How to Cancel Spotify Premium

Welcome to CANCELED, Motherboard’s series of helpful guides on how to stop paying for the subscription services you probably signed up for years ago but don’t use (or feel guilty about using).

Spotify Premium, with more than 100 million subscribers, seems to have it all: no ads, the ability to download music and podcasts on-the-go, and an algorithm that pretty accurately guesses your taste in music.

Spotify works by collecting your data, which is what makes it so good at making customized playlists, but if you’re trying to protect your information, Spotify may not be the move for you. Also, streaming doesn’t benefit artists all that much. For each streamed song on Spotify, artists are paid $0.00397, falling behind Tidal and Apple Music’s per-stream payouts.

And so if you regret subscribing for whatever reason: Whether you don’t want to pay $10 a month to not own any music or you simply forgot to cancel before your free trial was up, here’s how to cancel your Spotify Premium subscription.

Cancelling through the website or desktop app

Unfortunately, you can’t cancel your subscription through the iOS or Android app. You’ll have to crack open your laptop and log on to the website or desktop app.

The process is the same for both.

• First, sign in to your account and head to your account page. It should look something like this:

• To the left, there’s a sidebar menu. Click “Subscription”—it will take you to a page showing the type of subscription you have.
• Scroll a bit and click on “Change or cancel.”

• Verify that you want to cancel your Spotify Premium account by clicking “Cancel Premium.” Because two times isn’t enough, click “Yes, cancel.”
• Your account page should now tell you when you’ll be returning to free Spotify.

Cancelling through a different service provider

If you got Spotify Premium through a different company (like through your phone or internet provider), you’re going to have to visit that company’s website to cancel. If you don’t remember who manages your subscription, head back to your account page and click on the subscription menu option on the left.

However, if it’s through your iTunes account, the process is much more complicated. Here are the steps to cancel subscriptions on an iPhone, iPad, or, God forbid, iPod Touch:

• Tap on Settings, then your name, and scroll down to iTunes & App Store
• Tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen and view it. You might have to sign in (hopefully you remember your password!).
• Scroll down to Subscriptions, click on the Spotify Premium subscription and tap cancel.

Switching to a student discount

Okay, maybe you’re a college student and made the mistake of signing up for regular Spotify Premium. All you have to do is apply for the student discount. After Spotify and SheerID verifies that you’re a student, you’ll start paying $4.99 started the next billing period.

I cancelled Spotify Premium but I’m still being charged

It’s likely that you have multiple Spotify accounts, but just didn’t know it. There are two ways you can check: enter every email you have through Spotify’s password reset page or check Facebook’s apps and websites under settings. Then proceed with the normal cancellation process. Here’s a guide on how to unlink Spotify from your Facebook account, should you so desire.

I want to do things the old fashioned way

Print out this form and mail it. Or email it to breakup@spotify.com.