[toomuchtodo]

You're "stealing" (if you can even call it that) from Spotify, not artists. As of July 2025, Spotify has a market cap of $145.48B USD. This makes Spotify the world's 118th most valuable company by market cap. They'll be fine. No one has a right to revenue or profit.

Mental models differ, it is what it is. Stealing from artists is of course always poor form, don't do that.

[sbarre]

Curious where exactly do you draw your line when it comes to who it's ok to steal from and who it's not? Do you have a formula or something?

Or is just an arbitrary bar of convenience that you set case-by-case depending on how you want to feel about it?

> No one has a right to revenue or profit.

I certainly didn't imply anything this universal. But as a society we do have laws, and if you engage with Spotify's product, you agree to their terms, and in that very specific context they do have a legal right to see their terms held up.

Now.. will they go after you for bypassing their ads? Probably not. Will your actions have a negative impact on them? Again, nope.. I definitely agree with you that they'll be fine..

But then the people who make these products that facilitate this kind of activity should just have the conviction to stand by their actions and say "yep we're helping you steal from Spotify".

Just own it, especially if your justification is "it doesn't matter anyways".

[toomuchtodo]

"Can this multinational company afford it?" and "Will this incur a felony or similar judicial record?" is my bar, broadly speaking. Never take from someone who cannot afford it, or where it would be material to them. Bits, never fiat. Laws are just words, how you decide which to ignore is a function of potential legal exposure and your belief system.

I pay for Spotify because I’m lazy and can afford it, but rip whatever I want from YouTube, for example. I own it, I do not care. Why would one care what random strangers think of them?

[sbarre]

> Laws are just words

Spoken from a place of security, comfort and privilege no doubt.. All afforded by the laws of the land. ;-)

[toomuchtodo]

Strange argument. The laws bind economically to extract (“these bits are gated, you must pay or go to jail for not paying for them” in this context), they are not affording what you describe. Ignoring or evading them is where the security, comfort, and privilege come from. Freedom is being ungovernable.

“Laws are threats made by the dominant socioeconomic-ethnic group in a given nation. It’s just the promise of violence that’s enacted and the police are basically an occupying army.” is a fun quote on this. Laws don’t protect me, they protect those with property and capital, as well as large companies that have limited to no liability. I protect me.

Anyway, I block ads and don’t care.

[immibis]

Doubt. All the most successful people are the ones who push the limits of which laws they can ignore. Just see any big tech founder-CEO.