Switching Premiums: Dropping Spotify for YouTube Music

Like most people in the Philippines, Spotify was my go-to music app without a second thought. It became the default, almost by cultural osmosis—it was what friends used and what parties played from. And because I couldn’t stand ad breaks in the middle of my vibe, I jumped to Premium as soon as I felt it was worth it.

From YouTube

For years, that was the setup: Spotify Premium, a pair of decent earbuds, and my rotating playlists. But after hearing from a few friends who claimed YouTube Premium was the better deal since it comes with YT Music, I finally decided to make the switch.

If you're thinking about making the same switch, this is what happened when I dropped Spotify for YouTube Music—the highs, the lows, and everything in between.

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Starting from Scratch (Kind Of)

From Spotify

The first shock of switching was realizing how deeply I had become anchored to Spotify. Years of curated playlists, hearted tracks, and artist follows felt like they vanished overnight. It was like moving houses and realizing all your furniture was built-in. 

Some people love a fresh start, and I get it—there's something nice about re-curating your vibe. But I'm not one of those people. I didn’t want to rebuild from nothing, so I looked up ways to transfer playlists and landed on TuneMyMusic. It's a playlist importer that allows you to transfer songs from various streaming platforms, such as Spotify, to YouTube Music. The free version does have a song limit, but it covered most of my essentials, and honestly, that was good enough to get my new setup off the ground.

The Algorithm Dilemma

From YouTube

Where YouTube Music stumbled a bit, at least at first, was in its recommendations. Spotify had years of my data to work with—it knew what I liked, what I'd skip, and when I'd hit repeat. So at first, YouTube Music felt a little... random. 

But after a few weeks of consistent listening, I noticed its algorithm was learning fast. And here's where YouTube Music shines: its library is huge. I’m talking unofficial remixes, niche artist drops, and even old songs that Spotify just doesn’t carry. The number of tracks I've stumbled upon that I'd forgotten or thought were lost to the internet is impressive. So even if the recs took a bit longer to feel tailored, I had way more music to explore overall.

One Subscription to Rule Them All

Screenshot from YouTube

Here’s the deal-sealer: YouTube Premium isn't just music—it’s an ad-free YouTube experience. As someone who hates ads disrupting the flow (yes, even in videos), this changed everything. Watching YouTube videos on a Smart TV—like the Hyundai 55" Android 11 OS 4K UHD LED Smart TV—without pre-rolls or mid-rolls is just better. You forget how annoying ads are until you don’t see them anymore. So getting a music streaming service and a cleaner YouTube experience in one subscription? That’s hard to beat.

The Final Note

If you're planning a switch or just want to get more out of your subscriptions, check out the gear that makes it all better—like the Ultimate Ears Boom 4 and the Hyundai 55" Smart TV—all available at the Next Upgrade Shop. Whether you're tuning into beats or bingeing videos, they've got all you need to upgrade the experience.