[the-facts-machine] How to quit Spotify without losing your music
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2022 17:37:18 -0500
BlankHow to quit Spotify without losing your music . Chris Velazco.
To some people, Spotify is just the green button on their phones that lets them
play music.
But for others, it's the focal point of a larger conversation about how
platforms can shape
our culture and the role they should play in curbing misinformation.
That conversation came to a head recently when musician Neil Young demanded
that Spotify
remove his music because the service was "spreading fake information about
vaccines," by way
of provocative interviews and statements from podcaster Joe Rogan. Not long
after, Joni
Mitchell asked Spotify to remove all her music, while researcher Bren Brown
said she would
stop releasing episodes of her Spotify exclusive podcasts "until further
notice."
The backlash against Spotify has also inspired some of the service's users to
jump ship,
though the company doesn't exactly make it easy. Spotify's massive reach - as
of last
October, it had more than 380 million users - meant it could turn popular
podcasts like
"Heavyweight" and "Armchair Expert" into exclusive properties. Entire social
communities
have developed around the Spotify playlists some people have created, which
some might
hesitate to give up on. And let's not forget that Spotify doesn't offer any
tools to help
you migrate your carefully curated music collection anywhere else. But if you
do decide to
give up on Spotify - no matter the reason - making the switch can be easier
than you think.
In one way, Spotify's enormous influence is a good thing for would-be
switchers. That's
because the service is a big enough target that its competitors - not to
mention some
independent programmers - have cooked up ways for people to transfer their
playlists and
music libraries to other services. Here's our guide to the other streaming
options you may
want to consider and how easy they are to get started with. To some people,
Spotify is just
the green button on their phones that lets them play music. But for others,
it's the focal
point of a larger conversation about how platforms can shape our culture and
the role they
should play in curbing misinformation. That conversation came to a head
recently when
musician Neil Young demanded that Spotify remove his music because the service
was
"spreading fake information about vaccines," by way of provocative interviews
and statements
from podcaster Joe Rogan. Not long after, Joni Mitchell asked Spotify to remove
all her
music, while researcher Bren Brown said she would stop releasing episodes of
her Spotify
exclusive podcasts "until further notice. The backlash against Spotify has also
inspired
some of the service's users to jump ship, though the company doesn't exactly
make it easy.
Spotify's massive reach - as of last October, it had more than 380 million
users - meant it
could turn popular podcasts like "Heavyweight" and "Armchair Expert" into
exclusive
properties. Entire social communities have developed around the Spotify
playlists some
people have created, which some might hesitate to give up on. And let's not
forget that
Spotify doesn't offer any tools to help you migrate your carefully curated
music collection
anywhere else. But if you do decide to give up on Spotify - no matter the
reason - making
the switch can be easier than you think. In one way, Spotify's enormous
influence is a good
thing for would-be switchers. That's because the service is a big enough target
that its
competitors - not to mention some independent programmers - have cooked up ways
for people
to transfer their playlists and music libraries to other services. Here's our
guide to the
other streaming options you may want to consider and how easy they are to get
started with.
Apple Music Price: $9.99 a month for individuals; $14.99 a month for families
If you use any
Apple products regularly, Apple Music is perhaps the obvious choice - the
service comes
preloaded on basically all of them. Ubiquity isn't the only thing Apple Music
has going for
it, though - in addition to its full music library, you can sync up to 100,000
of your own
songs (i.e. ones you didn't pay Apple for) across your collection of Apple
devices. And
while audiophiles generally turn their noses up at streaming services, nearly
all of the
music we've searched for on Apple Music is available at better-sounding
"lossless" quality
at no additional cost. Granted, none of Apple's wireless ear buds or headphones
- including
the pricey AirPods Max - technically support it, but it's a nice bonus for
people who obsess
over their music. Just a heads-up: Apple Music's voice plan is half the price
of a standard
subscription, but it probably doesn't make sense as your sole music plan. What
about
podcasts? Most of them live in Apple's Podcasts app, which is separate from the
company's
main music app. That said, Apple's podcast content guidelines note that the
company doesn't
allow "content that may lead to harmful or dangerous outcomes," and that the
company may
"label" - or in some cases, completely remove - podcasts that contain "harmful
or
objectionable content that is disputed by authoritative sources. Amazon Music
Unlimited
Price: $9.99 a month (or $7.99 a month for Prime subscribers); $14.99 a month
for families
Amazon's all-you-can-stream music service ticks a few of the same boxes as
Apple Music: it
supports highdefinition audio for improved sound quality (assuming you have the
speakers to
take advantage of it), and it works elegantly across the company's smart home
products. That
said, unless you're a fanatic for Alexa and Echo speakers, there's only one
reason you
should choose this option over the others: you get a slight discount on Music
Unlimited if
you already pay for Amazon Prime. What about podcasts? Amazon says its music
service
includes "over 10 million" podcast episodes. While the company's podcast terms
of service
don't specifically mention misinformation, it bars podcasters from including
"content that
in our judgment is inappropriate or offensive. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns
The
Washington Post.) Tidal Price: It's complicated. From the beginning, Tidal has
tried to set
itself apart by focusing on high-quality audio; too bad its competitors have
caught up.
These days, the company - now controlled by Twitter and Block founder Jack
Dorsey - is
trying to play up its presence as a music service for true music fans. If
there's one catch,
it's that Tidal's plans are a little more complicated than others we've seen:
$9.99 a month
gives one person full ad-free access to the company's 80 million track music
library at what
Tidal calls "HiFi Sound Quality," while $14.99 a month gives those same
privileges to five
other people. Meanwhile, $19.99 a month opens the door to Tidal's HiFi Plus
plan, which
offers extremely high-quality audio and artist-focused benefits like direct
payouts and a
new program called "fan-centered royalties" rolling out this year. And if you
really wanted
to, you could pay $29.99 a month to make that a family plan that (again)
includes five
additional people. What about podcasts? You won't find too many podcasts on
Tidal, and the
few you will see are series centered around music culture that Tidal either
created or
curated. Because the company doesn't accept submissions from independent
podcasters, you
(almost certainly) won't discover any pushing misinformation. Deezer Price:
$9.99 a month
for individuals; $14.99 a month per person for higher fidelity audio; $14.99 a
month for
families at regular quality Deezer isn't part of an enormous tech conglomerate,
nor was it
cooked up by a couple of founders in Silicon Valley. (The service was
originally developed
by French entrepreneur Daniel Marhely in the mid-2000s.) Those lack of ties to
the
establishment could make Deezer an attractive option for people who don't want
to deepen
their relationship with Big Tech. What about podcasts? Podcasts are a big part
of Deezer's
service, and the company allows media networks and independent podcasters to
submit their
work to be distributed on the platform. The company's terms of use require that
the content
podcasters submit is not unlawful, obscene or "otherwise objectionable," but
does not
specifically address misinformation. How to transfer your music Now that you
have a better
sense of what music service you'd like to switch to, it's time to figure out
how to get your
curated music collection away from Spotify. If you don't have much music saved,
it might not
be too difficult to manually re-create your collection of playlists and liked
songs in other
services. Meanwhile, a cottage industry of companies that transfer music
collections from
one streaming service to another will let you ferry over a certain number of
tracks free.
One service we tried, TuneMyMusic, lets you transfer 500 tracks between all the
services
mentioned above at no cost. The catch? If you'd prefer to transfer a larger
music collection
in one shot, it will cost you $4.50 a month to "convert" your entire library in
one shot.
(That is, unless you've decided to switch to Deezer - in that case, TuneMyMusic
will
transfer your music free.) If 500 tracks is just the beginning of what you've
saved in
Spotify it's well worth paying the $4.50 to have TuneMyMusic do it all for you
- just make
sure to cancel the subscription once you no longer need it. (Pro tip: This
might be a good
opportunity to use a burner card, which you can remotely cancel just to make
sure you aren't
charged regularly.) Another service, Soundiiz, lets you transfer your playlists
from Spotify
to a slew of other music services free, assuming you're willing to transfer
them one at a
time. Removing that limitation - as well as transferring your full collection
of albums and
individual saved tracks - costs $4.50 a month, just like TuneMyMusic. Our
advice: Take a
little time to play around with Soundiiz's playlist transfer tool. It's not as
immediately
simple as TuneMyMusic, but you should be able to move a decent chunk of your
collection over
before you need to make a decision about paying for more.
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- » [the-facts-machine] How to quit Spotify without losing your music - Steve
