Spotify re-invented the radio

When I was a kid, I would go buy a CD basically every paycheck/allowance, for probably around $15-$20 of '03 money. 12ish tracks. I would add basically about 30 tracks to my collection per month for $30-$40. And even though I owned those (as long as my little brother didn't fuck up the disc), I could only access the handful that I could carry with me. If you told 15-17 year old me, that for $11 a month I could access basically any music I could think of instantly, anywhere, I would've been like "sure, and then we'll listen in our flying cars, right?"

There are lots of things that absolutely suck about modern life and the enshittification presented here, but music fans have it pretty good.

I remember the early days when iPods were still a thing and you had to buy music on iTunes. I don't miss that at all. Imagine the price of buying every individual song of your current Spotify playlist, you're getting a steal in comparison now.
- Precisely. Tbh I would be comfortable paying more but only if it went to artists. At some point there will come a time when I go back to the 7 seas for music (especially given hdd sizes and the ease of streaming from your own library) but I feel pretty far from that at the moment especially as it's the free tiers mostly that have been getting enshittified. But I think that's roughly the lessons of the 2010's - free products on the internet are either a loss leader to get you subscribing, or they're probably selling your data to everyone.
  Even then, the free versions of Spotify/Pandora are miles ahead of radio when I was a kid. Pick one of three stations that caters entirely to mainstream normies and then have a third of your time spent listening to ads and shitty DJs.

Same but if you want to support the artist, streaming services aren't the way to do it

Buy merch and stream is the best I can come up with that makes it easy for me to listen to the music I want and support the artist.
- If they have it, direct support is the best way. Like Patreon for instance.
- Ya merch is by far the best, if you buy it cash at a show then that's cash right in hand for them
  I pirate all my music digitally. Then if I like a release, I buy it on vinyl, or if too expensive/unavailable on vinyl, I buy a shirt.
Resonate is a good alternative streaming service for folks who don’t want to feel locked in (https://resonate.coop/) Not as clean as Spotify but pretty decent for something bootstrapped.

Me neither, but I do mind paying a subscription for a shitty service that does not let me actually own anything and changes the rules every year.

I have no clue what you're talking about. I've had Spotify premium for 5-ish years and nothing has randomly changed. The UI changed a bit here and there but nothing you couldn't ignore if you wanted to and that's it. I get all the music on the planet and podcasts, it's a good deal if you ask me
That's why we pay for a good service instead. The subscription is a fraction of a cost you'd get from paying to "own" the media, and it's not like you still can't combine the two either. It's not one or the other.
And this is why I buy vinyl.
How do you combine a subscription service with having ownership of the media? If you're not happy with Spotify just got to iTunes or the likes and buy the individual songs. Or what am I missing here?

This is why I tried to buy all my albums through Bandcamp... but Bandcamp has a new owner that fired half the staff and I'm worried they're gonna get enshittified.

…for a reasonable fee, without ads.

Spotify matches that description.
- For now.
  E: y’all downvoters think Spotify isn’t gonna enshittify? Good luck with that.
Just curious, how much would buying an album cost you, and how big is your actual music playlist? Then let me know if it's not a reasonable fee.
- A CD cost ~$16-19 depending on how new a release it was. $6-12 used. Obviously not all songs are gonna be desirable on each CD.
  I can buy a new album now for $12-15 on iTunes.
  I spend ~$13/mo for my Spotify. About half of that time is listening to music I have saved as favorites (IOW not new), the rest listening to new podcasts and looking for new music.
  No ads.
  So I am absolutely getting my money’s worth in a per-month cost of new music/podcast vs what buying 1 old release or used CD would have cost. I get way more music and entertainment than I would buying one or even 2 used CDs a month.
  
  I wouldn't have the physical space for the amount of CDs that I would need

Arrr, ye be jokin', matey! Payin' for tunes instead of sailin' the seas?

I only sail the seas when the industry is forcing my hand to do so by refusing to provide either adequate service, adequate coverage or reasonable pricing.
I'll have to dust off my tricorn soon if the industry keeps onto that trajectory.

We are not the same.