If you re-frame Spotify as a way to discover music, it's not worthless.

Feel free to use Spotify to find artists and give them money however you want.

Also, nobody is stopping you from spending your time finding new music and giving money as directly as possible to the artist.

Spotify can be seen as a way to increase your exposure to new music, and for that it might be worth the $XX/month to many people, the ability to stream/cache it is a nice addition, but you don't have to rely on it as a way to give money (a pittance) to artists you like.

> If you re-frame Spotify as a way to discover music, it's not worthless.

It is to me, though. I don't need another way to discover music. I have that well-covered.

> have that well-covered.

Could you share your secrets?

No secrets. I get recommendations from my friends, I keep track of what musicians/producers/etc. were involved in producing music that I love, and seek out what other works they were involved in, etc. I pay attention to incidental music I come across and pursue it.

I've been doing this for decades and as a result, I have a very eclectic collection that covers almost all genres. This approach may not work for everyone, but it works very well for me.

Sounds like you’re not in Spotify’s market if you don’t want to stream and you don’t care about discovery. It’s probably not the right service for you.

That's exactly what I was saying, yes. Bandcamp, however, is right up my alley.