Move your music off Spotify

The music streaming service Spotify has been in the news recently over a controversy about alleged COVID-19 misinformation. 

That has led some musicians to pull their music from the platform, and some Spotify users have shown support by deleting their accounts. 

But if you do that, what happens to all your music? 

As Consumer Reports explains, moving playlists from one service to another can be tricky, but there are some simple tips to make it easier.

Leaving any streaming service can be a big decision, especially if you’ve spent time curating killer playlists, which are saved to your account. 

And these services don’t necessarily make the move easy for you. 

After all, they’re losing you as a customer. 

Spotify and other streaming services don’t provide an official way to move your playlists and other music around. 

But Consumer Reports says there are a number of third-party apps and services you can use to move those playlists to another streaming service.

Soundizz charges $4.50 a month and Songshift costs $4.99 a month. Although they’re subscription services, you can cancel as soon as your transfer is done.

FreeYourMusic offers annual subscription plans or you can pay a one-time fee of $14.99. 

The process is easy, although it might take a little time if you have a big library.

Streaming services don’t have identical content, so your new service may not have every single song you saved on your old account. 

If that happens, many transfer apps will let you know. 

It’s still a good idea to check your playlists to make sure all your favorite songs came through.

And one last tip: Don’t forget to cancel the subscription of the service you no longer want so that you’re not still paying for it.

Consumer Reports says that once you’re done transferring your music, make sure to "unlink" the third-party service from your music-streaming accounts so it can’t continue to harvest your data. 

We have a link to Consumer Reports’ step-by-step instructions HERE.