Where to buy DRM-free music

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/25889784

I’m self-hosting my own music server and I want to

  • add new music to it
  • buy it and thus reward the artists whose music I put on there (i.e. no piracy)
  • not deal with physical media (I’m not a collector, and I want to avoid plastic waste)
  • own the files; no DRM or similar bullshit
  • use a European vendor, or at least non-U.S.

I used to buy my music through Amazon, but I’ve cancelled my account in early 2025 (for obvious reasons) and I’m not going back. I’d love to hear your suggestions: what platforms do you know that fulfil the above criteria? And how do you get your music?

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edited

There is Qobuz (edit they do streaming and purchase). I used to purchase a lot of music on iTunes too, back when they went DRM-free but I went back to… physical media.

not deal with physical media (I’m not a collector, and I want to avoid plastic waste)

This probably not the ideal solution you are looking for, but you can purchase the disc, rip it and then donate it to someone else.

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There is Qobuz

And they have the niche things I’m after. I haven’t known about Qobuz, thank you

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My pleasure: I’ve been their customer for many years, before moving back to physical.

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Bandcamp is where I try to grab most of my music.

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Bandcamp Friday

If you buy your music on a bandcamp friday, 100 % of the money goes to the artist.

Dates this year:

  • March 6th
  • May 1st
  • August 7th
  • September 4th
  • October 2nd
  • November 6th
  • December 4th
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And even if you don’t, IMO they are pretty transparent on their fees

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OP edited

Isn’t bandcamp an American company?

(And yes, I read, that over 80% of the profit go to the artist directly).

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That’s fair, I didn’t see the European requirement, sorry about that!

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He/him

Another vote for Bandcamp.

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For me, I mainly use Bandcamp, 7digital & Qobuz for Western music. Sometimes the artists sell directly from their own sites though; for e.g. I bought Willow’s empathogen album directly from her website.

For Japanese music, I use Ototoy. They accept foreign cards, but for some releases they won’t let you add it to the cart unless you use a VPN set to Japan.

For less available stuff, I sometimes buy second hand CDs from Discogs / eBay / Music Magpie / similar sites, rip and then resell the CD if I don’t wish to keep it.

For new CDs that I do want to keep, I buy from wherever the artist is selling. CDJapan for Japanese stuff.

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Audials (Romania, Germany) e.g. “Audials Play” offers legal recording of internet radio stations by capturing unencrypted audio streams for personal, non-commercial use, effectively acting as a digital recorder. It enables users to listen to and record thousands of stations, automatically splitting tracks, adding ID3 tags, and according to law, does not bypass copy protection.

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Coming in to back up Qobuz. Between qobuz and bandcamp i have been able to find 100% of the music i want to own and i feel good about it

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7digital, UK/German Company and they even sell FLACS with up to 24bit. And their support is amazing. Had an album missing a song and they got me another album for the same price as a replacement. The one missing a song is still in my library so basically buy one get one free. Mayor downside you can only download an album 3 times before you have to contact support to reset it.

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