Leaving Spotify

For the last two years, since my solo album was released, I have been thinking a lot about the good & bad of streaming platforms in general, and Spotify in particular, as it is the major player on the market. Also, with the upcoming release of my EP, I dedicated more and more time to thinking about the best possible strategies  for releasing music as an indie artist. Then came Spotify's last edition of its terms and conditions in September 2025, and that triggered me to such an extent that I've decided to remove my music from there as quickly as possible. My goal for the next couple of months is to educate myself a bit better on the whole subject.

The reasons why I'm leaving Spotify are listed below, and I believe that anyone (and especially any artist) will eventually realise that if these are the facts, then leaving Spotify is the only possible reaction. In the end, as an artist, I oppose many of the things listed below very strongly, and so it's not right to stay anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against streaming. I think it’s a great tool. I also don't think all other platforms are perfect. But I think that Spotify lost its credibility, and it’s only going to get worse, and it makes no sense for me to stay. When it comes to other platforms, I will gather more information and I will decide my next steps as soon as possible.

For now, the easiest way how to stream my music now is surely YouTube Music or YouTube topic, but platforms like Deezer or Tidal work very perfect as well... just click the link!

STREAMING – LADISLAV PAZDERA

And the list of reasons for the most loyal readers is here:

1. The royalties are extremely bad. As an indie artist, I am basically giving my music away, but Spotify profits from it through subscriptions and ads.

2. Spotify uses my music to train its own AI.

3. This AI creates music that Spotify lists in their own big playlists (often under fake accounts), so it’s cheaper for them to run the platform because they are paying themselves.

4. In the newest terms and conditions, Spotify stated that they can make derivatives (with or without the help of AI) from any music on the platform without having to credit or pay the original artist in any way (not that I think they would notice my music in particular, but this principle is basically a theft).

5. I think that an artistic platform stating that they “can’t afford” to pay the artist better should not invest 600 million dollars in AI weapon systems instead of fair compensation for the creators who feed the platform. I don’t think that a platform supposed to showcase art and stating that their goal is to spread artistry, humanity, and connect people should invest in such a thing (or any other thing, when it comes to that) before paying the artist properly. There are surely different platforms to support the arms industry, but it shouldn't be a music platform that is doing so.

6. I think that Spotify isn’t a “music company” anymore — it’s a data and tech company using music as bait to fund and expand beyond the music world.

7. Its model is very unfair – the platform and major labels are getting 30% better exposure than the artists driving the content.

8. Spotify’s algorithm rewards quantity and playlist-fit over artistry.

9. It’s not about me letting people hear my music but me having to feed the machine to basically just rent attention (which, btw. can be taken away anytime by modifying the algorithm as Spotify pleases).

10. The listeners are pretty much passive. They often don’t even know what or whom they are listening to, because the music is only a part of someone’s playlist. It’s a very anonymous environment; it provides streams, not fans.

11. I can do much better with other platforms, allowing me to sell directly to people who are actually interested in my music (which is a better long-term strategy) and offering better fan–artist engagement.