Use vanced Spotify and don't pay them at all. I don't use it cause I prefer to have my flac files stored locally and discovering new songs is stupid on Spotify (mostly mainstream bullshit) but for someone used to using Spotify it's a good choice.
You can definitely discover music outside of mainstream bullshit on Spotify, that's a terrible take. Storing FLAC is your prerogative I suppose, I get it. I won't say Spotify doesn't have its issues though.
That's probably because you're not using Spotify. I've been using Spotify using the family subscription of a friend of mine, and the recommendations are pretty good. Still not as good as they were on Apple Music, but hey, it's free for me.