Music Piracy Is Back in a Big Way—Especially From YouTube
www.wired.com
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.

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.

  • Thanks4Nothing@lemm.eeEnglish
    522·
    10 months ago

    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.

    • Thanks4Nothing@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      10 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.

    • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
      7·
      10 months ago

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

      • Thanks4Nothing@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        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.

          • Thanks4Nothing@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

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

            • IronKrill@lemmy.caEnglish
              1·
              10 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.

            • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
              1·
              10 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.

          • beefsquatchEnglish
            1·
            10 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

    • Euphoma@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

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

    • downhomechunk@midwest.socialEnglish
      2·
      10 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.

    • AVeryCleverName@lemmy.oneEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

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

      • datavoid@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        10 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.