After ten years of daily use, I’m finally saying goodbye to Spotify. It’s not just about ethics or corporate behavior, though those played a role, but about how the platform itself has changed, and how I’ve changed with it.
I’ve long been aware of the controversies: Spotify’s low payouts to artists compared to competitors, its role in platforming Joe Rogan’s COVID-19 misinformation, and its push to kill podcast RSS feeds, undermining creator independence. But despite my discomfort, I stayed.
That changed when I realized Spotify had quietly taken away my agency. The app’s home screen overwhelms me with AI-driven recommendations, sponsored songs, and cluttered layouts. A single session often starts with an intrusive pop-up, followed by a grid of podcasts I barely sampled, unfamiliar artists, and autoplay videos. Without noticing, I was listening to whatever Spotify decided I should hear instead of the music I truly wanted.
This is compounded by the company’s ethical baggage. A January 2024 Duetti report estimated Spotify pays just $3 per 1,000 streams, far less than Amazon Music, Apple Music, or YouTube, though Spotify disputes those figures. In June, CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in an AI military weapons company spurred artists like Deerhoof and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard to pull their catalogs, echoing earlier boycotts by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
Related: Spotify Launches Audiobooks+ in the U.S., Expanding Access to Family and Duo Plan Members.
Switching wasn’t easy, years of playlists made me hesitate, but tools like Soundiiz let me transfer my library. I moved to Apple Music, lured by lossless audio and a free three-month trial. I’m under no illusion that Apple is the “good guy” in big tech, but at least its music app isn’t as visually suffocating as Spotify.
In the end, I left because I want to choose my own soundtrack, not have it chosen for me.
