The Musical Oligopoly

I love music. It powers my days, helps me through my workouts, and sparks my creativity. However, I have what some may consider a music lover’s red flag: I’m an Apple Music user.

I’ve been using Apple Music since it was born out of iTunes. I religiously downloaded Apple’s Song of the Week when that was still a thing; I thought the iTunes Visualizer was the coolest; I even vouched for Apple Music when it had nothing with which to compete against Spotify Wrapped (thanks, Apple Music Replay, for saving me). When all the music I had purchased digitally for $1.29 transferred seamlessly into my Apple Music library, I saw no reason to make a change. 

Yet, I still felt like I was missing out on something. I’m a huge playlist lover, and as great as some of Apple Music’s playlists are, I still see some of the most creative playlists on Spotify. I also love to share the playlists I make with my friends, but if they use Spotify and not Apple Music, they can never listen to them. 

Herein lies my dilemma: in this musical oligopoly, I must choose either Apple Music or Spotify. Transferring all my music and playlists from Apple Music seems like a hassle, but Spotify seems to have more features and would allow me to collaborate and share music with friends more easily. 

So, after about TWO YEARS of deliberating, I’ve decided to swap to Spotify. I’m terrified (which feels very dumb but is also very real). Drop your favorite Spotify playlists in the comments! Wish me luck, and see you Thursday.