fee of $10, while 5% of all sales go to the payment processor (which is PayPal unfortunately).
Users don't have to pay to listen to music on Ampwall.
No registration is needed to listen to music on Ampwall.
Website

Deezer

A popular French music streaming service with a stance against AI generated music.

Deezer offers an ad-free experience for premium users, providing a clean listening experience.
Deezer actively labels and removes AI-generated and fraudulent tracks, protecting artists and the integrity of the platform.
Deezer is based in France, ensuring compliance with GDPR and strong European privacy laws.
Deezer offers a free, ad-supported tier, making music streaming accessible to all users.
Website

The 4 main issues with Spotify

Big Tech - Big Tech companies do not nourish people and planet. This is especially true in times of political tension.

Spotify is one of the largest music streaming companies, contributing to market monopolisation. Its dominance, alongside Apple Music and Amazon Music, controls over 90% of the U.S. paid music streaming market, stifling competition and limiting user choice. Source: RouteNote: Just 3 music services dominate 90% of the U.S. market

Privacy Concerns - User data is likely to be stored and used against users' best interest.

Spotify collects vast amounts of user data, including listening habits, location, and voice inputs, raising significant privacy concerns. The platform has faced GDPR fines for lack of transparency and data access issues.Source: European Data Protection Board: IMY issues fine against Spotify for transparency shortcomingsWired: All the Ways Spotify Tracks You—and How to Stop It (2021)

Lack of Transparency - Opacity in operations, data handling, or supply chains, making it difficult for users to understand practices.

Spotify’s artist compensation and data handling practices are notoriously opaque. The platform does not disclose how royalties are distributed to individual artists, and its data collection policies lack clarity and user control. Recently, Spotify made headlines again, because of its unethical practices regarding AI generated music. Such music has flooded users' recommondations, while Spotify profits by paying out less for such streams.Source: NexaTunes: Why Artists Are Quitting Spotify – And What It Reveals About the SystemTechRadar: Spotify has been filling your recommendations with fake artists and music it barely pays for, according to in-depth report (2024)

Exploitative Labor Practices - Poor working conditions and low wages for workers involved in production or services.

Spotify is known for its low payout rates for artists.Brian Merchant: How to quit Spotify (2025)