My listening habits have expanded since I quit Spotify. I’ve discovered more new music in this time, and I’ve delved deeper into my favourite genres...
I could have so many answers to the 'what album is a must have' question, but one that I think is a great addition is 'Grace' by Jeff Buckley. It's a piece of history, that album, and every track is a non-skipper.
Great article Olivia! I love that you return to radio to listen to music, this made me happy to read as I am a Radio Dj. Good (and tough) question on which one album everyone should own cuz I can't narrow it down to one but I have to say I think Waylon Jennings, Dreaming My Dreams is a must even if one is not a country music fan, it's an essential in my book.
it is a tough question! i know of Weylon Jennings but I don't think I've ever listened to an album, so I'll have to give it a go and let you know what i think!
Love this! I haven’t looked back from quitting Spotify either and CEO dudes latest statements really make me hope people start to reconsider. Oooh you made me wanna try radio out again! Maybe it’s the central resource we’re missing in these fragmented times 😂🙂↕️
Loved this piece. Really tempting me to drop Spotify myself (the algorithm is a nightmare).
As to your question on an essential album that everyone should own…I’d have to say *This Empty Northern Hemisphere* by Gregory Alan Isakov. Gentle, carefully recorded and mixed, this album has stayed with me ever since I searched “acoustic guitar” on iTunes in 2010 and clicked on it because I liked the album art.
I’ve now seen him live a few times, and obsessed with over his collaboration with the Colorado Symphony.
Similar to you. I try to buy it when I can and then stream on YouTube. I’ve noticed since I’ve started buying music again I’m spending more time with each album and actually listening more intently. I tended to jump around a lot with Spotify.
great recommendation -- i remember reading Langston Hughes for a literature class and crying at Daybreak in Alabama. will have to give this a full listen!
El Camino by The Black Keys is so good. One of the few modern ones where every track is great. Little Black Submarines is also my favorite song of theirs.
I have never subscribed to Spotify because of the lack of payment to artists but I occasionally listen to stuff to see if I like it to then buy. I am not sure if I have logged in yet this year.
I tend to purchase music on Bandcamp and download it to my Sony mp3 player for carrying around - old skool perhaps.
I still buy vinyl and cd’s on occasion, Nerina Pallot/Fires reissue was my latest vinyl purchase.
Favourite album changes but one I keep coming back to is Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues which I first heard on Christmas Day 1985, my brother had it on cassette. Long story why it is a favourite, I listened to it only yesterday.
Okay so admittedly I am still attached to Spotify - it's still the best place for me to find new music - but ever since you talked about ditching streaming I have actually made more of an effort to buy music! I've bought more CDs and individual songs this year than I have since college, and even though I still have Spotify, I think it's nice to continue curating a library of music that I can fall back on someday. I rely on my local files a lot even on Spotify (I love collecting live and unreleased tracks oops) so one day when I finally decide to free myself from the chains of streaming, I know I'll have a lot of my favorites saved somewhere. I do wish you could easily export playlists from Spotify though (just the list of track info, not even the audio files)...
Anyway - I love hearing you talk about this and you're so brave for diving back into radio and cassette tapes haha
Album must have for me is either going to be "Gone Now" by Bleachers or "Here Here and Here" by Meg & Dia
New subscriber here, I am obsessed with your posts as someone who is probably roughly the same age as you (I'm 35) and so shares a lot of the same experiences and memories of growing up, and who is also a creative (though I haven't put anything online in probably a decade).
1. I currently listen on Spotify, which I've only been using about 3 years. Before then I used Youtube and my iTunes. Like you, I found Spotify to be an easy way to discover and listen to new music without having to worry about ads - with the paid version of course. I also have SiriusXM. I'm thinking of quitting Spotify after the new year. I didn't realize they paid musicians so little.
2. An album I listened to CONSTANTLY as a young teen was Michelle Branch's The Spirit Room, I still listen to it at least once every few months. But honestly, there are many albums I couldn't live without.
3. I have quit using pretty much all social media but I still have my Facebook because I've used it for 18 years and it's like a time capsule of my life. I'm finding it hard to hit delete even though I never use FB.
4. I still have my iPod! Well, not the one I had back in the day, but I got a replacement iPod around 2020 because I missed it. I'm planning on using it a lot more.
5. The first CD I ever got was Hanson's Middle of Nowhere. Yeah, the one with MMMBop on it. lol.
I‘m really considering to cancel Spotify. I already looked up which of my favorite bands are on bandcamp and it’s already a few and I discovered some. Thank you for writing both newsletters about quitting Spotify. You made it feel doable ✨💖
I’ll also add that when I hear songs or artists I like on the radio, I then request the cd’s from the library and rip them myself. It’s a great way to hear full albums and not rely on streaming.
I am so excited that you mentioned The Current. As a Minnesotan who loves music, I’ve listened to it since it began. And probably because of The Current, I find Spotify and other streaming services really boring. I mean, if you can hear Hozier’s latest next to Ray Charles, how can algorithms even begin to compete? My favorite beginning-to-end albums are both Bowie -
Really great read. I am going through all of this at the moment. I have a large digital collection based heavily off my CD collection which i fully ripped way back and also a bunch of music I've bought online through Bandcamp or Google Olay Music (when it still existed). When GPM shut down I moved to spotify and had exactly your experience... My personal collection just stopped dead and I stopped spending money which would otherwise support the artists.
Recently I've been working to take back control and I have discovered a few things which are making it quite difficult:
* Most mainstream music players are geared towards streaming. ITunes pushes you towards streaming agressively and the UI is all set up to emphasise album covers etc rather than large tables that allow you to easily index and search a large collection.. so its a little frustrating when I think back to the older UI that was all about categorisation and listing which was boring but super handy.
* Having a large digital collection means i need a lot of HD space on my devices and I've gotten so used to streaming I can no longer fit it all on my phone or laptop 😔 so I need to find a way to stream it all to myself (there are services but iOS or Android specific)
a) classic rock / old timey stuff from artists who are already hella rich and / or already hella dead. IOW dont need the money.
b) checking out something once to see if I like it. If I like it I try to buy it.
Bandcamp is my go to for purchasing music. Also a great app for discovering new music. They are constantly hyping their new releases in all manner of genres.
Old school radio is still great, and guess what. You can stream practically any radio station in the world. Great way to explore new stuff or dive into a specific genre, and learn a little about the geographic location where the station is based. My favorite radio station is WWOZ out of New Orleans. I've never been to New Orleans.
My local record store is only a few blocks from my house. They call me 'sir' when I go in. :)
Also if you follow enough music Substackers they are full of recommendations.
I started off this week with the goal of not listening to Spotify (to sorta check my music addiction and challenge myself to sit in quiet moments) and coincidentally found your first anti-Spotify journey piece yesterday. Eye-opening! I've heard bits about how little artists get paid, but I've never had the streams-to-payout math broken down for me like you described. I loved reading about your personal experience plus how you've navigated different platforms and reconnected with "old" roots. I was listening to the radio in the car yesterday and today, remembering how much I used to enjoy it (and realizing how much I still do). I do love my little Spotify playlists and the process of finding new music on the app, but I've definitely had a shift in perspective. Thank you for sticking to your guns as an artist, sharing your story, and making my brain churn!
I could have so many answers to the 'what album is a must have' question, but one that I think is a great addition is 'Grace' by Jeff Buckley. It's a piece of history, that album, and every track is a non-skipper.
Agreed, pure magic!
Great article Olivia! I love that you return to radio to listen to music, this made me happy to read as I am a Radio Dj. Good (and tough) question on which one album everyone should own cuz I can't narrow it down to one but I have to say I think Waylon Jennings, Dreaming My Dreams is a must even if one is not a country music fan, it's an essential in my book.
it is a tough question! i know of Weylon Jennings but I don't think I've ever listened to an album, so I'll have to give it a go and let you know what i think!
Love this! I haven’t looked back from quitting Spotify either and CEO dudes latest statements really make me hope people start to reconsider. Oooh you made me wanna try radio out again! Maybe it’s the central resource we’re missing in these fragmented times 😂🙂↕️
i really do think radio is something special which a lot of people are missing out on!
Loved this piece. Really tempting me to drop Spotify myself (the algorithm is a nightmare).
As to your question on an essential album that everyone should own…I’d have to say *This Empty Northern Hemisphere* by Gregory Alan Isakov. Gentle, carefully recorded and mixed, this album has stayed with me ever since I searched “acoustic guitar” on iTunes in 2010 and clicked on it because I liked the album art.
I’ve now seen him live a few times, and obsessed with over his collaboration with the Colorado Symphony.
the algorithm is a nightmare! that's one of the reasons i left.
Gregory Alan Isakov's Colorado Symphony version of 'Amsterdam' is so so beautiful!
I too have ditched the Spotify and it’s glorious! My choice for a must have album would have to be Walking Like We Do by The Big Moon.
nice! how do you mostly listen to music now?
Similar to you. I try to buy it when I can and then stream on YouTube. I’ve noticed since I’ve started buying music again I’m spending more time with each album and actually listening more intently. I tended to jump around a lot with Spotify.
Ooh, tough to pick just one "must own" but an albums that I've bought multiple copies of to give to friends is Leyla McCalla's _Veri-Colored Songs_ ( https://folkways.si.edu/leyla-mccalla/vari-colored-songs-a-tribute-to-langston-hughes )
great recommendation -- i remember reading Langston Hughes for a literature class and crying at Daybreak in Alabama. will have to give this a full listen!
If you want a teaser, here's a good video of her playing the first song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDM-xw7igQg
El Camino by The Black Keys is so good. One of the few modern ones where every track is great. Little Black Submarines is also my favorite song of theirs.
I have never subscribed to Spotify because of the lack of payment to artists but I occasionally listen to stuff to see if I like it to then buy. I am not sure if I have logged in yet this year.
I tend to purchase music on Bandcamp and download it to my Sony mp3 player for carrying around - old skool perhaps.
I still buy vinyl and cd’s on occasion, Nerina Pallot/Fires reissue was my latest vinyl purchase.
Favourite album changes but one I keep coming back to is Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues which I first heard on Christmas Day 1985, my brother had it on cassette. Long story why it is a favourite, I listened to it only yesterday.
Okay so admittedly I am still attached to Spotify - it's still the best place for me to find new music - but ever since you talked about ditching streaming I have actually made more of an effort to buy music! I've bought more CDs and individual songs this year than I have since college, and even though I still have Spotify, I think it's nice to continue curating a library of music that I can fall back on someday. I rely on my local files a lot even on Spotify (I love collecting live and unreleased tracks oops) so one day when I finally decide to free myself from the chains of streaming, I know I'll have a lot of my favorites saved somewhere. I do wish you could easily export playlists from Spotify though (just the list of track info, not even the audio files)...
Anyway - I love hearing you talk about this and you're so brave for diving back into radio and cassette tapes haha
Album must have for me is either going to be "Gone Now" by Bleachers or "Here Here and Here" by Meg & Dia
New subscriber here, I am obsessed with your posts as someone who is probably roughly the same age as you (I'm 35) and so shares a lot of the same experiences and memories of growing up, and who is also a creative (though I haven't put anything online in probably a decade).
1. I currently listen on Spotify, which I've only been using about 3 years. Before then I used Youtube and my iTunes. Like you, I found Spotify to be an easy way to discover and listen to new music without having to worry about ads - with the paid version of course. I also have SiriusXM. I'm thinking of quitting Spotify after the new year. I didn't realize they paid musicians so little.
2. An album I listened to CONSTANTLY as a young teen was Michelle Branch's The Spirit Room, I still listen to it at least once every few months. But honestly, there are many albums I couldn't live without.
3. I have quit using pretty much all social media but I still have my Facebook because I've used it for 18 years and it's like a time capsule of my life. I'm finding it hard to hit delete even though I never use FB.
4. I still have my iPod! Well, not the one I had back in the day, but I got a replacement iPod around 2020 because I missed it. I'm planning on using it a lot more.
5. The first CD I ever got was Hanson's Middle of Nowhere. Yeah, the one with MMMBop on it. lol.
I‘m really considering to cancel Spotify. I already looked up which of my favorite bands are on bandcamp and it’s already a few and I discovered some. Thank you for writing both newsletters about quitting Spotify. You made it feel doable ✨💖
I’ll also add that when I hear songs or artists I like on the radio, I then request the cd’s from the library and rip them myself. It’s a great way to hear full albums and not rely on streaming.
I am so excited that you mentioned The Current. As a Minnesotan who loves music, I’ve listened to it since it began. And probably because of The Current, I find Spotify and other streaming services really boring. I mean, if you can hear Hozier’s latest next to Ray Charles, how can algorithms even begin to compete? My favorite beginning-to-end albums are both Bowie -
Whoops! Ziggy and Blackstar.
Really great read. I am going through all of this at the moment. I have a large digital collection based heavily off my CD collection which i fully ripped way back and also a bunch of music I've bought online through Bandcamp or Google Olay Music (when it still existed). When GPM shut down I moved to spotify and had exactly your experience... My personal collection just stopped dead and I stopped spending money which would otherwise support the artists.
Recently I've been working to take back control and I have discovered a few things which are making it quite difficult:
* Most mainstream music players are geared towards streaming. ITunes pushes you towards streaming agressively and the UI is all set up to emphasise album covers etc rather than large tables that allow you to easily index and search a large collection.. so its a little frustrating when I think back to the older UI that was all about categorisation and listing which was boring but super handy.
* Having a large digital collection means i need a lot of HD space on my devices and I've gotten so used to streaming I can no longer fit it all on my phone or laptop 😔 so I need to find a way to stream it all to myself (there are services but iOS or Android specific)
I still have Spotify, but I use it primarily for
a) classic rock / old timey stuff from artists who are already hella rich and / or already hella dead. IOW dont need the money.
b) checking out something once to see if I like it. If I like it I try to buy it.
Bandcamp is my go to for purchasing music. Also a great app for discovering new music. They are constantly hyping their new releases in all manner of genres.
Old school radio is still great, and guess what. You can stream practically any radio station in the world. Great way to explore new stuff or dive into a specific genre, and learn a little about the geographic location where the station is based. My favorite radio station is WWOZ out of New Orleans. I've never been to New Orleans.
My local record store is only a few blocks from my house. They call me 'sir' when I go in. :)
Also if you follow enough music Substackers they are full of recommendations.
I started off this week with the goal of not listening to Spotify (to sorta check my music addiction and challenge myself to sit in quiet moments) and coincidentally found your first anti-Spotify journey piece yesterday. Eye-opening! I've heard bits about how little artists get paid, but I've never had the streams-to-payout math broken down for me like you described. I loved reading about your personal experience plus how you've navigated different platforms and reconnected with "old" roots. I was listening to the radio in the car yesterday and today, remembering how much I used to enjoy it (and realizing how much I still do). I do love my little Spotify playlists and the process of finding new music on the app, but I've definitely had a shift in perspective. Thank you for sticking to your guns as an artist, sharing your story, and making my brain churn!