They did it. They lured me into the trap, and they got me. Everyone wants to think that they can be smarter, that they can settle, that they can resist. I, too, once thought I was stronger, but alas, as I sit here listening to Abbey Road, I can honestly say I am not. I used to be content with my free version of Spotify, but after my 99 cent three-month trial, I have had a taste of Premium, and I am never going back.

According to statista.com, 39 million of the 100 million Spotify users have the premium version, which costs 10 dollars per month. I first started using the Spotify app about a year and a half ago after GrooveShark shut down. Since all my music was on my GrooveShark playlists, I desperately needed a free music app, and Spotify offered a shoulder to dry my tears. At first, I was not impressed with its features especially since I could only play on shuffle mode. As the months went on, however, I grew to love my Spotify and filled it with music spanning from the 50s to today. Now with Premium, I could not imagine my life without my music, and not only has it allowed me to enjoy all of my favorite songs, but I have grown more musically in the last 9 months than I have in my whole life.

With my Premium account I can play any song I want without the ads. I can listen to a full album in order and skip however many songs I want without any ads. I can save any song I want to listen to offline without the ads. Honestly, getting rid of the ads is a life-altering experience. The music experience sans ads is a major perk, but just being able to explore different genres, artists, albums, and decades of music has made my ten dollars per month extremely worth it. Seriously, I have never listened to more music in my life, and it is so much better than whatever is on the radio. While I think it narrow of someone to judge a song based on when it came out, those few teens who are immersing themselves in nothing but Drake’s newest album are really missing out. Not to say that I hate popular music, because I do enjoy a number of songs they have on the Top Hits playlist, but to limit myself to just those 10 or 15 songs would be tragic. Almost seventy years of popular music is out there for anyone to discover.  

Of course this fulfilling music experience does come at a price, literally. As I said, Spotify premium sets me back ten dollars every month. That is $120 per year. And it is true, that I could listen to all the same songs for 0 dollars per month with the free version, but not “any song you want, anytime you like.” Despite the cost, Spotify Premium offers me a better music experience, as well as the freedom to explore different sounds that I could never find with the free version.

“I’ll just cancel the subscription once the trial ends.” How could I be so naïve? How did I live with ads and only 6 skips per hour? I have let my trial run out, however, and it is all right, everything is all right, the struggle is finished. By switching to Premium, I have won the victory over myself. I love Spotify Premium.
Graphic by Sarp Sezer.