this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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Music Piracy Is Back in a Big Way (www.wired.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
176 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Visits to music piracy websites went up more than 13 percent last year, a new report says. The majority of those visits were to sites that allow users to download the audio from YouTube URLs.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I know this does not make me look good - but I am a YouTube Premium subscriber. I had Spotify, but they jacked up their family plan rate, and it was only a few bucks cheaper than Premium, then I got the ad-free (without adblockers). I mostly did it to help my kids avoid the toxic ads that are littered into the kid content. The main reason I stick with some of this stuff is for the discovery. Pandora was great, Spotify is ok.

Regardless - the smart playlists, and AI stuff on YouTube music is AWFUL. I cannot put into words how bad it is. Spotify got it right about 1/4-1/2 of the time. YouTube, maybe 1/100. Constantly recommending a country, which I cannot stand. When it isn't doing country, it recommends hard rock/metal which I also do not listen to. I feel like I need a new way to find music, then I could sever ties with all these trashy subscriptions.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

I have started buying vinyl with the digital downloads when I find a great album. I feel better doing it this way. Most of my music is not super big name artists.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Not been my experience. Yt music playlists are really good for me and I've discovered a lot of new music through it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

That surprises me, but I suppose it had to work for some listeners or they wouldn't have gotten it past testing. I have even tried clearing my listen history and starting over - still comes up with country and (going to clarify) 'metal' . I like rock and alternative and some forms of pop, as well as a bit of hip hop. cannot fathom why it suggests what it does.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Do you ever thumb down anything, or do you just skip the stuff you don't like?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Every time. I am not sure it actually changes anything. I have submitted feedback and bug reports to YTM as well. Just generic replies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I dunno, sorry to hear about your experience. I've never had a thumb downed song come back up, not ever. And it absolutely affects what kinds of things come up in my radios.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I feel you. Feels like the algorithm just does whatever now, on main YouTube and Shorts it is awful as well, constantly showing me the same 5 shorts and recommending me channels I have asked to "not recommend" multiple times. No amount of disliking and clicking "Not Interested" seems to help, at least not for longer than a day.

[–] beefsquatch 1 points 9 months ago

I never thumbs up or down and I find the recommended albums and "Mixed for your" playlists are pretty accurate. I hate that my grandfathered price went up last December tho

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I just listen to playlists that people make or youtube videos of song genres or artists that I like.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Soulseek if you don't mind data hoarding.

I have yt premium for the same reason. Toddlers have little patience for ads on their Kindle fire, and they get upset when they click one to buy a luxury watch and can't figure out how to get back to cocomelon.

I actually like the service and feel it's fairly priced. So I don't mind paying for it. I stream yt music all day at work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I still havent found anything can match the experience of finding music from online discussions or list hopping on RYM.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Last fm users with similar taste can be a gold mine

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Same boat here. My God it's unbearable how bad YouTube premium is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I get good value out of it...

.....That being said, I curate my own feed heavily, and still have to use a ton of add-ons to keep from going insane - fuck your shorts YouTube.

It is admittedly terrible.