A Listener’s Awakening
Back then, being a music lover, I used to view Spotify as the perfect companion. Every conceivable playlist, every artist, every song was there for the seeking. It started showing cracks, though – the sameness of recommendations, the tiny payouts to musicians, and the increasing number of artists demanding change.
These conversations gained momentum across social and music channels in 2025. The phrase was coined out of the critical discussions, community events, and artists reacting to journalist Liz Pelly’s book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. Pelly argues that Spotify encourages passive listening and rewards predictability–a system focused on mood-based playlists instead of meaningful discovery.
That critique hit a chord with many a fan. Streaming made it easy to get to the music, but it also destroyed purposeful listening.
The Uneven Economics of Streaming
Spotify dominates global streaming with around 696 million active users, according to its Q2 2025 earnings report. Yet, for artists, the economics remain discouraging. The platform pays an estimated $0.003 to $0.005 per stream — roughly £0.002 to £0.004 when converted. To earn a living wage in the UK, where the 2025 National Living Wage is £12.21 per hour, an artist would need between 650,000 and 975,000 plays per month, depending on the payout rate. The often-cited figure of 400,000 streams per month understates the gap.
For independent musicians, this is not sustainable. Many are now questioning whether the exposure offered by streaming outweighs the economic cost.
Several acts, including King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Deerhoof, have removed or threatened to remove their music from Spotify in protest of CEO Daniel Ek’s investments and the broader payout model. Reports from Complete Music Update and Rolling Stone document dozens of similar actions by independent and alternative artists, though the total number of participants remains unclear.
The Ethical Flashpoint
Much of the outrage stems from revelations about Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s personal investment in Helsing, a company developing artificial intelligence for military use. Ek has stated that this investment, made through his private firm Prima Materia, is separate from Spotify’s business operations. Still, the association has troubled many musicians and fans.
Anxieties have issued a public proclamation, stating that the investment highlights a growing divide away from techno-corporate values to those of creativity. Covered by The Guardian, ABC News, and AI Magazine, the controversy served to resurrect the age-old questions regarding the ethics of Spotify and its vantage point on the global music environment.
Artists Taking Control
Some musicians are finally beginning to say goodbye to Spotify, while others are working with new avenues of presenting music that provide artists with a sense of ownership, along with intimacy between the creator and the customer.
Caroline Rose, singer-songwriter, released the album Year of the Slug in 2025 exclusively on vinyl and Bandcamp, having stated that streaming simply no longer met her creative and economic values. In interviews, she also rejected the notion of art being fast food: quite a bungee from Rose toward the commodification of art.
Similarly, indie-debuggers like Hotline TNT have experimented with direct-to-fan strategies, holding listening parties on Twitch and thus selling through Bandcamp. These methods are slower and less scalable, but allow the artists to maintain their creative control as well as a fair share of revenues. Though specific numbers are not publicly available, artists report stronger engagement and revenues from these experiments.
This change in attitude indicates that smaller community-based ecosystems, where discovery once again feels very personal, are gaining in popularity.
How Listeners Are Responding
Listeners worldwide are also rethinking their habits. Reports from 2025 show increasing interest in alternative platforms like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Tidal, with many citing fairer payment models and better sound quality. While no verified survey confirms an exact figure, evidence points to a measurable migration of listeners exploring or supplementing Spotify with these services.
Bandcamp Fridays, when the platform waives its revenue share so that nearly 100% of proceeds go to artists, continue to attract global participation. The event has become a monthly ritual that connects fans and musicians directly.
The broader audience is beginning to understand that while streaming feels free, it’s not — someone pays for it, and more often than not, that someone is the artist.
Spotify at a Crossroads
For Spotify, it is a defining year. As its user base is still growing, but its reputation is being challenged from day to day, the company is into very hard choices. The company has diversified further into audiobooks and podcasts in an attempt to reduce its dependence on music royalty revenue; yet the question of fairness remains.
The challenge to Spotify, though, goes further than economics. Should independent musicians continue to leave or at least place limited releases on the platform, it risks losing its cultural authority. Convenience alone may not strengthen listener loyalty in an audience increasingly aware of WHERE they put their money.
Spotify can champion the change by making royalty systems more transparent, by experimenting with user-centric revenue models, and by strengthening the company-community interfaces. Whatever happens after this, the question may well be whether Spotify can get to a point where scale and fairness can go hand in hand.
The Future of Listening
The movement of Death to Spotify is not about killing streaming but rather defining it. It invites its listeners to slow down, select with intention, and remember that music is worth more than being clicked for a single play.
You have power as a fan. You can buy the music or attend shows and share your discoveries with folks outside the algorithmic playlists, even though it is convenient to stream. Every little decision helps to maintain an equitable culture.
Spotify remains the heartbeat of global streaming, but its pulse is being tested. If it listens — truly listens — to the voices of both artists and audiences, it could still play a leading role in building the next era of music. One that values connection as much as convenience.