The company is Access Industries and the Founder and Owner is Leonard Blavatnik

Along with what’s in the title, he is accused of reputation laundering against Ukraine and has been personally sanctioned by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was also part of a WhatsApp group involving some of the United States’ most powerful business leaders with the stated goals of “changing the narrative” in favour of Israel and “helping win the war” against Gaza.

Everything is in the linked Wikipedia article about him, mostly under the “Controversies and disputes” part.

I switched to Deezer after seeing it recommended as a better Spotify alternative here on Lemmy, but after finding all this I immediately stopped using it. It’s as bad as the shit Spotify does and has done IMO. I’m not here to recommend or push an alternative, but if I can give info on what I use now if someone asks.

    • ikt@aussie.zoneEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      The two sides of Lemmy, Just a few posts over users were raging that Spotify only pays out billions of dollars to artists, now you’re suggesting you just take their work and don’t pay for it at all

        • ikt@aussie.zoneEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          what is end stage capitalism? is this a euphemism for you can’t afford spotify?

          • cyborganism@piefed.caEnglish
            0·
            10 days ago

            Can’t afford any freakin thing, really.

            I want to go see a live show to encourage an artist directly? It costs an arm and a leg in fees because one company owns all the show ticket offices in all the venues.

            • ikt@aussie.zoneEnglish
              0·
              9 days ago

              damn! hope you are able to get a good job soon and make loads of money so you can afford things

              Spotify is really one of the best things ever invented for me :)

              • cyborganism@piefed.caEnglish
                0·
                9 days ago

                Or how about we break up the monopoly for the event tickets business and make the outrageous dynamic pricing tactic illegal so we can finally afford to go see live events at decent prices.

                • ikt@aussie.zoneEnglish
                  0·
                  9 days ago

                  how about we set our plans on more realistic goals like getting a job that pays well?

                  I’m not the government and neither are you, voters don’t prioritise this issue so suggesting we just pop on down and break up the ticket selling monopoly is essentially meaningless

                  • cyborganism@piefed.caEnglish
                    0·
                    9 days ago

                    You must be trolling.

                    Many artists have issues with the ticketing services and recognize there is a predatory monopoly. Even Taylor Swift has a problem with it.

                    And there are no normal jobs that pay enough to afford a regular music concert ticket at over 500$. Heck, I make 6 figures and couldn’t afford that with the current cost of living.

      • ebolapie@lemmy.world
        0·
        10 days ago

        If I were a musician it’d be hard to be mad at someone who pirated my music but still came to shows, and importantly bought merch

        Which is to say, dear reader, that if you pirate go buy a t-shirt or something. You need t-shirts anyway.