6 reasons I bailed on YouTube Music and landed on Spotify...

6 reasons I bailed on YouTube Music and landed on Spotify's free tier

Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police

By Irene Okpanachi Published 6 minutes ago Irene Okpanachi is a Features writer, covering mobile and PC guides that help you understand your devices. She has five years' experience in the Tech, E-commerce, and Food niches. Particularly, the Tech space allows her to geek out and share knowledge. Irene is a couch potato who loves gaming, singing, listening to music, and eating when she's not typing furiously on her laptop. Sign in to your Android Police account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Music is food for the soul. Spotify has been feeding me what I need through my bluetooth audio devices without charge.

It's been a memorable journey from Deezer to YouTube Music. I'm now finally settling on the app everyone won't stop talking about.

I thought Google's audio app would've been the one I'd stay loyal to. But there's just too much noise in between what I actually need a streaming platform for.

Since I've been cutting back on my subscriptions, Spotify's free tier is the most logical option for me. My reasons are simple.

Song recommendations are more personal

Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police | Tenzen / Shutterstock

Spotify and YouTube Music offer personalization. But the depth it reaches depends on your vantage point.

YouTube Music's recommendations feel like a mirror of the YouTube app. It pulls from past content you've watched. Many times, they were random playbacks, lyric videos, and recommendations from people that weren't memorable enough.

I don't feel like I'm having a standalone experience from its video companion. It would've been nice to discover and curate sound without my YouTube history bleeding into it.

Technically, I could reset my watch history or create a new channel. But it's too much effort to fix a music algorithm when I can find another service.

Spotify's home menu alone prioritizes what I originally listened to on the app. These days I'm deep into Highlife and Nigerian alté. These are genres of music I'd describe as palmwine for my ears. I love how effortlessly the app picks up on that.

I don't skip tracks in my daily mixes as much as I do on YouTube, which is great as the free tier now limits skips to six times per hour.

Spotify Wrapped is a whole mood

First slide of Spotify Wrapped 2024 with pause button, volume, and back in the top right corner

Second slide in Spotify Wrapped 2024 with the control option in top right corner and share this story at the bottom of the slide

Spotify Wrapped is a yearly event I don't miss anymore. I've heard people talk about it for ages, but never experienced it properly. Everyone would be posting their guilty-pleasure artists and songs while I scrolled by.

Wrapped is a reward for your consistency and a feature that unlocks insights into who you are. It's not always accurate, in that your most-played artist might not even be your favorite in real life.

Sometimes, you may explore other categories that blend with your routines. Your favorite artist may demand more attention for you to feel the sound.

Regardless, Wrapped captures your habits to help you reorganize your playlist. I'm able to clean out old songs I've unconsciously outgrown.

I've listened to one particular artist three years in a row on YouTube Music Recap. I'm eager to see if I carried that same obsession onto Spotify this year.

Although I installed the app long ago, I only took it seriously around November last year. Unfortunately, it was too late for me to get my Wrapped data. After all, you do need to use it for a year to get your year in review.

The fact that I had to wait through another cycle of audio listening to try again made it special. I love challenges.

There are more organized ways to sort music

I'll never understand YouTube Music's refusal to let people sort playlists alphabetically.

My friends have even accused me of having perfectionist tendencies. But some of us just like our stuff organized, and my music is non-negotiable.

I like seeing songs in a clean and predictable order, either by name or artist and album. It just makes sense to the eyes.

I know I could search for a song, but there are times when the name slips your mind. You may only remember the first letter or the album cover.

YouTube Music on Android only lets you sort manually, by newest first, or by oldest first, regardless of your plan.

Spotify lets you sort your created playlists by title, artist, album, custom order, or recently added.

Spotify helped me fit into the crowd

A random Spotify playlist shown on the Now Brief on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Fitting into the crowd isn't always a bad thing. It's only when you're forcing yourself to like what you don't like or shrinking parts of yourself just to blend in.

In my case, it wasn't the main reason for switching platforms. But everyone else was already on Spotify, where they exchanged playlists.

I can't count how many times I got disappointed looks when I mentioned how I streamed on Deezer or YouTube Music. At the time, the former hadn't launched universal sharing, and the latter still required a browser to view links.

I still love the songs I love, and will openly express dislike for things outside my taste. But joining Spotify put me in the same room as everyone else. We could enjoy the same songs without the friction of incompatible links.

Plus, music is such a great conversation topic. I'm an audiophile to my core. You could say I hog the Bluetooth speaker or AUX cord wherever I can. Sharing music is among the best expressions of who I am.

Spotify connects all my devices

An illustration of Spotify connect's feature and its device list section

Spotify Connect should never be removed from the streaming app. I discovered it recently, and I'm all the better for it.

I've acquired a number of review headphones and earbuds, as part of my occupational hazard.

Connect lets you control your music on any compatible device without touching the device itself. Your phone acts as the remote.

I usually work with my OneOdio Focus A6 on, and playing classical instrumentals helps me focus. Sometimes, I'm stressed afterward, and I want to meditate or rid the house of negative energy.

I switch playback to my Bluetooth speakers and run soothing sounds from the Endel app without moving an inch. I even bounce audio between my Android and my iPhone to take calls and keep playback running. It's one capability YouTube Music needs.

Tap the speaker icon in the lower-left corner of the playback screen. Ensure Bluetooth is enabled on your preferred devices. Then tap Find Bluetooth devices to connect it.

You'll get a pop-up prompt to switch devices when playing a song. Alternatively, return to the Connect menu to switch.

Playback doesn't end when the app closes

YouTube Music borrows an annoying background play behavior from its video app. You can't leave it and open something else without paying for Premium. Otherwise, your music stops the moment your screen exits its interface, or you lock your phone.

It irks me because I have to baby my phone to hear songs.

Spotify, meanwhile, supports background playback on all plans. It works for me because I frequently move between apps.

I'm as guilty of having multiple windows open in the switcher as I am of having infinite Chrome tabs. I'm thankful that the app doesn't punish me for multitasking.

Curated music for you on the spot

Spotify is continuously evolving. Although I'm not a fan of the AI gimmicks it's started throwing into the app, there are still plenty of thoughtful features that make the app worth keeping.

I love that I'm not siloed into a regional box where the app assumes I only want to hear trends in my country.

In particular, Spotify recently added the ability to exclude individual tracks from your taste profile. I use it whenever I'm sampling for a project and don't want to scatter my recommendations.

I also use Private Session to temporarily stop the app from tracking what I'm listening to, especially when someone else hijacks my Bluetooth.

Applications
Spotify
YouTube Music

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