Quitting Spotify - A Guide on how to do it

This is one of my obsessions. I'm an audiophile and musician with an actual degree. Wow! I've tried every single streaming platform, and here are my recommendations.

Did you know these are the most purchased headphones on earth? And they sound pretty good too!

People all over the world are in the middle of posting their “Spotify wrapped!” My friend and colleague, and overall badass journalist, William Wilson, posted yesterday “What’s more utterly asinine, narcissistic and self aggrandizing than posting your yearly roundup of favourite Spotify artists? It’s like posting about how many pairs of socks you own.”

I don’t agree with Will even a bit here, since I find the practice to be quite community driven, fun, and I enjoy looking at other people’s Spotify wrapped. Anytime I see someone who listens to Taylor Swift, Charlie XCX and Sabrina Carpenter I call them a white girl and the two of us have a laugh. Because that’s fun, and cute, and I enjoy seeing what people enjoy.

I’ve never had the opportunity to use spotify wrapped because I only paid for the service once in 2016. I’m an audiophile, and the sound quality wasn’t good enough. As time has gone on, I have accidentally wound up on the right side of history, although not through conscious moral decision making. Not only does the company not sound good, it is an overbloated app that looks unusable with its obsession with pushing books and music, but it’s also an evil company.

In no order, here is everything wrong with the company:

1. They don’t pay their artists. This year my music, which I haven’t pushed in two years, has received 427,510 streams on Spotify. Spotify, for these almost half a million streams, has paid me $744. 0.0017 dollars per stream– about one twentieth of a cent. Apple Music on the other hand is paying me about 2 cents a stream. That’s a pretty good payment. More simply put if I received the same amount of streams on Apple Music as Spotify, I would have been paid $8,550.

2. The only people who are paid are labels with special deals with Spotify

3. They actively advertise ICE, the organization in the USA who is violently assaulting people of all stripes, is deporting people with extreme racist prejudice, and is among the top 20 largest military in the world.

4. They censor palestinian singers

5. They donated for Trump’s inauguration

6. They supported the Joe Rogan Experience, one of the largest media in the world actively spreading misinformation and one of the biggest reasons the USA elected Trump (again?)

7. They fired 17 per cent of their staff while not paying artists, turning a profit, and paying execs huge sums

8. They use AI music to not pay royalties to real artists

Every major company is evil, let’s be clear. There is no ethical consumption in our system, but we can make better and worse choices. In this case, the stage is set– pretty sure that Spotify comes out as the worst of the bunch.

Well what else can you do then?

I personally buy vinyl and use Tidal. Tidal is owned by Square, an evil company, but less evil. It’s a bit less convenient for people who like listening to podcasts, but if you’re on Apple, use Apple Podcasts, and if you’re on Android, use Podcast Addict. Super chill! I have tested every app, and I would recommend three, based on how you live.

1. Tidal is excellent. Every day they improve their app, it has lossless sound quality, great suggestion algorithms, and the same library (pretty much) as Spotify. If you like some really obscure, strange tunes, you might not find them. But even then, I listen to a lot of obscure artists. The app is particularly good on Apple phones, but I use an Android for mine. They pay about as well as Apple does! If everyone was listening here, people would be much better off. Their phone app is great. Best music streaming phone app I’ve ever used.

2. Apple Music is a fantastic music streaming app. It pays well, the app is nice, and they have an identical library to Spotify. It’s apple though, so they have some ethical concerns, but you’re going to have that problem everywhere. Except the third choice. Apple music is great. Highly recommended to those who want to escape Spotify.

3. Qobuz– Qobuz slaps. It’s an amazing app with amazing sound quality. However, this is like, the old man choice. Their library is good, not quite as good as Tidal, Apple Music, or Spotify, but you mostly won’t have problems. They also give you discounts on purchasing music from artists– they’re a real storefront! They’re hi-res lossless, and specifically if you listen to music on your computer, their computer app is phenomenal. They also pay about 2.5 times more than even Tidal and Apple Music. Final note? They’re not an evil corporation. They’re a small French company with a tiny team of staff members. Their phone app isn’t great, but I love this company. The largest drawback, and it’s huge, is that they don’t have a discovery algorithm. This is why I use Tidal. I love finding new music, but if Qobuz ever does a good algorithm, I’d switch in a heartbeat. But if you just wanna listen to your old tunes and be happy… well go use Qobuz. It’s bar none the best one, unless you value finding new music.

Switching Spotify is simple. You don’t wanna lose your music, I get it. Use Soundiiz. It’ll switch your tunes. When I’ve tried out all the platforms (and trust me, I’ve tried them all out.) I just pay the five dollars, switch, and never think about it again.

Podcasts on Android: Podcast Addict

Podcasts on Apple: Apple Podcasts

Audiobooks: Libby

Still, I personally buy merch and vinyl from my favourite artists, as well as attending their shows. I love music more than almost anything, it is bar none my biggest passion (music, books and video games are my three biggest passions I’d say.) So, your best option is still to buy physical stuff. If you want to enjoy the amazing quality of Vinyl (which sounds better than music online because of “dynamic range” and better masters. I won’t explain it, but trust me, I have a degree in music and I’m a lifelong audiophile.) Go pick up a little suitcase turntable with built-in speakers! It’s a cheap, 100 dollar investment, and then you can better support your favourite artists. That, or go on bandcamp to buy music!

But most of us are poor. So if you wanna do slightly better than spotify, there’s some options. Do you have your own thoughts? What are they? How do you listen to music? No shame if you stick with Spotify, it’s convenient! Tell me what you’re thinking!