Since they believe that they are the landlord and you are a tenant using their product so ... !

If you don't own the music/games/movies you pay for, you are always the product.

The whole notion of "If you're not the product, then you're the product" died a while ago.

Now, you're paying for the product, and you continue to be the product.

Paying for the product = monthly/yearly subscription You're the product = unique identifiers, data mining/harvesting, tracked across the web, etc. Perhaps even training some AI models in the background, too.

I don't use Spotify anymore. But I also don't listen to "tons of different music". I have about 200 albums on Bandcamp and I pick up something new every couple weeks. I'm paying money, sometimes as much as a subscription, but I get to keep the music. It supports the artists. Sometimes they even send you a personal message.

Bandcamp got bought by epic and that sucks, but they're still the best music service I know.

I cancelled my subscription. They're upping the price for the listening even though they've been steadily cutting the payouts to independent artists for years. Support small artists instead.

Install ViMusic on Android and all your problems are gone. https://f-droid.org/packages/it.vfsfitvnm.vimusic/

I also pay for Premium and get these ads. I always think it's funny because it's never anything I'd ever actually want to listen to

Buy CDs from the artists you like, and then rip them to .flac using Exact Audio Copy! 😁

Never understood why anyone would want to rent their music in the first place. As good as the service may be when you sign up for it, you know it will eventually turn to shit as they're trying to monetize every last cent out of it, and then your only choices are to endure the shit or to quit the service and be left with nothing.

I stopped using Spotify when I paid for premium a few years ago And they kept interrupting me to remind me that I was listening ad-free lol

You can disable it pretty easily in the settings. I wish more apps let you opt out of ads so easily.

I couldn't deal with Spotify constantly pushing its industry plant artists and those paying to get into my recommendations. Fuck this company for not giving a shit about your actual tastes

Apple Music pays musicians, Qobuz pays the best and costs the most

They both sound really good. If you have the money and are willing to compromise on a few things than Qobuz is the nice one

There's also Tidal. Which pays well but is a buggy mess

Soon it will be pay for Spotify on the same tier but also hear ad's.

I dropped Spotify and starting using iBroadcast and haven't looked back. Glad to cut another subscription.

Navidrome may help

..I'm still the product?

Yes. You always will be with any corporate streaming service.

I complained about this to their support one time

They gave me a month free lol

You are also the product coz they keep raping your data and selling it to advertisers on other platforms.