Artists and listeners are increasingly leaving Spotify following controversy over CEO Daniel Ek's €600m investment in Helsing, a German defence technology company developing AI-driven autonomous weapons. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, and Deerhoof have all removed their catalogues from the platform.
Switching services is straightforward as there are no lock-in contracts. Cancelling a subscription through account settings retains premium features until the next payment is due. Apple Music has improved significantly, offering over 100m songs, music videos, lossless and spatial audio. It costs £10.99 per month with a free trial, and family plans are £16.99. It works on Android as well as Apple devices.
YouTube Music is included with YouTube Premium (£12.99 per month), providing over 100m songs and ad-free videos. Amazon Music comes with Amazon Prime (£8.99 per month) and offers over 100m songs, podcasts, and playlists. Amazon Music Unlimited (£11.99 per month) adds lossless and spatial audio.
Tidal is known for better artist compensation and high audio quality, with over 100m tracks, 650,000 videos, and concert live streams for £10.99 per month. Other alternatives include Bandcamp, Napster, Qobuz, and Pandora. To transfer playlists, services like SongShift (iOS) or Soundiiz (web) can help, with free options for single playlists or paid for bulk transfers.
