I don’t like to share my opinions or preach, but this seems worthy of discussion.

After careful consideration, I decided to cancel my Spotify Premium subscription, which I started around 2014. Over the last few years, the service shifted from a music-centric platform to something with bigger aspirations: podcasts, audiobooks, video, and even social-like elements.

I get it—companies need to diversify to stay competitive in a brutally fast-paced market. But I started asking myself: how much of my subscription fee actually goes to the artists I love? The short answer is: very little, and even less if they’re not backed by a major label. Maybe you can’t stop progress, but I no longer want to be a cog in the machine, throwing money at a corporation that treats music & media like expendable assets when, instead, they're supposed to be the core of their business.

As a musician, I’ve always found it off-putting to see artists placing themselves on a moral pedestal, demanding recognition. Music is everything to me, but it’s also a hard life—one that’s cost me friends, relationships, money, and stability. Still, I thought - I’m the one who chose this path; it's my burden. I can't expect the general public to feel like they owe me in any way.

Then, COVID happened, and I changed my mind. I realized how crucial art and entertainment really are to our lives. Can you even imagine those days without your favorite songs giving you comfort or movies & books keeping you company during those long days filled with nothing but uncertainty? Call it art, call it entertainment - it kept us emotionally afloat when everything else failed. The world doesn't need to fall apart for people to see the value in music, but in a way, it was the shake-up I needed to realize that the worth of art in our world is absolutely unquestionable, deserving much more than what a faceless tech corporation is willing to give. Artists deserve at least a fair chance to spend 100% of their time working on their music without the fear of constantly going under.

This isn't an attack on streaming services or people who use them, as much as it is an invitation - If you are a "consumer" of music (like I am) and believe artists deserve your support, consider where your money is going and who is really benefitting from it the most.