I can confirm I had no stalls through school

While I agree with you for most alternatives to Spotify, I have yet to not be able to find any song from anyone on SoundCloud particularly in more niche genres. I obviously don’t know everything you listen to but the reason you describe is the exact reason I can’t always use Spotify

I don’t think there is a federated alternative but there are alternatives that are at least marginally less shitty, if that helps