Hey all,
Figured this would be a helpful resource considering how many people are boycotting the U.S. currently, and how tied to the American music industry Canada can be at times.
Unfortunately major players in the music industry are often based in the U.S… Apple Music, Amazon Music, Bandcamp, Tidal all are based just south of the Canadian border.
However, here’s a list of major streaming platforms you can use that aren’t based in the U.S… If you wish to purely find Canadian music streaming platforms, please check out the Resource Megathread, where we currently have two platforms listed with hopefully more to come. Let me know if you know of any other streaming platforms based here in the Great White North!
Major Platforms not based in the U.S.
- Bandlab - Singapore
- Boomplay - Nigeria
- Deezer - France
- Jamendo - Luxembourg
- Mixcloud - U.K.
- Qobuz - France
- SoundCloud - Germany
Please note that streaming services from China and India were excluded due to human rights issues in the former, and the latter for assassinating someone on Canadian soil. Also not included are streaming services based out of Japan and Korea for lack of English or French language displays, or services with region-locks excluding Canadian users.
Also excluded from the list is Spotify. While based in Sweden and Luxembourg, they play a part in the situation down south due to their contract with Joe Rogan.
If you know of any other services, please shout them out in the comments! This post will be added to the sidebar, though not pinned.
I do not pay for nor give ad revenue to Spotify simply for them being Joe Rogan’s personal fluffer.
Second person to mention this. I’ve removed Spotify from the list and instead mentioned them as a platform to potentially avoid.
I’ve been streaming off Stingray Music and CBC Listen. They aren’t curated playlists but rather radio style, but they work for me! Both are Canadian and Free, although Stingray does have a paid ad-free option.
Radio Canada OHdio has pretty nice playlists too if you don’t mind some french songs mixed in.
Spotify is based in Sweden, technically in Luxembourg. While they do have an American subsidiary, they also have a Canadian one so I believe a Canadian’s subscription would be handled through that.
Oh! Was fully under the impression they were based out of America. I’ll make edits and add it to the list then.
I dumped Spotify for Deezer because of Spotify giving a platform to Rogan, someone who a lot of Trump people follow. They may not be American, but they are directly supporting the Trump disinformation machine.
