Re-Platforming Pt. 1
Bye Spotify, and Aligning with the heart
In the coming year I plan to revisit each “platform” I am participating in; the services I pay for like Spotify; as well as the ones I contribute to like Instagram. The reason for sharing this is not to take this writing to a political place, rather to reflect on the energetic exchange that comes with internet habits. My hope, in outlining this side-quest, is to help and inspire others to take on the same; to align the heart with where time and resources are spent.
My intention is to better live my ethics with where my energy and money is going. Even if our ethics differ, I hope we all find the peace that comes with aligning the heart with actions.
Bye Spotify
A legacy user’s process of leaving Spotify
There are many reasons to leave this platform: the current ads being run, the investment portfolio from those who made their wealth backing Spotify, and the artists who have been left behind in the process. Many I know have left, many were actively posting about it on social media last year. Yet I have heard many more who wish to, but have yet to dump their accounts; who like me, have been paying for the service for years.
Simple tips to leave Spotify:
Use your next billing due date as your dump due date - make it a race against time, a race against an automatic payment.
Research your next platform based on your reason for leaving - most have trial periods to take advantage of.
Don’t worry about tailoring your music tastes on Spotify before you go - your account is basically frozen in time; leaving the door open to come back to where you left off. This includes others streaming your public playlists.
Start a free account on a new platform before deciding what to import from Spotify - I did not do this, and wish I had. What following an artist, or what liking a song or album means, will be different on each.
Make sure you know what you are paying for - you will likely save money leaving Spotify if music is all you want to pay for.
Why was it hard for me to leave?
It had been nine years on a platform that I turned to every day for music.
🔵Comfort - I liked the ecosystem I had built, the algorithm mostly playing to my tastes, and I had begun to listen to more and more content beyond just music on the app. It was a comfort zone; I was choosing comfort over peace.
🔴Fear - Fear that my music wouldn’t move over properly, or that the few playlists with thousands of listeners would be disrupted. Fear that it would be harder to share and discover music with others; FOMO: the fear of missing out.
Why I’m not looking back:
🏆Quality - I had no idea how compressed my music was on Spotify, even with top streaming quality turned on. This is coming from a someone with mono-hearing so I can’t imagine what it will be like for others. I have spent my first free month on a new platform largely relistening to favorite records as if for the first time.
🪔Ceremony - Discovering music on a platform that isn’t shoving pay-for-listen content in your face, returns me to the days of digging for records and reading about new music. The ceremony of deciding what I want to listen to is more potent because it takes more intention to decide.
🕊️Peace - Peace of mind achieved; seeing the a subscription cost leave my account felt like keeping my part of an agreement; felt more real. The intention to change platforms required me to overcome small fears and realign my priorities; this feeling is what I hope each re-platforming endeavor brings.
Why I’m picking Qobuz for Music Streaming in 2026:
Some ethical reasons for leaving Spotify ruled out a few options, and from there it was simply a matter of the biggest selection of music, at the best sound quality, for a better price. Qobuz was really obvious. This is not sponsored content; I am enjoying it enough to post a paragraph here. I didn’t know how much I missed the ceremony of listening to favorite albums, finding new (to me) music, and enjoying it all to the intended quality. All while saving a few bucks a month.
Who’s next in 2026?
The other re-platforming endeavors in the works:
1️⃣Google as my search engine - I’m looking into Ecosia, have you heard of them?
Go search your name guilt free on their website, it might help plant a tree.
2️⃣Meta’s Social - How I get off of IG and FB is still TBD; this SubStack is part of some larger unknown plan at work.
3️⃣Amazon - Yes, this, in all of its forms; including that damn credit age boosting card I got in my youth.
❓Do you have goals in aligning where you spend your time and money❓