Letting go of corporate convenience

I have started the process of removing large corporate software from my life as much as I can. While I have been distro hopping on linux for some time, I was recently faced with the choice to work on removing corporations from my mobile experience. I tend to buy cheap phones, as I try to limit the place that a smart phone has in my life. However, these cheaper phones tend to have shorter lives, and as my current one started failing, I decided that it was finally time to invest in improving my mobile experience by investing in a better phone.

This was an intimidating process at first. I rely on my phone for navigation, personal communication, connection to my work via email and mobile social media apps, and, at the center of this post, listening to music. I decided to go with Graphene OS, as the service looked pretty polished, and the sandboxed google services that run out of the box would let me use the android apps that I am required to have for work or school. Sourcing a used Pixel phone and installing the OS wasn't too bad, and I'll have a future blog on the full process once I use it full time for a few more months. However, despite getting the phone set up in less than a week, I have spent three additional weeks putting off using it. The thing that has stopped me from switching was Spotify.

I've been using Spotify for around 8 or 9 years, and I have been a paying subscriber for much of that time. I have spent countless hours enjoying the service, having all music that I could possibly want just on search away. The experience has been so seamless for me that I can think of just one single album that I could not find immediately, although may that speaks more to my mainstream tastes. More than just enjoying the music, the discovery features have introduced me to new bands, some of which I have had amazing experiences traveling to see live. I also look forward to seeing my Spotify wrapped each year, learning more about myself and my listening habits. I always have something playing from the service.

All of that is to say, this is my first personal experience resisting switching away from corporate systems because of my love for their convenience. I have long been away of the many criticisms of Spotify. And despite being a person who is relatively quick to abandon corporate systems, I have stuck around. This is a platform that I have invested significant time and money in to, and the thought of starting over had me somewhat distraught. It took me a week before I could start developing a plan to leave, and another two weeks until I built up the resolve to execute on it.

As you can probably guess by the image at the top of this blog, my first step away from spotify was a step towards Funkwhale. While I don't know much about the service, it appears to be a distributed music sharing social site. I decided to find the pod with the most hours of music available, and join in. So far I have had a mixed experience with the site. First, I have not been able to find a lot of the music from my previous playlists in my new pod. I don't think that is the fault of the pod, and I doubt there is one around that has the same available tracks as my current interests.

The best thing about Funkwhale so far has been its willingness to let me store my own music. In order to fill the gap that Spotify left behind, both emotionally and financially, I have purchased a few albums direct from small artists on Bandcamp These digital albums offered MP3 downloads that were easy to upload to my personal collection on Funkwhale. This, combined with some music from my pod, has given me what I need to get through the first week without going back to Spotify. In addition, I am building a music collection that I own copies of, and providing more income to artists that I enjoy.

So why does any of this matter? As a FOSS advocate, it can be hard to remember that people honestly enjoy corporate services, even as they recognize the abuse and extraction of them. I have long known that Spotify is extractive to artists, and yet I remained there because I felt invested in it, and exit costs seemed to high. Despite the switch costing me only two hours time to sign up to Funkwhale and get oriented, and around $11 USD for my new albums, it still felt like an insurmountable task. This experience reminds me that people can form connections to even the least social of apps, and that being kind, patient, and understanding is an important part of advocating the switch to open and FOSS software. For me, this switch was more of an exercise in managing expectations. Rather than paying $12 USD a month for any song any time, I now have to remind myself that it is okay to wait for new music. Investing $12 in a new album direct from an artist each month will end up being a much more fruitful and fulfilling experience for me.

I will update on this process further soon, specifically detailing my experience switching all of my mobile apps to Graphene and only FOSS apps available on Fdroid. For now though, it feels like I have severed one of the biggest remaining threads keeping me tied towards unnecessary corporate platforms.

Back