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Spotify is a perennial powerhouse in the music space. Having surpassed the traditional means of music delivery with streaming, Spotify has grown hand over fist, making over $19.81 billion in revenue in 2025 alone. And while the company continues to grow, it's starting to seem like a growing segment of its user base is slowly ditching the service. While some users have switched to other services, others have left streaming behind altogether.

There is no single defining reason for these defections. Instead, there are a multitude of reasons as to why users are saying no to Spotify. We dug deep online to find out some of the biggest driving factors, and poor payout to artists and the rise of AI music were some of the major concerns. Additionally, paying a monthly subscription and not owning any of the music is another gripe that many users have. Maybe you yourself are on the fence about leaving the platform, or you are an avid user not aware of why users are discontent — here are some factors why users ditch Spotify.

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Making a living in the music industry has been a difficult prospect in any era, let alone in the streaming era of today. With long hours practicing and creating, being on the road for months at a time, and the constant struggle for that next big hit, being a musician is anything but easy. And even before the modern streaming era, things were pretty dire thanks to rampant music piracy.

Physical music sales were on the decline and new streaming platforms like Spotify were playing a factor. In its early days, Spotify was known for paying artists poorly, many even revolted and pulled their music from the platform. The biggest name to pull their music came in 2014 when Taylor Swift pulled her catalog over compensation concerns.

While Spotify did change its royalty payout system in 2024 to better support artists, some don't think it went far enough. Many artists report only receiving $0.003 to $0.004 per play, less than many of the competing streaming platforms. Because of this, many users have begun realizing that using Spotify is a poor way to support the music that they love, leaving the platform and finding better ways to support the artists they care about.

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Spotify is no stranger to AI slop. There has been a noticeable rise in AI "artists" on the platform, with some even receiving major record deals in the process. An AI "artist" recently secured a multi-million dollar record deal at a time when real artists are often struggling to make inroads in the industry and make a living creating art.

And while AI-generated content is hated by most people, Spotify is running full steam ahead, with the company boss even defending AI on the platform. Many users believe the exponential rise of AI music on the platform can be yet another way by which Spotify can keep underpaying real artists. At the very least, Spotify now provides badges to let users tell real artists from AI slop.

Reddit, Facebook, and other social media platforms are awash with users disliking the rise of AI, especially in their Discover playlists. Furious subscribers have voiced their concerns in numerous forums explaining how AI is killing the music industry. And because of all of this, users are leaving the platform in search of enjoying actual music created by human artists.

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While platforms like Spotify continue to dominate, many are turning away from the idea of streaming in general. Offline music is making a comeback, with Gen Z embracing physical media. In fact, the CD format that many thought long dead managed to outsell digital albums three to one in 2025. In our ever-digital world, many users are being drawn to actually owning physical content.

From games and movies, to CDs and vinyl records, people may simply be looking for something tangible and theirs in a time where streaming has taken over. Having ownership over something is a strong pull for many, especially in a world where millennials and Gen Z are told the American dream will be out of reach for them.

Being able to own a piece of physical media can also bring you closer to it. To enjoy content on your own terms, free of ads and beholden to an algorithm. There are dozens of posts online where users have ditched streaming music in order to start a physical collection again, citing the intimacy of listening to an album front to back without disruption.

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Do you remember the feeling you got when finding a new song that you totally fell in love with? Maybe it was a song on the radio during a 2AM drive home, or a friend from the city putting you onto a new up-and-coming band. There is probably a very human element to the music that you actually love, a person sharing something that they love with you.

The people who care about music the most love to share it with others — something that many feel is lacking when an algorithm is making all the choices. It often feels like the music I find on streaming platforms is the same that's being fed to those around me. But when I look at my physical media library, I see a very wild, mismatched, and almost eclectic collection.

Albums that are experimental, music bands whom I only know because of a single album, instrumental albums, greatest hits compilations, and music burned to CDs from artists that played in some back-alley bar in the city for a single night only. These experiences are lost using Spotify. Instead, you're simply fed what a machine thinks you might like with no heart or passion behind it.

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You'll find posts online of people thinking about leaving or having ditched Spotify over the software itself. Many love what Spotify offers, but dislike the interface that they say continues to feel bloated. People also cite poor updates that don't improve the experience, and a distinct lack of high-quality music streams compared to other platforms.

Users have complained about the app being buggy and unresponsive, while others noted that their Discover Weekly recommendations for music and genres have gotten worse. Other users say Spotify is turning into TikTok, sucking users into endless scrolling and auto-playing video content. You can now even disable video content on Spotify, signaling that the company knows it can be annoying to some users.

Many are starting to feel as if the music has become secondary on a platform designed primarily for music. And then there are the occasional disruptions of service that tell Spotify users that they are offline and bar them from searching their libraries. It's never good to see Reddit threads from Spotify users of twelve plus years who are now considering leaving, or even pirating music because of continued app issues.

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