If something's finally going to force the industry to curb its bullshit, this might just be it. Once you annoy normal people, it's all over. They seriously underestimate how many people would just stop using Spotify, or Youtube, or whatever other platform it is

Not sure about all those political experiments in the internet. Maybe they just don't like HTTP ? Maybe it's time to make HTTP to join BBS ?

Its as if law makers don't learn from history. Do they not know what happened in the 90s and early 2000s when stores wouldn't sell M rated video games or CDs with mature content labels? We found ways to get around that. We would go to stores that didn't check or care, got our older sibling or friend to buy it for us. We burned copies of our friends CDs, or downloaded stuff off line with Limewire and Napster.

Same shit when there was prohibition in the US. People drove cars across the great lakes to bring alcohol into the US. People brewed there own spirits in bathtubs with radiator coils.

If people want to anomalously watch their favorite weird kinky shit or listing to music they like, they're going to find a way. And, if the easiest way to do that is through piracy, that is what they are going to do.

Bring it on! Sail the high seas. Yargh!

Never had a Spotify account, and I never will. I have apple one, but Im kinda forced into that because of the other half. But if Apple pulls this shit, Im not paying for it. I VPN everything, but I still wont support any company that complies with this bullshit with my money.

Ngl, right now I'm endevouring to acquire more music in digital file format rather than streaming right now. Spotify is great, especially when your looking for individual songs that you'll only listen to a handful of times, and for discovering music, but once you lose access to it you're pretty fucked.

as an independent artist I just wanna add: the best thing you can do to support artists and bands is to buy directly / on bandcamp. spotify pays shit to artists, you need millions of listeners to get any meaningful amount of cash

of course that isn’t a sustainable option if you listen to a lot of different music. so piracy is an option that I wouldn’t mind. hell, if you like my stuff and just write to me I’ll send you mp3s for free

...funnily enough, it may actually be better for musicians if people left spotify, considering the absolute pennies they pay per stream.

Should never have left it behind to be honest.

You should already be doing that anyways with the phantom artists scandal, thousands of fake artists made with AI so Spotify doesn't have to pay real people.

You're way better off with your own music collection. That is what I have. I use Tauon music box it handles large playlists well.

Welcome back 🏴‍☠️🦜

I mean, fuck Spotify and all that, but this one is really the UK government's doing.

And soon, this shit will come to every country. They're all drafting laws to mandate real age verification for adult content. The UK is just the first to implement it.

You aren't wrong, it is the government's ham fisted and poorly thought out legislation... I fact the last government's that this one inexplicably pushed on with despite it not being anything like a priority for the electorate. I'm frankly shocked at how many unforced errors this government is making given how "not being as rubbish as the last lot" was not a high bar to clear.