For someone who really cares about supporting artists’ livelihoods, it’s been my greatest contradiction that I’d been such a fan of Spotify. But the web of bad things about them lately has finally made me see how much they care about money and power over people and music.

I have to say, they fooled me for a long time thinking that they cared about celebrating the love of music. I mean, why else would they put such an emphasis on creating an individual experience of music…oh yeah that creates a sticky product which means annual recurring revenue. God, it really always goes back to money.

It feels a little heartbreaking for me to part with Spotify because I’ve been on it since my sophomore year of high school…and I’m almost 30 now. My best guy friend in high school put me onto it back when it was free. I happily paid for premium as a student and into adulthood it had been one of my non-negotiable monthly expenses. This centralized place where I listen to music has been as crucial as my journal. And actually, in partnership with this blog, it’s been an extension of my journal. To part with it feels like just one more heartbreak/grief I need to deal with by the end of the year (more on that at with my album of the year recap coming).

Being someone that works in music and has seen behind the curtain of how much the industry bows to it has been a wake up call. From becoming the latest evolution of music industry payola, to stingy deals with the royalty distributors, to terrible listening quality, to investing in war technology (wtf?), and insanely, to running recruitment ads for 🧊 (beyond tacky), Spotify has shown itself to be a company whose values do not align with mine anymore. And maybe it’s naive to say, but it breaks my heart because I thought we were. Hell, it used to be a company I wanted to work for.

However, I hold that feeling with the head knowledge that Spotify has never actually been a music company. It’s always been a tech company. Recalling that does sober me up, but it still sucks.

So why have I waited? Selfishness honestly. I wanted to see my Spotify Wrapped one last time. For years Spotify Wrapped day was my favorite holiday of the year — it was the day I got to tell the world about the music I was listening to and they’d listen. This year feels like a funeral where I don’t even wanna give a eulogy, I just feel betrayed.

With all of this, I’m migrating my listening habits to a new streaming platform. Lots of people have been moving to literally any of the others (Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz to name a few) because they pay artists at least slightly more and the sound quality is better. I’m personally comparing Qobuz and Apple Music and transferring all my playlists. As for the blog, I’ll be setting up YouTube playlists moving forward. It’ll give better discovery for my international audience anyway.

But I do want to present my plea to the other streaming services: what kept me and has kept so many people still on Spotify is THE DATA. Whoever focuses on how they present user data has the best chance of capturing market share. Spotify changed the game with Wrapped. The way they creatively present user’s listening data recognized the culture of thoughtful music listeners and gave the general public the space to process music more intimately. Not to mention, the way it inspires designers everywhere!

Creating space to thoughtfully listen to music and interact with fans in a very personal way is the name of the game in today’s music industry. And it’s a worthwhile pursuit to craft an application that is centered in that.

The music industry is always changing yes, but one thing that stays true is that music and the people that make music are important. And I for one, am trying my best to make sure that I live a life that celebrates that. And that includes how I speak with my money.

So with that, no more Spotify playlists here and I’m gonna work on re-linking playlists as I set up a YouTube channel. The end of an era, but the start of something new. More of that to come personally I suppose. I’ll talk about that more soon.