‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app

In her book Mood Machine, music journalist Liz Pelly argues that Spotify has ruined the music industry and turned listeners into ‘passive, uninspired consumers’. Photograph: Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

This month, indie musicians in Oakland, California, gathered for a series of talks called Death to Spotify, where attenders explored “what it means to decentralize music discovery, production and listening from capitalist economies”.

The events, held at Bathers library, featured speakers from indie station KEXP, labels Cherub Dream Records and Dandy Boy Records, and DJ collectives No Bias and Amor Digital. What began as a small run of talks quickly sold out and drew international interest. People as far away as Barcelona and Bengaluru emailed the organizers asking how to host similar events.