Why I left Spotify

A few weeks ago, I asked on my social media channels about possible tools to transfer my playlists from Spotify to another platform. I opted for TuneMyMusic.com. The new music app I decided on is Tidal. However, this article is not about advertising either of these platforms. (An exception would be made if they offered me money—call me!) Here, it’s mainly about the question:

Why am I leaving Spotify?

As is well known, I’m a massive music nerd who can lose myself in all sorts of genres depending on my mood, the weather, and the position of the stars. For me, the process took almost a month. It could have been much quicker, but TuneMyMusic.com only allows a limited number of songs to be transferred to Tidal each day. Work, private life and so on did the rest. I was surprised at how much interest my departure from Spotify generated. Since I received many questions, I want to set it all down in detail here.

Spotify is a threat to artists

I’m deliberately phrasing this strongly. Since April 2024, the streaming service has only paid for a track if it has achieved at least 1,000 streams in the last 12 months (plus an unspecified minimum number of listeners). This hits niche and newcomer acts the hardest—precisely those who need support. Those who disagree like to say that such apps are perfect for “discovering” new music. But they’re not, or at least not unless you put in a lot of effort.

Spotify pretends to offer free discovery

The playlists supported by Spotify aren’t at all tailored to your actual listening habits. Artists who want to get their songs pushed by the algorithm have to accept lower payout rates from Spotify. Even the US Congress considers this questionable. Public reports speak of discounts of up to 30% for promoted titles. In other words: you’re not really discovering. You’re being told whom to discover. And those are the ones who pay. And, surprise—those are usually the ones who already have money.

Spotify exploits Songwriters

Speaking of the US: in 2024, Spotify restructured its premium subscription in the US so that it officially counts as a “bundle” of music and audiobooks. This classification affects the royalties that songwriters and publishers receive for streams. According to US copyright law, lower licence rates apply to bundles, as the music portion is considered part of a combined offer—not a standalone product. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which manages these payments, saw this as a deliberate Spotify strategy to cut licensing costs and filed a lawsuit. However, in January 2025, a court ruled in Spotify’s favour—legally correct perhaps, but politically and morally highly questionable.

Right-wing influencers and the arms industry

Spotify’s multi-billion partnership with the right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan has been sparking debates about disinformation for years. He’s the world’s biggest podcaster and spreads unfiltered nonsense. Mr “Vaccines against Covid-19 are gene therapies” and “To believe Jews aren’t interested in money is daft” was able to renew his multi-year deal in 2024 (with wider distribution). At the same time, Spotify founder Daniel Ek is also co-chairman of the defence AI firm Helsing and invested heavily in the company via his investment firm Prima Materia. In June 2025, Prima Materia led a €600 million funding round, with weapons manufacturer Saab among the strategic partners. Helsing develops AI software for military systems and is expanding into drones, aircraft and submarines. In other words, he profits when there is war.

No stop to deepfakes, spam flood and AI garbage

Spotify boasts that it removed 75 million “spammy” tracks from its catalogue in the past 12 months. Many of these were AI junk, duplicates, or fake uploads that clog up the recommendation system and distort royalties. That’s almost as much as the entire remaining catalogue. Fun fact: they had long claimed that this rubbish didn’t exist on the app. Quality control? Yes and no. Spotify is tightening rules against vocal deepfakes and introducing labelling via DDEX (AI use is to be made visible in the credits)—but AI music is not fundamentally banned. Instead, Spotify experiments with AI features like “AI DJ” and voice translation (podcasts in another language, same voice). Thankfully, other apps are much more consistent and ethical in this regard.

Spotify quality is maximum non-league

In 2025, Spotify once again raised premium prices in Germany (for new subscriptions from 14 August, for existing customers after a transition period). At the same time, “Lossless” is finally arriving officially, but “only” up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz. For comparison: Tidal streams HiRes-FLAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz—as well as Dolby Atmos. In plain English: if you pay for a Spotify premium subscription, you get a lot, but not premium quality.

Conclusion:

Taking a stand has never been more important than in the times we live in. This must also be reflected in our everyday lives. Still, I made this decision solely for myself. Anyone who unfairly compensates musicians, manipulates popularity and listening behaviour for money, continues to let AI desecrate art, spreads right-wing fake news through podcast reach, and profits from war and weapons through back doors—at the very least, doesn’t deserve my money anymore. I chose Tidal—because of its “more natural” algorithms, superior quality, and huge DJ catalogues. But there are many other options, such as YouTube Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Bandcamp, or Soundcloud.