There's a reason Spotify might force shuffle play on the free tier. It isn't solely to annoy you into upgrading. Royalties are 2x - 5x higher for interactive vs non-interactive streaming plays.
Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
21–30 of 192 posts
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't that how every streaming service does it?
The only evidence I can find is with Spotify doing this.
Amazon Originals, Netflix Originals. Disney Originals. Paramount Originals. I'm just wondering what is different between series and music, that for music its very bad morally to create your own and to put your own in the front row. While for other streaming its accepted.
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#23Regardless of pricing you can't substitute one with the other... Spotify is a streaming service with a massive library. Self hosting means you must BYO media... and, news flash, populating a library with relevant content that rivals Spotify or would satisfy your average user will almost certainly require illegally acquiring said content.
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also commission music from "ghost artists" that they can pay a fix rate, then place said artists in popular playlists to reduce royalty payouts.
Isn't that how every streaming service does it?
A) It's not how every streaming service does it, and B) this is whataboutism. Even if it was true, it doesn't make Spotify less shitty.
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#25Dumb question, where do you actually buy digital copy of music these days? Or find a big library of music that you can download.
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#26What do people do to stream to their phones. The article just mentions Wireguard, but how is the media actually played?
https://Symfonium.app is a good player for Android
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#27Spotify is the only streaming service I still pay for, and I will continue to pay for, because:
1. The catalog is comprehensive. I listen to far more music than I could afford to own. 2. There are no advertisements in the paid service. 3. Their music discovery algorithm is excellent.
I also appreciate the yearly statistics, and how they continue to add value for me. Podcasts and eBooks being added to the platform was cool. I like to make "taste combo" playlists with friends. Really one of the only companies I genuinely feel deserves my money.
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#28A couple of points missed for why Spotify is bad: - Paying musicians cheap wages to make boring music (ghost artists) for playlists they promote: https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machin... - Not paying musicians anything at all if they don't have enough streams: https://www.engadget.com/spotify-confirms-it-wont-offer-payo... - Not preventing the deluge of AI-generated music flooding the platform:…
They also commission music from "ghost artists" that they can pay a fix rate, then place said artists in popular playlists to reduce royalty payouts.
gotta mix in a little baby powder, ya know?
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#29There are lots of reasons to dislike Spotify but a frustration of mine with the "I ditched Spotify" discourse is that it hides the ball. As this article quietly acknowledges at the end: ditching streaming services either means spending a lot more money or listening to a lot less music.
To be clear I think either option is fine, but those seem like the important aspects of the change. If you are going to spend 10x more on music by buying from artists - you can probably also afford to keep a streaming service. Spotify does suck so go to [1] or Tidal[2]. The thing that matters to artists is getting money. If you're going to radically alter your media consumption habits that's great too but again seems like the real story.
If we are serious about convincing people to use alternatives to highly controlled streaming media I think we should ground our conversations about it in the practical choices that come with making ethical choices.
[1] Qobuz has the highest per-stream pay rate in the industry by like 40%. https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover
[2] Tidal is the widely-available service with the second-highest pay rate. https://tidal.com/
Re: Self hosting my media library with Jellyfin and Wireguard on Hetzner
#30Dumb question, where do you actually buy digital copy of music these days? Or find a big library of music that you can download.
Qobuz and 7digital both have extensive libraries of high quality music.
Edit: and of course bandcamp exists but I wouldn't call their collection extensive.