Recently, I wrote about Spotify’s shitty music streaming. From its deprioritisation of user experience in its app interface to its exploitation of artists, it’s clear that Spotify is no longer the best place to stream music. In fact, why stream music at all? In 2023,
wrote about her move away from streaming music, which, plus last year’s release of Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee on any platform aside from streaming, commenced a two-week period over the winter vacation when I was convinced that I was going to stop streaming music altogether and instead use foobear2000 and the 10 CDs I own to listen to music from then on. This would put the control of my music listening experience back in my hands, and give artists the money that they deserve for their work.But there was the problem. Money. I don’t care about pirating old Pearl Jam albums because I figure they’ve got enough money (certainly more than I do). However, another music listening goal of mine is to listen to more music, especially new artists that are outside of my comfort zone. I worried that paying for music (for the first time in my life) would discourage me from trying new things. I earn my money through nannying, tutoring, and the odd paid writing gig - in other words, I don’t have much to spare. I’m also currently saving up to move apartments this year, so upping my spending is not a wise financial decision for me right now.
In the end, what I’ve decided to do is switch to a streaming app that didn’t contribute money to Trump’s inauguration (This was really the final nail in the coffin for me.) and build up my music collection over time to the point where I can say goodbye to streaming forever. But Spotify is by far the most popular music streaming platform, so if you’re one of its 675 million monthly active users, here’s how to improve your experience on the app.
Step One: Toggle the ‘albums’ filter
This was 100% the biggest improvement for me. I wanted to make my feed as similar to perusing a physical music collection as I could. With a digital interface it's not possible to feel the soft bumps of vinyl cover spines or CD jewel cases under your fingers, but I wanted to try to recreate that experience as much as possible. Seeing my saved albums in front of me rather than a hodge-podge of albums, playlists, and audiobooks makes it so much easier to find what I want to listen to. (This works a lot better on desktop because the phone app keeps resetting and I have to toggle the setting each time I use it.)
Using the Spotify Web Player, I can see how my homepage looked previously. The design is not only inconvenient for the user but it honestly looks ugly. In the third screencap below you can see these horrific-looking tiles that take up an unnecessary amount of space, while my actual music library is shoved off to the side.
The way the app's homepage is laid out is maddening. Why are audiobook recommendations listed before albums on a music listening app? No, I don't want to listen to 11.5 hours of Stephen Fry reading Moab Is My Washpot (a title I don’t quite get but is so syllabically interesting that it knocks around in my head repeating itself for minutes after I read it. Why is Spotify subjecting me to this literary earworm? I shouldn't be confronted by Moab Is My Washpot in the same place I get my music. I don't want Moab Is My Washpot. Please, take Moab Is My Washpot away from me.)
Step Two: (On desktop) Expand the library section so it takes up more space
I want my music library to be the primary focus of my music listening app. Crazy, I know. Spotify puts your “Recently Played” front and centre, which I find means that I listen to the same things over and over again. Giving my music library more space expands my options when I’m deciding what to listen to next so I don’t end up reaching for the same albums and artists all the time.
Step Three: Listen to albums more than playlists
I’ve stopped using Spotify’s AI-generated playlists entirely. Features like the Daylist and Spotify DJ, which were once in daily rotation, have become useless to me (plus, Spotify DJ is either discontinued or unavailable in France). Instead, I focus on albums, which helps to put the music centre-stage in my listening, rather than the algorithm.
Step Four: Change how you save music
This step had multiple parts, but the first and most important was to stop liking songs.
Ever since ‘Liked Songs’ became just another playlist, it lost all usefulness for me. What’s the point of having a massive, unwieldy list of every song I’ve ever liked? Instead, I now save full albums to my library. If I want to find a specific song, I just use the search bar—something I was already doing anyway, because scrolling through years’ worth of liked songs is a nightmare.
When someone recommends an album to me, I add it to my library immediately. That way, it’s ready when I need something new to listen to, without getting buried in a sea of algorithm-generated noise.
The Problem That Remains
These tweaks still don’t address Spotify’s biggest failing: fair compensation for artists. Even though I made my personal experience with the app better, the artists I love are still being underpaid, and in the end it just wasn’t enough.
For now, though, if you’re feeling frustrated with the app but aren’t quite ready to quit cold turkey, de-algorithmizing your could make a large difference.