Spotify is closed this week so I’ve closed Spotify

Spotify is closed all this next week to give their employees a “wellness break.” Kudos to Spotify for taking care of their team, but in return, I’m closing Spotify.

This is is NOT a Spotify protest or a boycott.

While there are really issues with how all streamers pay creators, Spotify has been my go-to music app since before it eevn launched in the US, and it’s quite likely to be so after this experiment is over.

By close Spotify, I mean closing the Spotify app and trying other music streaming services.

As a heavy Spotify user, I know less about the user experience on its streaming competitors. That’s not an acceptable knowledge gap for anyone (aka everyone) in the music business who is concerned with music marketing, discovery, consumption or monetization.

So all this week I’m closing Spotify and opening Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and Deezer as well as buzzy free music service TREBE and sharing what I learn.

I know that I’ve left out TIDAL, Napster, Tencent, and countless other global and regional services. But I had to start somewhere and if you find this experiment useful I’ll extend it to include others.

Join me by trying out alternatives to your regular streamer and sharing what you’ve learned.

MORE: Spotify is CLOSED all next week: Why? + What that means for you

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.