I ditched Spotify for Deezer — here's why (and how it went)

I've been a loyal Spotify user since I was in High School. I seriously can't imagine my life without having all of my favorite songs, and every song in the world for that matter, at my fingertips.

When I was younger and starting out on my journey of music discovery (it's a thing), I tested out all of the streaming services. I've used Apple Music, Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer in the past — but Spotify took the crown.

And it's no wonder. Spotify has been at the top of the streaming service game for as long as I can remember. But recently, I came across some updates Deezer has been making over the years and their commitment to make sure no AI-generated music gets on the streaming platform. This is something I personally feel very strongly about as a musician myself, and I'm always keen to support real-world creativity and move away from AI-slop. Here's how I made the switch while keeping all of my data intact.

Transferring data

"But my listening data," I hear you cry. "What will happen to it?" It's easy to worry about all of the hours, minutes and seconds you've spent listening to music to create the perfect listening algorithm, being all for nothing. Because the only thing we Spotify die-hards care about is Spotify Wrapped. If I can't have all of my activity tracked and wrapped in a neat little bow, then frankly, I don't want it.

But saving my data was incredibly simple. Upon making a Deezer account, I was prompted to transfer my playlist data from the streaming service of my choice. I simply logged into my Spotify account, and all of my liked songs and playlists were transferred across. The process didn't take long at all.

To make sure it knew what I liked, Deezer also asked me to do a quick quiz to select my favorite music. This let me select artists that I frequently listen to and analyzed my responses to make sure I was getting music recommendations tailored for me. This made me feel like the user experience is at the forefront of the streaming service.

What listening is like

I decided to test out how much of this data really sank into the algorithm by playing a random song and then seeing what Deezer would recommend to me. The result? Zero skips.

I notice that when I stream from Spotify, I'm always recommended the same tracks. And sure, I like them, but I need a little variation from time to time. Deezer, on the other hand, was recommending me songs I love but haven't listened to in years. And in the whole week of listening, there were only a few songs repeated.

It did a great job of recognizing what music I like, and it totally refreshed my listening with some new recommendations too.

Playlist creation and recommendations

I've talked before about my love of creating playlists and the personalization it adds to listening. And I think listening to music is a personal thing, not just because of the genre you listen to, but because of the way you listen to it.

I make a playlist for almost every occasion or feeling. You name it — I have a playlist ready and waiting. So I was also glad that making playlists with Deezer is super simple.

When creating a new playlist, it gives you suggested tracks based on what's in there, shows you your favorite tracks for inspiration, and also shares with you the top tracks you've been listening to. I really felt like I had a lot of inspiration when working within the app, and was pretty spoilt for choice.

So, what do you think? Could you make the switch after years of loyalty to another streaming service? Let me know in the comments what you think about another streaming service coming for the Spotify crown.

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