Some questions have come in regarding the phrase “ethical streaming services.” If you assumed that meant I had things to say with regard to Spotify’s business practices, you are correct.

95% of my streaming activity has trafficked through that service specifically. Nonetheless, I have turned my back. All of my material has been removed from that site (as well as Deezer).

Perhaps it comes with the final acknowledgement that I am never going to reach a broader audience with my work. I barely do anything to expand it, but passively, the only real discernable chance I had was through that site.

For a while, I consoled myself that because of its ubiquity, I had no choice. It does not have a monopoly, but its market share might as well make it one. But I do have a choice. I cannot abide the idea that someone would be served one of my songs alongside an advertisement for ICE recruitment. I cannot abide the idea that whatever miniscule revenue my work systemically contributed could be funneled into the pocket of a billionaire who sees fit to invest it in the development of… *checks notes* …AI-driven, autonomous military drones….? WTF is this dystopian bullshit are we living through. Just “no.”

They paid me marginally more than nothing, and it wanted my soul in return. The service is overrun with AI slop and open, revenue-manipulating bots. So tiring. And my participation was all so that my work could have a incrementally higher profile social media face. Terrible deal. It is so very easy to sacrifice that tiny bit of audience for not having to one day answer why I felt comfortable with Spotify’s continued, unchecked perversion of our culture. So I’ve just turned my back on that chaos.

If you came here looking for an explanation as to why your playlist has my stuff removed, I am sorry for the inconvenience. I appreciate your regard, and I am happy to drop you a free Google Drive link or bandcamp code. I know those are of little use to most Spotify users. Nonetheless, send me an email if you came here from a streamer and still want access to my music. I’ll hook you up.

altered has been sent to the remaining streaming services that I still vend through and I will update the Launchpad page soon to direct users, once I have confirmation that it has deployed. If you are looking for an alternate service to use, I recommend Bandcamp, of course (though I have my eye on some of its emerging competitors). I do very rarely use a traditional streaming service, and that service is Qobuz. The quality of their lossless streaming is unmatched. They lack a useful discovery function (clearly not algorithmic), but maybe that’s okay given that it doesn’t seem to be harvesting preference data either? IDK. It’s hard to know what the best choice is.

That said, I do not mean to cast shade on those who are using Spotify or Deezer. You do you. We all have too much to pay attention to in this exhausting era and if that’s not where you put your valuable energy, I get it.

While I am on the subject, all services have had the standalone Desire singles removed. I’m still trying to figure out how to serve singles in advance of album drops. I know it’s possible but I haven’t had enough focus to give to it. So they’re just removed. The same tracks are available on Desire, with better mastering.