The article examines alternatives to Spotify for listeners troubled by its artist-payment model, investments and growing use of artificial intelligence. It argues that leaving Spotify is possible but involves trade-offs in cost, convenience and the effort needed to move music libraries.

Spotify remains the market leader, with 293 million paying subscribers and 761 million monthly active users, despite controversy over artist compensation and Daniel Ek’s $694 million investment in defence-technology company Helsing. The article also highlights concerns about AI-generated music and planned AI remix features, while noting that streaming royalties are not fixed per-stream payments but are generally divided from a pooled revenue pot after platforms take an estimated 30 per cent share.