Most streaming services are bad, morally-speaking. Capitalism, eh? And it seems like they’re getting worse. The big-ticket malpractice is occurring via Spotify, because it’s the largest music-streaming platform in the world, thanks to a base of 713 million active monthly users. So, when Spotify is resistant to denouncing the ICE recruitment ads running on its platform, or when CEO Daniel Elk invests $600 million into the A.I. military defense company Helsing, more people are aware of it. These business decisions have led to American boycotts of the service (and a push for users to cancel their subscriptions). But this isn’t just about Spotify’s CEO using his own money to back war criminals. It’s also worth mentioning, again, that A.I.-generated “artists” are present on many of Spotify’s charts. “Art,” if you can call it that, being made by algorithms and machine-learning models is getting legitimate, valuable rewards from Spotify—like Sienna Rose, an A.I.-generated artist that had three songs in the Spotify Top 50 in January. The streamer ought to take a page out of Sweden’s book and ban A.I. artists from its charts (it won’t).
Apple Music, which is generally considered to be the “better alternative” to Spotify, is no better. Apple just completed its second-largest acquisition ever: Q.ai, an Israeli stealth startup company whose A.I. software uses infrared light to determine speech, emotions, and vital signs based on facial micro-movements. This purchase, which cost Apple nearly $2 billion (only their acquisition of Beats cost more), is a bad deal. As Interval reported, Q.ai’s process not only blurs the line between whisper-detection and thought-adjacent reading, but it “raises real questions about where ‘private’ interactions end and surveillance begins.” This technology will likely assist Apple in its desire to create an A.I.-powered wearable pin, AirPods with cameras, and smart glasses. Late last year, Apple was also sued by IRAdvocates for “its false and deceptive marketing practices as it relates to its critical mineral sourcing from the Democratic Republic of Congo.” The minerals at issue are cobalt and coltan, and the advocacy group previously sued Tesla and Apple over cobalt sourcing, though the case was dismissed by a court judge. What’s going on in the Congo has been dwarfed by Spotify’s wrongdoings, at least in conversations online and/or across the newswire, but it’s still a pertinent human rights issue.
“But, TIDAL!” is what many of my Spotify and Apple Music-dissenting friends have said. Unfortunately, TIDAL is owned by Block Inc., a company with the Vanguard Group and BlackRock listed as major investors (BlackRock owns 40.25 million shares; Vanguard holds 67.11 million), and both Vanguard and BlackRock have been implicated in aiding Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine and genocide against Palestinians. TIDAL being the best pay-per-stream entity is meritorious but not excusable when its association with Zionists and companies propping up Israeli arms transfers is just quiet enough to fly under most folks’ noses. So that’s a no-go. I hear Qobuz, though it’s small and newer and has a much more frustrating user-interface, has become a desirable alternative. Plus, you can stream Joanna Newsom’s catalogue on Qobuz.
Thankfully Bandcamp continues to be a light. Last month, the streamer banned A.I.-generated music. And, in getting rid of music and audio generated wholly or substantially by A.I., Bandcamp has placed an emphasis on real artists, wanting “musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans.” With that, the company also banned usage of A.I. tools to impersonate artists or styles, which falls in accordance with its “existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement. How easy is it going to be to detect A.I. music, or even the degree to which some recordings use A.I.? I’m not sure. At the end of the day, a stance doesn’t always lead to results. Corporate promises are as good as political ones. But, at a time when a streamer like Spotify is making conscious efforts to develop “reasonable” A.I. products, Bandcamp’s stance is a pretty good one.
In March 2020, Bandcamp created “Bandcamp Friday,” a counteractant to music-business losses during COVID-19: venues closing, tour cancellations, layoffs. For nearly six years, Bandcamp has waived its own revenue share and given 100% of the funds to artists and labels. According to its website, the initiative has generated upwards of $120 million in revenue for those musicians and their labels. “In addition to helping artists pay the rent, or fund album recordings and tours, Bandcamp Fridays have also become a beacon for artists and record labels looking to raise awareness for causes or raise money for charities. The streamer has set aside eight dates in 2026, including February 6, for Bandcamp Friday—including March 6, May 1, August 7, September 4, October 2, November 6, and December 4.
I’ve been a Bandcamp user since pre-pandemic, but I always try to make a purchase or two on Bandcamp Friday when I have the means to do so. I highly recommend grabbing a download of Joshua Chuquimia Crampton’s new album, Anata. It’s a challenging, overwhelming noise-guitar record, but it’s already one of the most impressive releases of this still-young year (it’s our highest-rated record so far). In preparation for tomorrow’s event, I’ve gone ahead and picked a couple of January records that I’ve either already purchased or will be putting in my cart and recommend to anybody looking to help out an artist or two.
Serpent Column, Aion of Strife
An angular, textural black metal record I found recently and have been enjoying. It’s too bad that Serpent Column’s leader, Jimmy Hamzey, has already canned the group, because Aion of Strife is a fascinating compendium of impressive ideas: weird time signatures; big metalcore riffs; abrasive, somehow-catchy rhythms. I like the track “Scherzo for a Dead Republic” a lot.
Mary Lattimore & Julianna Barwick, Tragic Magic
In 2025, the Musée de la Musique museum in France asked vocalist Julianna Barwick and harpist Mary Lattimore to use some of its artifacts to write music. Barwick and Lattimore obliged and wrote Tragic Magic together, a gentle ambient album full of weightless, celestial singing bodies and dainty, feathered harp plucks. These songs, even in their lightness, tell stories: “The Four Sleeping Princesses,” “Temple of the Winds,” “Melted Moon”—there’s history in this perfection, brought to life across nine days at the Philharmonie de Paris. And tucked into the fold is a generous cover of “Rachel’s Song,” a standout from Vangelis’ Blade Runner.
Mr. Dibbs, Ohio Dirt
The Cincinnati-bred Mr. Dibbs—aka Scribble Jam’s co-founder—took a few-dozen hours of sampled music, all of which Dibbs accrued over the last however-many years, and came out with two 18-minute tracks. The man is a crate digger like no other, and he’s stamped Ohio Dirt with a “For Advanced Placement Students Only” sticker. According to the Bandcamp description, Mr. Dibbs filled his 40-minute ambition with “hundreds of circuit-bent toys, synthesizers, keyboards, drum machines, Euro rack modules, and obscure dialogue” that were then deconstructed, sampled, and made into Ohio Dirt. It’s being labeled as “chaos math” and there’s no other way to describe it. “S’CURITY” is an astonishing side one, but don’t sleep on its foil: the breakbeat-heavy, voice-clip-accentuated “SPEEDBEARD.”
Euphoria Again & Dogwood Tales, Destination Heaven
Euphoria Again and Dogwood Tales got together and made a record called Destination Heaven, and it’s a pretty lovely thing with inspired arrangements galore. “Prelude” is a damn majestic sprawl (one of the finest releases of this entirely-too-short year so far), while “Candy” and “Nah Nah Nah” erupt in colossal jams. “At Least I’m Not Lonely Tonight” is a 6-minute folk gas, and “Slackers & Go Getters” kicks up a fuss with splintering guitars and highway croons. The last track, a roaring and rambling cover of Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers’ “Albuquerque,” is a faithful, exciting tribute to one of the greatest songs of all time. The fruits of making an album in the Shenandoah Valley are immense, though I suppose your take on an album like this comes down to how much room you’ve got to spare for more songs full of pedal steel and multi-layered singing. Lucky for me, I’ve got a lot of real estate in my heart for a record like this.
username / Marsh crane, OVERTIME
The title track from username and Marsh crane’s new LP OVERTIME is an early Song of the Year candidate for me. It’s nothing fancy, just pretty good footwork interwoven with rap and sampledelica. The use of Millie B’s “M to the B” is excellent food for the brainrotten doom-scroller, and scratches of IDM, house music, and hoop-mixtape runoff make these next-gen collagists sound like mad scientists. “REPETITION” is such a fun song, too—thanks to samples of Lil Wayne talking about record spins and rotations. username and Marsh crane want us to dance, so why don’t we?
T.Y., Hot Wheel City
I came for the name but stayed for the Michigan punk’s party. This is smack-you-upside-the-head rock and roll that combines old-school chant-y scuzz with cursive riffs. Hot Wheel City is an excellent title for anything, let alone a sub-10-minute EP of fast, full-throttle riffage. “Get Knocked Down” is a white-hot missile, while “H.O.V.” (which begins with a sample of “Jerk alert!,” but not from The Goonies) is real check-my-mirrors, watch-my-back shit. T.Y. sound like all the blood is rushing to their heads. Hot Wheel City is toothy, no-frills guitar music about to burst into flames. Get on or get out.
