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I Quit Spotify

The platform interface has gradually made it harder to find the music I want to listen to. With the latest app updates, I’d had enough.

He’s noticed that the home-page interface emphasizes only what you’ve played recently; if you don’t want to continue listening to the same playlist or set of albums, you have to scroll past rows of recommendations or click out of the Home window. Michael Toohey, an accountant in Chicago, told me that on Spotify “the entire concept of an album feels more like a hindrance than anything.” Music on the app is most easily consumed in a disorganized cascade; every song becomes audio “content” separated from a musician’s larger body of work. As Fuller put it, “It’s about ‘How do you get through as much music as you can so you keep paying for it?’ ” The company, which has hiked subscription fees multiple times in the past two years, recently reported that its profit margins are hitting new highs, up to thirty per cent.

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