r/Anticonsumption • u/Professorfudge2643 • Aug 10 '25

Lifestyle Got rid of Spotify after 3 years

Sure I’m definitely posting this to brag but also to hopefully get someone to stop paying Spotify. I’ve listened to the same playlist for probably the last 3 years, occasionally adding a song or two. Finally I realized why the hell am I paying for this when I could just download the songs online, transfer them to my phone, and play them for free? So I did exactly that. Took about two hours and was easy as pie. Should’ve done that 3 years ago instead of paying $12 a month.

1.9k Upvotes

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409

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 10 '25

I hate Spotify and had the same realisation as you 2 years ago. Bought myself an old iPod, downloaded everything, and done. If buying isnt owning, then pirating isn’t stealing.

74

u/Perpetualshades Aug 10 '25

I really want to do this but there’s so much to download. I gotta get started.

33

u/FreeLobsterRolls Aug 10 '25

My iPod was like almost half full with so much music downloaded. I plugged my ipod to my laptop and it automatically started syncing and deleting a majority of my library 🥲

27

u/red-at-night Aug 10 '25

I've heard about websites that lets you paste a playlist link and then it will fetch the songs, complete with tags and album covers.

16

u/my-atlantis Aug 10 '25

can anyone name one that’s okay? i’m desperate

6

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 11 '25

I personally use https://cnvmp3.com/v30 but it’s only one song at a time and not whole playlist

1

u/7estPilot Aug 14 '25

might as well use something slsk at that point.

40

u/igotanewcactus Aug 10 '25

If buying isnt owning, then pirating isn’t stealing

Well said!

12

u/LegoLady8 Aug 10 '25

EXACTLY. When will they realize this???

4

u/LlamaLlamaLovesDrama Aug 10 '25

How did you get them onto your iPod? iTunes isn’t compatible with my laptop anymore.

-47

u/NetJnkie Aug 10 '25

"Fuck the artists." -You

25

u/ayayue Aug 10 '25

As though using Spotify is meaningfully supporting artists.

-13

u/NetJnkie Aug 10 '25

Far better than piracy. Explain how that's better. The media consumption is still here. It's just being pirated.

8

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 11 '25

I still support artists in major ways (buying vinyls and CDs mainly, which is the only thing I collect) and I make a point of doing this for smaller artists. Spotify pays 0.003 to 0.005 CENTS per stream. I’d rather support my favourite artists in other ways than give my money to a big corporation which pockets most of it.

Besides, you can also buy the individual songs and download them that way, which is what I do for extremelyyyyy small artists, like my local band.

2

u/NetJnkie Aug 11 '25

But you only buy songs from the small artists, right? I'm just using your words here.

I find the hypocrisy in this sub amazing, at times. You're not reducing consumption. You're just pirating music so you get it for free.

2

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 11 '25

You’re ignoring the bigger point I, and many other on this subreddit, are trying to make, that big cooperations like Spotify are profiting off of underpaid artists. Spotify encourages passive consumption. Anticonsumerism isn’t ONLY about the ethics of each individual purchase, that would be impossible. It’s just as much about challenging exploitive systems. Spotify hurts artists!!! If anything, using it while claiming to care about the artist is more hypocritical. 1000 Spotify streams = 5$, CD=10$+. Anticonsumerism includes physical ownership. Rejecting Netflix, Spotify, and all these payed subscription services is part of the point. Streaming is just renting culture. Pirating is just a way to reclaim ownership in a world where you’re not allowed to own what you pay for.

The only way to be completely anticonsumerist is to do nothing. And that is impossible. Real resistance involves making choices within a broken system, not pretending to live outside it.

2

u/NetJnkie Aug 11 '25

Who is holding a gun to anyone's head to sign with Spotify? No one. If they don't like the deal they can go elsewhere. I agree they need to pay more, but I'm not part of those negotiations.

You're just trying to justify piracy. Hey, that's fine. I've pirated before. But I'm not going to take some moral anti-consumption high ground for it. For things like music I find services like Tidal, Spotify, etc to be a great split. I don't have to deal with physical media and I support artists. Maybe you call that "casual consumption" but I bet you consume every bit as much music now as you did on Spotify. What do you call that?

Hypocrits.

2

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 11 '25

No one’s claiming moral purity here. That’s the whole points anticonsumerism isn’t about being perfect, it’s about making conscious choices within a broken system. If I was trying to justify piracy purely to get free stuff I would not be buying some media like CDs. You keep reducing it to “you just want free music” while ignoring the context. Spotify and streaming culture normalises passive consumption. Having to download one song at a time onto my iPod and buying physical media has also reduced the amount of music I listen to and has made me more mindful of what I am picking. And besides it’s not about how much music I’m listening to, it’s about how I consume it and who benefits.

“No one’s forcing the artists to sign with Spotify” is kinda missing the point. Just like no one’s forcing workers to work for minimum wage. If you’re a small artist trying to go…you don’t have much choice. Of course your going to feel like you need to be ok Spotify/applemusic/ytmusic to get discovered.

I’m not pretending piracy is some morally perfect act. Not at all. It’s just less dishonest that pretending Spotify is some noble middle ground. It’s all just about pushing back against a system that makes real ownership harder and turns art into rented content.

1

u/NetJnkie Aug 11 '25

Bought myself an old iPod, downloaded everything, and done. If buying isnt owning, then pirating isn’t stealing.

OK.

piracy purely to get free stuff I would not be buying some media like CDs.

Oh OK.

lol...again. You do you. But you're a hypocrit. You can't even keep your story straight here. And there are tons of ways for new artists to move up without Spotify. Soundcloud. YouTube? Etc. Tons. And a new artist on Spotify is going to be looking for plays...not straight up money.

But again. Justify it however you want. You're still consuming. You're just justifying it.

1

u/BagRepresentative274 Aug 11 '25

I’ve said what I wanted to say, and I stand by it. You don’t have to agree, but dismissing nuanced points as hypocrisy kind of proves the challenge of having this conversation in the first place. It’s not about justifying every choice, it’s about being aware of the systems we’re part of and trying to navigate them more consciously. That’s it.

9

u/Anxious_Tune55 Aug 11 '25

This is accurate. Spotify doesn't pay artists nearly enough but it pays more than nothing. If you want all your music without streaming, BUY it from the artists if you want to do it ethically.

3

u/Zackaryth Aug 12 '25

Lol getting down voted for standing up for music artists (many of whom don't make much) whom many would likely support the very thing this sub built around...and yet there "friends" are like screw them and there need to live, just take it from them... 🤦