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.

  • Derin@lemmy.beru.co
    241·
    1 day ago

    Bandcamp is pretty good, though. Especially on Bandcamp Fridays where all the profits go to the artists. Plus, I like getting FLACs.

    • citizensongbird@lemmy.world
      11·
      23 hours ago

      Problem with Bandcamp is they got bought out, first by Epic Games and then by Songtradr, and each time it’s gone through enshittification. Bandcamp Fridays used to be a weekly thing but got changed to quarterly with little announcement, and then half their staff got laid off to pad the bottom line. Even with all that they’re better than the alternatives, but they’re still on a decaying trajectory.

      • Derin@lemmy.beru.co
        1·
        18 hours ago

        Yeah I agree with all of this. Shame there isn’t a better option at the moment, but they’re the lesser of a bunch of evils - so I guess I’m sticking with them for a bit longer.