I'm tired of listening to an album, or a playlist, and then getting interrupted by a really loud, super annoying ad. And then getting the same ad the next time, and again. And again. Hello Fresh, I'm not interested in you. Better Help, you don't exist to me (I'll get my therapy from a reputable source thank you).
Yes, I could pay for a subscription, but what am I really getting by paying that?
In a sense, yes...
I'm just going to note here, that as I've spoken to friends about this who still have Spotify subscriptions, they have mentioned that Spotify have added Audiobooks to their subscription service. But, I'm purely focusing on the music side of things (I'm not much of an audiobook person anyway so I don't have enough of an insight to comment on this aspect).
Take amoment to think about how much money you spend each month on music? That can be on buying albums (digitally or physically), or via subscription services like Spotify, YouTube, Amazon.
At some point, we started spending so much of our money on services instead of items, that applies to music too.
I remember when I first discovered Spotify, I was a student at university. I was drawn into it immediately. All this time I had been relying on my iTunes library of CDs when I could have just been streaming music on Spotify (for free with ads, or for a small monthly fee).
I’ve been using Spotify since 2012, and in that time I’ve probably only spent £20-30 on actual physical music CDs. And hundreds of £s on a Spotify subscription, only to own nothing at the end of it. Hundreds of £s, and essentially nothing to show for it.
Don’t be fooled by the convenience of having access to Spotify’s large library of music. It’s no doubt a great convenience, and a wonderful way to discover new music But I don’t believe that it should be a replacement for ownership.
I’m also aware not everybody is like me, and such a huge fan of music that it is worth buying physical copies. But I grew up in a time before Spotify, so our only access to music was radio, TV, physical copies or the early days of pirating (LimeWire, Torrenting).
Doing this is going to take time and patience. Sure, I could blast £100 or so in one sitting buying a bunch of new CDs, but there’s something about the patience of buying a handful at a time, listening to them all in full, and really savouring each one.
My monthly budget is about £12 a month on second hand CDs. That gets me on average 3 new albums to listen to every month. And in the meantime, I’m still using Spotify as a way to discover new music, or listen to music I don’t have copies of yet.
I’m also making use of iTunes again. The Smart Playlists feature on iTunes is so handy. These playlists have the ability to self-update as you add and interact with new music in your library. So for example, my ‘Loved’ playlist is just every music I have given the heart to (liked) on iTunes. My Smart Playlist will add every new song I like in iTunes, so every time I re sync iPod, it auto updates.
You can customise Smart Playlists to almost any degree, so right now I have a playlist for each decade from the 1970s, and I have instructed the playlist to add any song in my library that’s from the years 1990 to 1999 to the 1990s playlist. I’ve also got Smart Playlists for different genres of music too. This means if I’m in the mood for Electronic music, my Electronic Smart Playlist will have all the Electronic music songs I’ve favourited in iTunes.
Even Spotify doesn’t have Playlist customisation like this, and I’m using an old version of iTunes.
There’s also iTunes Genius, which will make playlist recommendations for you if you turn it on. A really cool feature that will make your listening experience different every time you play.
It’s totally your choice how many albums you choose to buy in one go. You might decide to make a list of your absolute favourite and most listened to albums (or songs) using Spotify, and then buy those all in bulk so you have them from the beginning. But if you’re like me and trying to watch the budget, doing this gradually over a period of time is an inexpensive option.
Use what you have access to at the start, and adapt to your own personal situation. But uninterrupted music should be accessible and affordable for everybody. And in my effort to live a life less ruled by algorithms, these steps I'm taking not only fullfill that, but are making music a more intentional and enjoyable experience. I hope that my journey will inspire others to take charge of their own.
Pop Princesses (2004)