Spotify sucks. Youtube sucks. MP3s suck.

https://newpipe.net/ (for mobile, playlists, background play, no ads)

https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube (desktop youtube app, no ads)

If you have an android phone, you can just seach for "Spotify premium apk" and you can find a cracked Spotify premium.

But if music is "your thing", then there really is no substitute for the library of FLACs available on private torrent trackers for music. What.CD has been down 8 years now (rip), but RED and OPS exist.

You can pass an interview on IRC to get into the trackers. The interview is a short test about file formats, rules and transcoding, they give you the page where to learn it all.

https://interviewfor.red/en/starting.html

https://interview.orpheus.network/starting-the-interview.php

For a lossy format alternative to mp3 try (ogg) vorbis.