How Spotify Has Changed My Musical Experience

For several years, I've been relying on Spotify to discover new music. But now, it seems that the app has become a tool of pure passive functionality. Instead of stimulating my curiosity, it has cauterized it. I used to find new bands through MySpace profile songs, mix CDs, and Limewire. But now, all Spotify Wrapped tells me is how limited my music-listening has become.

At Glastonbury last year, I was embarrassed by how few artists I'd listened to. Spotify, which was once a magical portal into the history of recorded music, now sits on my phone alongside other apps and tells me what to play. I'm too tired to argue, and I've become lazy. I open the app and tap on the thing immediately in front of me, which are usually the eight albums or playlists I listened to last. And these choices are often influenced by Spotify's autoplay feature.

The Impact on My Musical Curiosity

Spotify's misleading ease of access has turned listening to music into a secondary activity rather than a pleasure. The auto-chosen songs on Spotify are not challenging or introduce me to something new. They seem deliberately engineered to be played without my noticing, which makes me turn off the app or close it. Spotify doesn't soundtrack my life; it turns music into background noise.

I'm also scared to try out new music because I've already paid for the gamble. I used to buy and listen to records without knowing if I would love them. But now, I'm too afraid to take a risk. It took me a long time to listen to Chappell Roan, and she became another default choice. Spotify pacifies my racing mind with the familiar until the art loses all meaning.

The Loss of Musical Ownership

Streaming has made us stop feeling an "ownership" over the music we listen to. We listen song to song, with alternative options just a tap away. Eventually, art becomes ephemeral, and our relationship with it is closer to "quick distraction" than "deep emotional connection". Based on Spotify Wrapped's evidence, I spend hardly any time with the artists that really matter to me. I spend a lot of time on a very narrow range of random songs by artists I don't care about.

Spotify Wrapped is a marketing masterstroke, and it's fun if you like bright colors and being told something about your identity. But for me, it's a reminder of the damage it's done to my taste in music. I'm terrified that this damage cannot be reversed.