Why I finally left Spotify

After our decade relationship, I break with Spotify.

It’s nothing personal. It’s just this Spotify and I grew up, but we didn’t grow up together.

Over the years, I have been tempted to leave Spotify several times. I know that the company faces charges of Bad payments streaming For artists, compared to its competitors, and I have not forgotten that it was Spotify this podcast by Joe Rogan, then exclusive to the platform, to spread disinformation About COVID-19 and other viruses.

I know that Spotify is trying to Kill the RSS feeda movement that Independence of siphons Podcasters. And yet, I am embarrassed to say that until recently, these problems have not moved me enough to take the time and energy to investigate alternatives to Spotify, a platform that I use daily from high school.

It is unfortunately easy for us to bury our heads in the sand when the technological companies that we pay monthly do things that disappoint us. (Yes, I still remember when Netflix licensed my colleagues in the industryBut I also know that I will end up watching the new season of “Love is Blind”).

We do not have the impression that our only subscription makes a difference – after all, Duolingo Always beat income estimates after triggering a backlash when he said he would replace the entrepreneurs with AI.

But Spotify finally came to me in an inevitable way: when I open the application, I cannot bear its overall dependence, stifling with regard to algorithmic recommendations.

There is an overwhelming display of visual size from time to navigate the Spotify home page to the music you are looking for. These suggestions are before and centers when you open the application.

First of all, I can see an unsolicited full screen pop-up promoting a new podcast. Then, I am welcomed with a music grid 2 by 4 and suggestions of Podcast, including new episodes of shows that I listened to once because they had a guest that I liked, as well as other albums in which I tried briefly last month. Below, there is a sponsored recommendation for a song that I could love by an artist I have never heard of. When I browse the search tab, I am invited with an audio recommendation, and if I scroll a little, I see vertical video clips that look like Tiktok.

It is easy to fall into Spotify’s recommendations, because the application is constantly losing with personalized reading lists that its AI has organized specifically for you. On Spotify, you never have to make decisions – and for some listeners, that is perhaps the point. But I noticed that I had stopped listening to the music that I really wanted to listen to, and instead, I kissed the music that Spotify told me that I wanted to listen to.

Without realizing it, I abandoned my agency.

This does not mean that my moral scruples with Spotify did not influence my choice.

According to a January report From the Duetti music financing platform, Spotify, a company worth around $ 140 billion, pays around $ 3 for 1,000 flows. Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube paid $ 8.80, $ 6.20 and $ 4.80, respectively, for 1,000 flows in 2024 (Spotify previously disputed the precision of these figures)

Spotify also alienated part of its audience in June, when CEO Daniel Ek announced that his investment company had led a $ 700 million in funding For a company manufacturing military weapons compatible with AI. Some groups love Deerhoof,, XIU XIUAnd King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard pulled their catalogs from Spotify to protest.

It’s like already seen. In 2022, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young drew their music from Spotify on the Joe Rogan platform from medical disinformation. (The two artists returned to the platform in 2024.)

Maybe it took me so long to leave Spotify because the choice of a streaming platform leaves you between a rock and a hard place. But if you are attached to your years of reading lists, tools like Her Facilitate wearing your collection between platforms.

I chose Apple Music, mainly because I got a new iPhone and came with a free three -month trial, which helped me relieve my transition. In addition, Apple Music has an audio without loss, that Spotify was promising for almost five years.

But I can’t tell you with an impassive face that I left Big, Bad Spotify to support the little guy, when I opted for another technology giant.

I also have my ethical concerns around Apple – even if I type this on my magic keyboard which is connected to my MacBook Pro while my iPhone, Airpods and Apple Watch sit on the other side of my office.

In addition, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, recently presented himself to the White House to offer Donald Trump a Personalized apple brand plate, which is at the top of a 24 -carat gold base, while exercising its fiduciary obligation towards the shareholders to keep the Apple products without a price.

At least, the Apple Music application is not as overwhelming as Spotify.