My journey to quit Spotify started when I learned how little artists I listen earn from each stream. [1]

This made me think. If artists such as Milky Chance [2] or The Orion Experience [3] which I listen to almost every day earn less than a cup of coffee a year something is not right. Also I didn’t discover this via Spotify website or their Spotify Wrapped. I actually got the values from Spotify Unwrapped [4]. Now the website is no longer available but when it was still working it provided a clear picture of how much artists you love earned from your streams.

As an small artist myself I felt ashamed of the fact that as a Software Engineer who can fly for 2 weeks Japan trip I’m not paying other artists for their work.

But artists income was not the only reason…​

Picture this. Monday morning routine. 1. Pet cats 2. Make coffee 3. Play guitar 4. Turn on Spotify so I can do some coding

How was I surprised when I discovered that half of my discover weekly was AI generated.

Basically one day I played my discover weekly and heard a song in polish about some person jizzing on other people sandals. For a moment I thought maybe it’s just my feed. Sometimes I listen to those really weird catchy songs. Like pink guy style ones. But not this time. The song was so painfully AI generated it made me check all my songs in discover weekly. I noticed that half of the artists had 1 song up to an album with AI generated cover.

That really pissed me off. People might say that AI enhances creativity, boosts productivity and is holly grail of our times.

When it comes to engineering I don’t have strong opinion on it anymore. I used to have one but the models are getting better at generating garbage code. Managers ship slop solutions since the beginning of capitalism so none actually sees the difference.

But ART! Hell no. Art is not about value in terms of money and who ever thinks this way is the reason we no longer embrace craftsmanship but instead go to IKEA for everything.

As a small musician myself I thought this is the greatest insult Spotify ever did to me. They not only address AI generated content as a feature but also as a future solution for problem of people demanding them to pay money.

Before I quit Spotify I knew I had to find replacements and they had to be good. Daily listening of my playlists had to continue for my own mental health.

So I did some research. I checked how other did the same move and usually people pick three ways which they combine:

I combined last two. Basically month before removing Spotify I started to use Bandcamp [6]. I bought a bit of music I love which was Orion Experience, some new jazz albums, a bit of rap. Sadly most of the songs from my Spotify collections were not there. My beloved Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Jacuś were off the library.

So I went to second hand CD shop in Amsterdam [7]. I entered the small hallway where owner said hello. Hello, I replied and instantly put my eyes on CDs as I’m anxious animal.

My eyes immediately started to look for jazz, soul and funk. I started to sweat a bit as I don’t like buying stuff and having others people look on me. Still Jamieroquai - Dynamite was on display for 2 euros. My friend Damian who I kind of treat like musicopedia once said that Jamieroquai is like the best funk band ever. So I took the CD. Owner looked at me and said. Man this is a really nice music.

I rip the CD in my apartment and put in on Jellyfin [8]. Since that time I listen to this album almost every day. After first notes of "Feels just like it should" I knew this will album will be played on repeat for months.

I’m out of Spotify for half a year now and I’m happy with my decision.

I still don’t have my Katy Perry, Britney and Jacuś but slowly one by one I’ll start buying their work. Even though FUUUCK it’s so hard sometimes.

At the same time I don’t really miss their music. Since I removed my Spotify I discovered huge amount of new artists from various genres. The Bandcamp "filter by country" allows me to search for music from certain part of the world. It’s so nice to see how other musicians around the globe create funky grooves in their own way.

I also listen to albums now. Especially the old ones. You can really feel that songs on album are there to tell a story, to create atmosphere.

Tension and release based on songs order. Something which Spotify removed after introducing liked songs.

Quitting Spotify allowed me to see that I can actually enjoy life without being hostage to big corporations. For very long time I don’t buy fancy clothes anymore. I also don’t flex with my sport car. I try to find happiness in world around me without need to pay for it money which never goes to people who actually made me happy.

I think we should all cancel our subscriptions and go back to consumption of media in it’s original form.

This way we can value creators work more and get our attention focused on creation rather than make it a background noise to fill our emptiness.

[1] “Summary of how little artists earn by spotify stream.” [Online]. Available: https://rebelmusicz.com/how-much-do-artists-make-on-spotify/ .

[2] “Wikipedia Milky Chance link.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Chance .

[3] “Wikipedia The Orion Experience link.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orion_Experience .

[4] “Spotify Unwapped is not available since they got a legal claim from Spotify.” [Online]. Available: https://www.nme.com/news/music/spotify-unwrapped-parody-site-taken-down-under-legal-threat-after-claiming-what-artists-really-earned-from-streams-in-2024-3819279 .

[5] “Link to utility which allows to download youtube videos as audio.” [Online]. Available: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp .

[6] “Link to bandcamp.” [Online]. Available: https://bandcamp.com/ .

[7] “Location of Platypus records shop in Amsterdam.” [Online]. Available: https://omaps.app/_4I0_8iVF2/Platypus_Records .

[8] “Link to Jellyfin media server.” [Online]. Available: https://jellyfin.org/ .