Author says “one-time server setup + storage” but there are a few moving parts and always updates to handle so I’m sceptical this could be truly called ‘one time’ (or any selfhosting). Time will tell I guess. I enjoyed the article though and gave me food for thought.
Monthly Cost $9.99-$14.99 One-time server setup + storage
The problem is that’s not the monthly cost because (in addition to running a server not being a one time thing, they need maintenance) it’s not including the cost to actually buy all the music:
Digital purchases (Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, etc.)
Paying for 7808 albums in 1 year is unfeasible, so this is not a replacement for Spotify for me, it could be though if you only listen to a tiny amount of music, at current rate of $15 a month for me, it’s equal to like 1 album and like several smaller singles, if this is all you listen to in a month go for it.
That seems extremely high, can you explain your listening habits? Are you listening to all of those albums start to finish? Are you selecting each of those albums or just letting the algorithm run wild?
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So even if you broke it down to me just having to buy singles I’m still getting a ridiculous amount of value from Spotify
You have to remember that prior to Spotify the music industry was desperate, as people turned to downloading mp3’s illegally the music industry basically just resorted to suing people who potentially downloaded a song.
I’m also very highly sceptical of this whole article, from the crappy accounting to
Lidarr is just a tool. Like any tool, it can be misused. Yes, people could point it at less-than-legal sources
My setup uses sabnzbd integrated with Lidarr for handling downloads of content I’ve purchased
Riiiiiight.
You’re just hooked up into a piracy platform that pays artists nothing by coincidence.
On top of this:
In 2024, more musicians are making and releasing music than ever before. In fact, a new report has found that more music is released in a single day now than in the entire year of 1989.
Music simply isn’t a high value product anymore, the market is flooded, there is more music coming out per minute now than you can listen to.
But it’s all good, I’ll keep paying for Spotify because Spotify pays all the artists I listen to.
You’re essentially pirating music by using Spotify
As above, you can see the payout rates in the article… a liveable wage on just Spotify alone is not equivalent to piracy which pays artists nothing, this is on top of Apple Music etc
In 2024, Spotify alone paid out a record $10 billion to the music industry—totaling nearly $60 billion since our founding.
10 billion in a year is not piracy (which is $0), are you the author of the article?
Spotify gets artists music and name out there to hundreds of millions of people, people who become fans and buy their merch and go to their concerts - that’s where artists make music, NOT from album sales. The music from album sales basically all goes to the label and all the partners.
I see what you’re saying but nowhere else in that table is cost mentioned. Below the table they say maintanance is minimal. If you’re already looking after storage, containers and server(s) I guess that could be true.
Sorry re-reading my comments it’s not super clear what I meant: nowhere else in the table do they take account for the ‘hidden’ on-going maintenance of looking after a server/self-hosting. So this is the only row where they address ‘cost’ and I just thought it’s a bit optimistic to say replacing all of Spotify just costs a one time server setup and storage. I think you’re saying this row was only meant to indicate financial cost and I agree it’s basically accurate from that meaning. However this is only the ‘initial’ cost. For example a self-hosted server and storage will eventually have to be replaced whereas Spotify will just keep replacing their own servers and that’s already baked into the price of your subscription (caveat: that Spotify price will rise over time).
It’s not a big point really, maybe I’m nitpicking.
Author says “one-time server setup + storage” but there are a few moving parts and always updates to handle so I’m sceptical this could be truly called ‘one time’ (or any selfhosting). Time will tell I guess. I enjoyed the article though and gave me food for thought.
That quote relates to financial expenses compared to monthly Spotify subscription, not time and effort.
The problem is that’s not the monthly cost because (in addition to running a server not being a one time thing, they need maintenance) it’s not including the cost to actually buy all the music:
For me:
https://www.last.fm/user/ikt123/listening-report/year
Paying for 7808 albums in 1 year is unfeasible, so this is not a replacement for Spotify for me, it could be though if you only listen to a tiny amount of music, at current rate of $15 a month for me, it’s equal to like 1 album and like several smaller singles, if this is all you listen to in a month go for it.
That seems extremely high, can you explain your listening habits? Are you listening to all of those albums start to finish? Are you selecting each of those albums or just letting the algorithm run wild?
Majority of music is in albums, nearly 12,000 different tracks listened to, but most are singles, I rarely listen to albums from start to finish
I listen to a lot of music in general
https://aussie.zone/post/19441027/16055498
Also I figured out you can turn off the payola:
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This will opt you out of receiving sponsored recommendations and personalized ads generally across our product. If you turn off Tailored ads, you will continue receiving podcast ads in your Premium account, but they will not be tailored to you.
So even if you broke it down to me just having to buy singles I’m still getting a ridiculous amount of value from Spotify
If only the same could be said for the artists you’re listening to…
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-01-28/on-our-10-billion-milestone-and-a-decade-of-getting-the-world-to-value-music/
You have to remember that prior to Spotify the music industry was desperate, as people turned to downloading mp3’s illegally the music industry basically just resorted to suing people who potentially downloaded a song.
I’m also very highly sceptical of this whole article, from the crappy accounting to
Riiiiiight.
You’re just hooked up into a piracy platform that pays artists nothing by coincidence.
On top of this:
Music simply isn’t a high value product anymore, the market is flooded, there is more music coming out per minute now than you can listen to.
But it’s all good, I’ll keep paying for Spotify because Spotify pays all the artists I listen to.
The standard payment to an artist on Spotify is “$0.003 to $0.005 per stream”: https://simplebeen.com/artists-make-on-spotify/
That is basically nothing for any artist that isn’t in the top tier of mainstream success.
You’re essentially pirating music by using Spotify, you are not paying the artists that you listen to in any meaningful way.
Did you not read your own article you linked to?
https://simplebeen.com/artists-make-on-spotify/
As above, you can see the payout rates in the article… a liveable wage on just Spotify alone is not equivalent to piracy which pays artists nothing, this is on top of Apple Music etc
10 billion in a year is not piracy (which is $0), are you the author of the article?
Spotify gets artists music and name out there to hundreds of millions of people, people who become fans and buy their merch and go to their concerts - that’s where artists make music, NOT from album sales. The music from album sales basically all goes to the label and all the partners.
Spotify is good for artists.
I think this assumes piracy
Or ripping the CDs you’ve amassed over 10-15 years.
(But it’s probably sailing the high seas)
Eh at this point it’s easier to download even the stuff you already have on CD
I’ve had it going for months now. Navidrome is very reliable and with docker, super easy to update should you so please.
The rolling cost is my internet, which I’d have whether I’d have Navidrome or not.
Another bump for navidrome, I’ve been using it for 4 years and it’s the best.
Oh my goose! I love them! 💖
I see what you’re saying but nowhere else in that table is cost mentioned. Below the table they say maintanance is minimal. If you’re already looking after storage, containers and server(s) I guess that could be true.
Are we looking at the same table? It says it’s about cost in the left column. Or am I misunderstanding your post?
Sorry re-reading my comments it’s not super clear what I meant: nowhere else in the table do they take account for the ‘hidden’ on-going maintenance of looking after a server/self-hosting. So this is the only row where they address ‘cost’ and I just thought it’s a bit optimistic to say replacing all of Spotify just costs a one time server setup and storage. I think you’re saying this row was only meant to indicate financial cost and I agree it’s basically accurate from that meaning. However this is only the ‘initial’ cost. For example a self-hosted server and storage will eventually have to be replaced whereas Spotify will just keep replacing their own servers and that’s already baked into the price of your subscription (caveat: that Spotify price will rise over time).
It’s not a big point really, maybe I’m nitpicking.
Oh I see, that’s right! It’s not something we selfhosters usually admit when comparing costs I’d say :-)
Fingers crossed but I spun up a Navidrome container a couple of years ago, let Watchtower handle the updates, and never touched it again so far.