Maybe we can use it to our advantage? Like a branding thing. "The Edgy Alternative To Spotify".... kind of approach, to make it cool not being a legacy product. The badass underdog concept.

I don't think it is a chicken and egg problem: the music/arts (coONtEenT) is the first step. Artists will bring their fans to wherever that exists: if the access is easy and the incentives are good. Creatives are generally engaged in community management, whether they see it that way or not. That's why I think it's important to be careful not to oversell the space to artists and be honest about it's emergent state. because a poor experience will devalue their incentives to tell anyone about this new emancipating space.

Maybe it shouldn't be smooth and attractive to people? Maybe it needs to be a grimey and a bit difficult?