This post is an overview of my simple methodology for discovering more music to obsess over—current unfair systems be damned.
How?
By remembering how to listen. By remembering who we are.
Today, most people use streaming as their primary method of listening to music. Every song in the world is available at the touch of a finger, yet many still feel disengaged with their listening. How is this possible?
The paradox of choice has turned many into lean-back listeners—people who outsource all decision-making about their preferences to algorithms, curated playlists, and AI. They tune music into the background, set their day to a “mood,” and move on.
But the essence of who you are as a person, as a spirit, as a soul, resides in the nuances of what moves and excites you. This cannot be outsourced.
If you’re feeling dull, bored, or disconnected from your music, it’s likely because you’re relying on these services to do your soul work. And they simply can’t. That work is yours to do.
Reconnecting with a catalog of music that lights you up and excites you isn’t just about creating a groovier playlist to bop to—it’s about reigniting your personal vitality.
When you’re in touch with what you find interesting, curious, fascinating, beautiful, exciting, passion-provoking, sensual, and playful—and likewise, what you find ugly, repulsive, dissatisfying, offensive, or disgusting—you gain the tools to start making bold choices in your life.
Exposing the weird matrix that makes you you—learning to see, appreciate, embrace, and ultimately radically love and accept yourself—is revolutionary.
Not what the Grammys say you should like. Not Sony or Universal. Not MTV, the radio, or Spotify. Not your mama, your papa, your friends, your lovers, your enemies, or your country.
You.
What do you like?
That is the quest we’re on.
It will require you to start paying attention, examining, and possibly adjusting some of your behaviors. Some behaviors might not seem as “convenient” at first, but I assure you, in the end, they’re a rippin’ good time.
My methodology is simple, fun, and works like flowing down the river of how our brains naturally want to work—instead of struggling cognitively upstream.
In this workshop, you’ll learn my framework for deep listening:
Mindsets to help you discover more music.
How to engage more effectively with streaming platforms to discover new music (instead of being served the same slop over and over—even if it’s slop you already like).
How to go on listening adventures.
How to integrate your listening adventures into deep, meaningful exchanges.
How to enter a reciprocal, gift-based economy with artists and enliven your sense of interconnectedness with the music you enjoy.
How to go down the rabbit hole of self-discovery.
Mission: Spotify Exodus
In 2025, my side mission is to teach y’all how to leave Spotify. When I filmed this workshop, I was still using it as my primary streaming service, with the goal of leaving by the end of the year.
That goal has been pushed up significantly—I want to start now. And I want to teach and show you how I’m doing it as I go.
This workshop will refer to Spotify, but keep in mind that the greater mission is to leave the platform and offer viable alternatives that knit community, artistry, and alternative economies together.
These tech companies have done a beautiful job of convincing us that there’s only one viable reality. But lucky for you, there are many of us out here who grew up pre-internet and remember how the world functioned before the web.
I believe the future will be a decentralized, non-corporate, mutual-aid, Aquarian dream—a blend of the best of the analog world with the best of the online world.
Or so I’m dreaming. And so I’m going to show you.
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