how i quit spotify
Okay hi this is baby's first blog post. So i used spotify as my primary way to get music for seven years, i started using it when i worked my first job at Starbucks because they had a deal where we got free spotify premium but before this i didn't have any streaming services and honestly didn't listen to music a lot bc i had strict parents but that's another rant for another post maybe. I got more and more into music as i got older and i think the most minutes i had of listening in a year was over 70,000. in the past few months i've used it less and less, partly because i just haven't been paying attention to new releases as of late, enjoyed more quiet time rather than filling up every second with constant background noise, and i've been watching youtube videos or listening to podcasts or audiobooks rather than music. in the past couple of months i've grown more disillusioned with spotify as a) what was once $5 a month is now $13, and instead of that extra money going toward idk the people making the music i listen to, essentially none of that goes to them and for some reason it goes to funding the fucking war machine, genocide, and institutional oppression, as well as the ai that will someday replace my existence, or go the way of NFTs. i haven't figured out which it'll be yet. So like, Free Palestine and fuck spotify. Even on top of all of that, it's not like they show me any new music. they haven't in years. any new releases from artists I like i find out about before spotify tells me they came out (which they tend to do weeks after, but god forbid dr*ke or p*st m*lone release an album and that shit is all over my homepage as if i've ever listened to them in any form aside from a 2018 nostalgia playlist), and because i listened to the most music in 2020, now five years ago, they still recommend me songs based on what i listened to then. which was a lot of pierce the veil. like that's not new to me but whatever. Okay so sorry for the long ass recipe website filled with ads intro here's what i actually did
step 1: preparing
so for starters i've been collecting cds since 2020 or 2021 because my car aux port wasn't working and i didn't have bluetooth so i stole a bunch of my dad's old cds and then bought some and have collected many of my favorite albums over the years, so i already have dozens of cds. but the first thing to do is decide what you need based on what you currently use spotify for.
i used spotify for music and podcasts, so i was going to need to find alternatives for both of those.
step 2: music
the first step is basically to collect music in a way that isn't streaming. for me it's cds, but you can do this digitally too by purchasing (or using another means, argh matey) music digitally, whether it's via itunes or bandcamp or another platform. you -can- switch to another streaming service, but they all pay artists a fraction of a cent per stream and we don't need to sit here and pretend that any of these tech ceos will see the kingdom of heaven, so like, this post isn't about that.
i started by getting a cd binder. the one i have is small, fits in my tote bag or in a bigger pocket, and fits 16 cds, which for me is more than enough to have a steady rotation of albums i like, especially because i'm the kind of guy to get hyperfixated on an album and listen to nothing but that for a whole month (it's been Make Yourself by Incubus). the second part of this was replacing my shitty $0.59 goodwill speaker that didn't work with the cheapest cd player i could find new ($27 bc i didn't try that hard but jesus christ why was that the cheapest) because i've gone through like three goodwill cd players at this point and i just want one that works.
i also think i should add here that i'm not really putting music on my phone because i've been using it less and less because of The Horrors and being chronically online witnessing constant Horrors um rots your brain and i'd rather play Baldur's Gate 3 or crochet or read or lay on the floor than subject myself to more of that than i already due because of decade-long habits. also it's fun to be less online and "check out my cd collection" is a conversation starter.
my second method for this is....my 2009 gen 5 (?) pink ipod nano. hopefully. the battery hasn't worked in 10 years and the screen is inexplicably fucked but i'm planning to replace the battery and the screen and add bluetooth compatibility somehow bc i hate wired headphones. but i bought an external cd driver ($27) and uploaded most of my cds to itunes, which also means that i can easily sync that to my phone any time i want. hopefully the ipod thing will work and if it does i'll make a post on that if i remember that this site exists.
step 3: podcasts
currently i listen to two podcasts: the leaving eden podcast (ex-ifb, cult, and related history and analysis) and the gender reveal podcast (cool trans stuff) so i subscribed to both of their patreons (which combined was still a few bucks less than i paid for spotify) which allows me to access Bonus Content and early content which is cool, and i have an iphone and apple has the built-in Podcast app and i can listen to pretty much any podcast there for free. this part was super easy and it's also sick as fuck knowing that An Amount of my money actually goes to the people who work hard to develop the content i listen to.
results
i've been without spotify for over a month now and i haven't missed it one bit. if i need to search for a song to find out who made it or what it's called i can use the lyric genius app, if i don't have a song i like on cd i can buy it (although i haven't done this yet, i have a pretty good cd collection and i just got a good handful of new cds), i no longer have to listen to ads with my podcasts (fuck you 'better' help) and the ritual of like, physically tangibly handling the music that i own (and i own it, and can listen to it whenever and wherever i want, and i don't even need internet to do it) is a very pleasing experience. before i spend like $90 on cds the other day i had saved money since cancelling spotify but fucking whatever, money isn't real and cds are cool.
if you read all this, thx for reading and i hope this helped maybe give you some ideas of how you can interact with the content you consume and ensure that the largest percentage of the money you spent on media goes to those who create it rather than to fund genocide and kill the environment and be the reason why you sweat after checking your mail for a third of the year :)