I Pulled My Music from Spotify Today. Here's Why.

For years, I’ve allowed my music to live on Spotify, even though I never needed it. My catalog has always been licensed for TV, film, and media, and streaming royalties were never the core of my career. I kept my music there because I wanted everyone to have access. But what was once a courtesy has become a liability.

Spotify has built a system that punishes the very people who create its value. Their royalty payouts are famously abysmal—fractions of a cent per stream, often amounting to pocket change even after years of work. Independent artists carry the weight of the platform, yet Spotify bends over backwards for the major labels that already dominate radio, playlists, and the charts. The deck is stacked, and everyone knows it. Add to that their policy of fining artists for so-called “illegal streams”—with no meaningful appeal process and no real effort to distinguish between victims of scams and actual offenders—and you have a platform that is openly hostile to the people it claims to empower.

That’s why I’ve walked away. Like countless other independent artists, I refuse to be part of a system that rewards the powerful, exploits the vulnerable, and penalizes those caught in scams beyond their control. My music remains everywhere else—on platforms that don’t treat artists as disposable line items. Spotify may still be the biggest player in streaming, but the exodus is real, and it’s growing. We deserve better than fractions of a cent and fines for crimes we didn’t commit. And we’re not going to stop walking.

If you’d like to support independent artists like me directly, the best way is by purchasing music. Every sale is greatly appreciated and goes further than thousands of streams ever could. But I also understand not everyone has that flexibility right now, and that’s okay—my music is still available to stream on more reputable platforms.