Artists want to be paid per stream rather than get a fixed amount.

Users want to pay a fixed monthly fee and get unlimited access.

Spotify has figured out the best way to combine the two, and this involves pooling all the money paid by all users – regardless of what they listen to – and then allotting it to artists based on the number of streams they served to the platform.

Yes this means that plenty of users are subsidizing artists they don't like, but this is also what works best for everyone in the system. Trying to paint it as "fair" or "unfair" is pointless.