Reiterating for the millionth time: Spotify is European. You are obviously allowed to not like them for other reasons, but calling them non-European is simply untrue.
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
146 points (98.0% liked)
Buy European
9695 readers
235 users here now
Overview:
The community to discuss buying European goods and services.
Rules:
-
Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. No direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments.
-
Do not use this community to promote Nationalism/Euronationalism. This community is for discussing European products/services and news related to that. For other topics the following might be of interest:
-
Include a disclaimer at the bottom of the post if you're affiliated with the recommendation.
-
No russian suggestions.
Feddit.uk's instance rules apply:
- No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia.
- No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
- No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
- Do not share intentionally false or misleading information.
- Do not spam or abuse network features.
- Alt accounts are permitted, but all accounts must list each other in their bios.
- No generative AI content.
Useful Websites
-
General BuyEuropean product database: https://buy-european.net/ (relevant post with background info)
-
Switching your tech to European TLDR: https://better-tech.eu/tldr/ (relevant post)
-
Buy European meta website with useful links: https://gohug.eu/ (relevant post)
Benefits of Buying Local:
local investment, job creation, innovation, increased competition, more redundancy.
European Instances
Lemmy:
-
Basque Country: https://lemmy.eus/
-
๐ง๐ช Belgium: https://0d.gs/
-
๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria: https://feddit.bg/
-
Catalonia: https://lemmy.cat/
-
๐จ๐ฟCzech Republic https://lemmings.world/
-
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark, including Greenland (for now): https://feddit.dk/
-
๐ช๐บ Europe: https://europe.pub/
-
๐ซ๐ท๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ญ France, Belgium, Switzerland: https://jlai.lu/
-
๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐จ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฎ Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein: https://feddit.org/
-
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland: https://sopuli.xyz/ & https://suppo.fi/
-
๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland: https://feddit.is/
-
๐ฎ๐น Italy: https://feddit.it/
-
๐ฑ๐น Lithuania: https://group.lt/
-
๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/
-
๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands: https://feddit.nl/
-
๐ต๐ฑ Poland: https://fedit.pl/ & https://szmer.info/
-
๐ต๐น Portugal: https://lemmy.pt/
-
๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia: https://gregtech.eu/
-
๐ธ๐ช Sweden: https://feddit.nu/
-
๐น๐ท Turkey: https://lemmy.com.tr/
-
๐ฌ๐ง UK: https://feddit.uk/
Friendica:
-
๐ฆ๐น Austria: https://friendica.io/
-
๐ฎ๐น Italy: https://poliverso.org/
-
๐ฉ๐ช Germany: https://piratenpartei.social/ & https://anonsys.net/
-
๐ซ๐ท Significant French speaking userbase: https://social.trom.tf/
-
๐ต๐ฑ Poland: soc.citizen4.eu
Matrix:
-
๐ฌ๐ง UK: matrix.org & glasgow.social
-
๐ซ๐ท France: tendomium & imagisphe.re & hadoly.fr
-
๐ฉ๐ช Germany: tchncs.de, catgirl.cloud, pub.solar, yatrix.org, digitalprivacy.diy, oblak.be, nope.chat, hot-chilli.im, synod.im & rollenspiel.chat
-
๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands: bark.lgbt
-
๐ฆ๐น Austria: gemeinsam.jetzt & private.coffee
-
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland: pikaviestin.fi & chat.blahaj.zone
Related Communities:
Buy Local:
Continents:
European:
Buying and Selling:
Boycott:
Countries:
Companies:
Stop Publisher Kill Switch in Games Practice:
Banner credits: BYTEAlliance
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Yes. It's my go-to example for how we don't need US Americans for capitalists to fuck us over and spend all of their considerable influence to make the world worse.
There's also ~/Music/MP3
I'm thinking of self hosting my music, but I'm going to miss the discoverability of Spotify for new songs
When I used reddit, I had a multi-reddit mix that combined all the big music subreddits. Then on Fridays I would review that since new music drops then.
I feel like it could be replicated with an RSS feed
Did you meant ~/Music/Opus?
No. Because my mp3 directory was created long before 2012. And the actual data formats inside it are irrelevant. :)
Any alternative from europeen countries thst do not kwep defending Israel?
Piratebay is Swedish of it helps
It should be said that Deezer is owned mostly by Russian oligarch Len Blavatnik.
To me what matters most is not who owns it - on the grounds that all oligarchs are bastards - but where the HQ and operations are.
Written on the American Nazi platform Substack. The irony.
After getting Qobuz two months ago, my listening habits have changed; I listen to albums now instead of songs, and the quality provided by Qobuz is absolutely amazing!
You're not wrong to call them out, they have a plan to migrate:
Without meaning to, we would be contradicting the spirit of this newsletter. Something similar happened when we chose to host Choosing Europe on Substack. Regarding that subject we are still working on our own solution which is getting closer. It will likely be ready later in February or in early March.
I hate to say it, because I know people are not a huge fan of the company, but Spotify is European. They're Swedish.
That's mentioned in the article?
To be clear from the beginning, Spotify was founded in Sweden but now operates within financial structures that place it firmly inside the global Big Tech ecosystem.
Maybe article but not in the post
You get downvoted because Spotify has no place on the list of European alternatives despite it being based in Sweden for the reasons mentioned in the article, and yet you highlight them? Plus who cares about downvotes as there is no profile bound karma system.
True, but they have tons and tons of american investors and partners. They are firmly in that grip and also a shit company partnering with military surveillance tech as well as trying to stop paying their artists by stealing their work and making AI slop with it.
Nestle is also European and yet one of the worst companies in the world.
Just because a company is European, doesn't mean they aren't a horrible company that nobody should support or buy a single thing from.
Your client might have glitched out. It seems like you posted the same comment four times.
Thanks. Eternity hasn't been updated in 8 months, so maybe it is a bit buggy. I will go delete the extras.
load more comments
(3 replies)
I love Qobuz, pays artists well and its pricing is good
Same. Itโs what I use, I love that you can also BUY music though. Hard to recommend because their user experience needs a lot of work. (Eg. Canโt even change the language. Since Iโm in Germany I have no choice but to use German for the ui)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Someone mentioned it the other day, I switched and I'm happy with it so far. The main benefit for me is the native Linux app. It's so much less cluttered than Spotify. Android/Android Auto also work without issues. Good library at a good price.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I store my music locally
Do you have good sources for buying digital albums apart from bandcamp?
Iโve been using uk.7digital.com for multiple years. Quality is great, I can download FLAC, and I find their prices tend to be a bit lower than Qobuz (at least for the music I tend to listen to).
Thereโs been an occasion or two where the music I bought was no longer available (they donโt hold the distribution rights in perpetuity), but I download it right away and keep good backups locally (same as I would with my old CD rips because CDs donโt last forever either).
I accept that, as with anything digital, Iโm purchasing temporary right of access and take steps to secure it in case that access is removed or the company goes out of business.
[Edit: nothing against Qobuz, Iโve just been happy with 7digital for years and I donโt see Qobuz offering me a compelling reason to switch or 7digital offering me a compelling reasons to leave.]
MP3Caprice is Ukrainian and apparently a bit dodgy in that it doesn't pay the royalties it should. But I've bought from there in the past. These days I would use 7digital, although it's more expensive
I'm mostly a pirate but there have to be some internet stores left around. Try looking up the names of the songs you're interested in + "digital" maybe you're find a good site.
Navidrome.
Been self-hosting it for a while now and love it. Try Tempus if you're looking for a good Android client app.
Kinda related question: is there an EU version of Bandcamp?
I'd like to suppport smaller artists, and bandcamp's business model is great (I can stream an album before purchase)
I buy a lot from Bandcamp. https://subvert.fm/ is supposedly an alternative but it's not open yet and I'm not sure it is EU-only.
Hmm. Interesting, thanks!
As someone who switched to qobuz a few months ago, if you want to switch stick with it for at least 2 months because while it is missing some core features over Spotify and Tidal, I think I found I enjoy music more without those features. And I don't miss them as much anymore.
Yeah indeed! much better the whole albums instead of the endless spotify music diarrhea. Their music picks and magazine are great as well
Really glad Iโve found Qobuz.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I tried Deezer and I might stick with it. Out of my whole music library it was missing a very small percentage of songs that TBH I don't really care about. It sounds good and it doesn't push podcasts down your throat. The only issue I encountered after about 2 weeks of using it is that the UX is not as good as in the Spotify app. I can live with that if that means I won't contribute to the wealth of their CEO who's slowly turning evil. I love the recommendations algorithm. It doesn't feed you the same songs over and over again. In Spotify it feels like you're in a constant loop. Open the mix and it regurgitates the same songs you've been listening in the past month. Scroll down and you see the recently played. Open discover weekly and listen to AI slop. Deezer flags albums that might be AI generated garbage and that's another plus for me.
Qobuz is not available in my country (Romania) because I assume they just dont want money. Man, I hate geo-locking so much. It's one of the dumbest things in the world. Just shut up and take my money!
load more comments
(1 replies)
I use the family version of Qobuz. Comes to CAD $3.20/M per user, or CAD $38.40/Y per user.
They pay the artist super well, sound quality is good.
Some songs are missing, but can found in their store purchasing in other countries (for example, I not find some albums in their Canadian store, but I could find them in their U.S. store).
There is also AD free YouTube for missing songs. Or but them from Bandcamp during Bandcamp Fridays (for max artist revenue)
I find qobuzs song suggestions to be subpar to my liking and the music keeps buffering for only ten seconds compared to other services that load the whole song. Uk has pretty spotty signal so I end with lots of interruptions. Any advice on how to Improve?
That's fair you ask how to improve the signal. You could try to either bring down the music quality, or to download the songs.
Other than that, do what you can to avoid anything that will slow down your bandwidth.
I recently tried to switch from Spotify to Qobuz, had to give up basically immediately. Two reasons:
- Your can't put playlists in folders. At all. Like WTF.
- Every playlist was missing around 15% of all songs. Some favorites included. Going from 860 to just over 700 songs isn't really ok for me.
Surprisingly, 1) was a bigger deal breaker than 2). I need to find the time to check the other alternatives.
I recently made that switch and while the website to transfer playlists gave me errors and missing songs, they were actually in Qobuz nevertheless.
For 1 I canโt say as I donโt use folders.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
view more: next โบ