Shitify

If you've been on the internet any time in the last few months you might have seen this tweet:

Maybe it got you thinking too. What if I paid for Spotify for the next thirty years? Where does that leave me?

Let's do some math: Spotify Premium is currently (as of May 2024) $10.99/mo. That's $131.88/year. At the end of 30 years you'll have paid Spotify a gran total of $3956.40. This doesn't take taxes into account (if you live somewhere where online services are taxed) or that fact that Spotify will most likely continue to raise their prices as the years go on or even that Spotify might not exist in 30 years. It's a mortgage payment. It's rent. If you're lucky, it's more than rent. For some families $3956.40 is more than their monthly income.

And at the end of those thirty years what do you have to show for it? Fuck all.

You won't end up wit ha single album. No songs. Not even ten seconds of a song. Because, at the end of those thirty years, all that music was only ever licensed to you and as soon as you unsubscribe it disappears faster than your ratty ex-boyfriend when the waitress hands you the check. I should know--I unsubscribed from Spotify Premium three months ago.

Maybe you're at the same point I was three months ago: staring all that money down with nothing to show for it and wondering if it was really all worth it. Enter the tweet. (Or, rather, the Tumblr post.) It wasn't worth it. I decided to do what I always do when I want to make a big life change: quit cold turky.

Quitting cold turky didn't work. (Big surprise.) But, hey, it started me on this journey and I even got a good podcast app out of it. That Tumblr post and tweet were what got the ball rolling and they're the reason that I'm here today writing this guide on how to get away from Spotify fir good.

So let's get started shall we?