I can’t speak much about the money making stuff, but I’ve read that most music artists make the majority of their income through touring and ticket sales for their live performances at venues, music festivals as well as attending other private events etc - and this goes back to even pre-Spotify days. So Spotify not paying artists well doesn’t really make a big difference. In fact, I’d argue that Spotify actually brings artists publicity, much like how mp3 sharing did back in the day, or the radio for that matter. I’ve discovered many artists via radio back in the day, much like how I discover them today via Spotify’s recommendations, and personally, I don’t see the issue.

Anyways, as a former audiophile, I’ve decided to choose convenience over perceived audio quality, so I use Spotify. Mind you, it’s not like I don’t perceive any difference at all, but the point is, for my day-to-day listening, it makes little difference - especially when most of my listening is in generally noisy environments like at work or during my commute. Also, Spotify streams at 320kbps Ogg Vorbis (on a good connection) - you’d need to have really good ears and gear to actually hear a difference between that and an uncompressed stream. Even then, it’s not like it makes a difference if you’re say just listening to pop and rock music or something.

It’s not like I’ve completely given up on lossless audio - I do use my audiophile gear when I’m in the mood and want to listen to certain tracks like say some of Pink Floyd atmospheric stuff like in A Momentary Lapse of Reason, or say John Williams, or classical music like Tchaikovsky or Vivaldi, but these are just a small fraction of my listening experience.

So if you are blessed with the ears and gear to actually make out the difference between 320kbps ogg vs FLAC/DSD, AND you listen to the kind of music where it really matters AND you care enough about that difference that it affects your enjoyment - then sure, go for Tidal. Otherwise, there’s no point.

Thanks, I appreciate your kind words. I’m in IT (sysadmin) and would prefer to work remote, but tbh I don’t really care at this point. At first I was a bit choosy because of my overconfidence, but now I’m open for anything - even part time, short term etc - across the whole country even. Applied for several dozens of jobs so far, only had one interview call and I blew it - my mind went blank on a simple python question, although I nailed the rest of the interview, I guess they weren’t impressed when I said I knew python (which I did, but… oh well). I do have another interview coming up, but my confidence has taken a big hit. I used to think I knew this shit inside out and companies would be lining up to hire me, but boy was I wrong. It’s come to the point where I’m willing to take a 40% paycut and go back to tier 1 roles… not like I haven’t applied for tier 1 stuff but I friking didn’t even get an interview call, or let alone a rejection mail, so yea, I’m seriously doubting myself at this point.

I’ve been unemployed for 6 months now. Resigned from my old job because I was fed up with how I was getting treated. In hindsight, it was probably a rash decision, but I never expected that getting a new job, with all my skills and experience, would be this difficult. I completely chew thru all my savings, sold half of my stuff, and even ended up borrowing money from my folks to survive. I’m glad my parents were able to help me out, but I feel pretty bad asking them for money when they’ve been retired for years, and it should be me supporting them instead. It really sucks, it feels like I failed my parents and failed at life, especially when I keep hearing stories of how well off my cousins are, how they’re married, own a house, own a car, have kids etc and meanwhile I’m still single, flatting, and don’t have any assets worth mentioning. Sigh.