Prior to Spotify, if you didn't have money you were pirating. Whilst there was something magical about knowing every drumfill on an album as a 15 year old because you could only afford to buy one or two a month, Spotify absolutely opened up the world. As a listener you could discover without cost or piracy. Being a musician (that made money) was never easy, but now it could be done without a label and with some hustle.
Aside from a few 'Tidal only' exclusives, the music industry has mostly avoided the fractured model the TV and Film industry suffers from. Pretty much every record ends up on pretty much every service (as opposed to me needing to subscribe to Netflix, Prime and Disney).
It pains me to think we'll end up (back) in a world where you need 3 subscriptions (or worse) piracy. And sure, people could go back to buying every record, but they won't.
Anyway. Complicated.
And FWIW, I agree, Spotify does itself zero favours and could do soooo much better for artists.