Exod_US: Spotify heading to Tidal
A guide
On logging in here, I am given the option to connect my account to Spotify. This guide is written with the antithesis of that intent.
Why Tidal, you may ask.
Sound quality, no podcasts, no audiobooks, less (for now) AI. Then there’s the pay gap. Spotify pays US$0.00348 per stream, while Tidal pays $0.00876. It’s not the most, but it’s up there.
Finally, there’s the geopolitical aspect, which you can go and look up your own self.
Guide: Move your music from Spotify to Tidal
I created this guide following the question coming up in a conversation between friends on Facebook. As I both have the knowledge of this procedure and have being intended to move my own libraries for some time, I wrote this guide as I went - with commentary.
Note: There was a lot of waiting, so it does devolve into playlist commentary. No apologies.
I have also included the costs of the different services, in Australian Dollars (A$).
So, Spotify:
A Premium Individual Spotify account is A$13.99/month
A Basic Individual Spotify account is A$12.99/month
Go to the Tidal website: https://tidal.com/
Click on "Create a free account"
I recommend using an email not associated with any service based in the USA. Personally, I use Fastmail, which is based in Melbourne, Australia, however, as you are not the product, this is a paid email service.
Website: https://app.fastmail.com/
The cost is A$9/month, A$171/year
To finalise your Tidal account, go to your email and click on the confirmation link.
Then go back to Tidal
Sign up using an email - See above.
This signs you up for a free account for a 30-day trial.
Go to your email inbox and confirm your Tidal account
At this stage, I recommend signing up for a subscription, to ensure the transfer of your playlists and music goes smoothly.
To do this, return to Tidal and click on (...) next to Profile in the top left of the screen.
This will open up a new tab.
You may need to log in again.
Scroll down your profile page and click on Subscription
Click on View Plans
There are a range of options.
The cost for an Individual account is A$12.99/month.
You can also select an option to get the first 60 days (your trial is 30 days) for A$2
Payment is either by Credit Card or PayPal.
I recommend using PayPal for it's ability to quickly cancel automatic payments.
Now, leave Tidal for the time being.
Go to the Spotify website:
Login
Next, go to the TuneMyMusic website: https://www.tunemymusic.com/
Though TuneMyMusic has a free trial, it is limited to 500 songs and somehow they apply a watermark to your music (I don't know how that works).
So you would ideally pay for the service.
Click on Login
Click on Register now to sign up with your email address.
Fill in your details.
To finalise your TuneMyMusic, go to your email and click on the confirmation link.
Next, go back to TuneMyMusic.
Click on Plans
TuneMyMusic offers a Premium plan, with 3 payment options - all are in US$, so I have provided the converted values in A$ (as of July 3, 2025)
The annual plan is US$2.00, so is US$24 or A$36.48
The monthly plan is US$5.50, or A$8.36, cancel any time.
The one-off payment is US$11.5, or A$17.48, for 1 week of access.
Personally, I paid for the monthly plan using PayPal, knowing that I can cancel either via TuneMyMusic or PayPal before I reach the second month. I also set a calendar reminder to make sure I do cancel.
Note: Due to the auto-sync service detailed below, I may keep it up for a while.
Now to move your music...
Well, actually, I'll insert another step here. It appears that TuneMyMusic has the option to back-up your music, to create a list of it either in their database or, better yet, in a file that you can download.
Because I don't readily trust [add online service here] let's make a backup first.
In TuneMyMusic, go to Quick Actions, then select Backup.
Scroll down and select Backup Your Music.
Select Backup to File.
Choose a Platform, i.e. Spotify, and click it.
To allow TuneMyMusic to correct to Spotify, scroll down and click OK
Select data to backup. All options are automatically selected, so you can just click Confirm Backup.
The options are: Song, Playlists, Albums, Artists.
Wait
It was a good thing I chose to pay for the Premium TuneMyMusic subscription. I have 47,656 tracks to backup.
Note. This also saves other people's Playlists that you have saved.
When the backup process is complete, it will ask you where to save the CSV file (My Spotify Library 2025.07.04.CSV) - I added in the date.
It also displays a Download File button
The CSV file contains the following fields:
Track name, Artist name, Album, Playlist name, Type ISRC, Spotify - id
Now you should be safe to export your music directly out of Spotify, if you want to alert them that you are leaving.
However. Here we goooooo.
Click on Quick Actions and select Transfer
Click on Transfer Your Music
Select a Platform, i.e. Spotify.
Here, you are given the option to
Load from Spotify account
or
Copy Spotify playlist URL
Me, I went with the first.
Select either individual playlists, or leave everything selected, and click Choose Destination.
Now would be the time to unselect the other people's playlists. If you like.
Select a Platform, i.e. Tidal.
Click Yes, Continue to login to Tidal
Select Start Transfer
Apparently, I have 203 playlists. However, I haven't created all of these. Nor did I create most of my own in Spotify. I imported them from a now defunct service I can't even remember the name of. So it goes.
Wait.
Ah, now an extra benefit of taking that backup becomes evident. In the processing of my 48,192 tracks (I somehow have more here?), a bunch are missing from each playlist. Presumably, those tracks are not yet (hopefully) on Tidal and I may be able to one day add them. Though I remember having a similar issue when moving to Spotify, and then forgetting to search for and add the missing tracks. Hm, somewhere I think I have another backup list. Somewhere.
The wait is long.
There are 464 tracks missing from my Favorite Songs list, and 4753 tracks moved. Mind, this is just the list of songs I liked, not my actual 'favourites'. Those are in a different playlist. 62 Favorite Albums missing, and 13 Favorite Artists.
From my proper 'Favourites' (note the u), 18 songs missing, 333 moved. Good, if only for the triple digit.
Still waiting.
We're up to my 'Hair to Rock the World', full of 80's rock. By the time I had typed that, we made it to 'Rice Bubbles in Fresh Milk' - pop music. Ooh, now 'Sway to the Tribal Stomp', rave music is the truest sense, the electronics present only in sound equipment. Then we get into the books playlists. Some of my favourite authors include references to particular music, and even provide chapter by chapter music lists.
I first heard of Icehouse in a SERRAted Edge book, about elves who save children from dire situations and race fast cars.
'Tropical Pressure' has every song by an NT musician I have so far gathered, which I created from the Top End Music Awards list several years ago, and built on from there. It isn't up to date. I'm satisfied to say I can't keep up. Of 2905 songs, 2351 songs moved, with 554 missing
Still waiting.
Last year, I downloaded every album I'd every bought on Bandcamp, after one of my favourite artists removed their songs from the platform, which removed my access to those I had previously purchased. Offline is always best, even in this era of connectedness. Prior to the latest sale of Bandcamp, I was, as budgets allowed, buying up the albums of my favourite artists, especially Australian musicians.
Now its getting into the playlists I've liked. 'East Asian Folk Metal' is processing. Folk metal is what I most commonly work to. Intense music keeps my thoughts at bay, but I usually don't speak the language, so I can work on words I do understand. I search out Indigenous metal in particular, case in point 'Indigenous Metal: The Extreme Global Expansion'. Respect to the people who made these playlists originally. I didn't realise that I'd saved so many. I'll remove them in Tidal, once I'm properly using that platform. Then stand forth with just my own.
Down to 'Dark Cabaret', now.
Anyhow, so offline is the way to go, and I miss the era of CD's, which was the last time the music we bought was truly ours. Sadly, I moved my music from CD's to an iPod early on, and then the iPod died. I still have it, but soucing a connector from that ancient a hard drive is challenging to say the least.
Here we go. 'The Synthetic Music Collection' was a collection of albums that hooked me into darkwave back in the day. I never had the physical CD's, but found it on a peer-to-peer sharing network back at uni, almost 20 years ago. That was another hard drive that died, taking my budding mp3 collection with it, and maybe a couple of Bitcoin, or is that something I just tell myself. I can't remember. I didn't create the playlist, either. A like-minded fan did us all that service on Spotify. Sadly, it didn't contain all the songs, and 1 more falls by the wayside, here.
In sight of the end now, for this service. Maybe I'll do YouTube next. Got to get my money's worth out of the month-long subscription. But I fib. I already have. All these playlists. Glory. 'Russian Rap/Русский Рэп' now. I don't work to this, but isn't it just an awe-filled (or aweful, depending on your tastes) joy to listen to. French rap is up there, too.
Ah, now another favourite playlist, which sadly hasn't been added to recently: 'She Raps - Coda Conduct's Favourite Female Rappers'. Coda Conduct was a duo out of Canberra 10-15 (ish) years ago. I much enjoyed their songs. I think one of them ended up as a presented on Triple J. Thankfully, their music was still up on Bandcamp when I went in to download all my purchases.
Now, finally.
Click on Continue.
You get the option to set up a daily Auto-sync.
Good if you sign up for a long-term TuneMyMusic subscription, I guess. Maybe it might be worth contacting some of the artists that don't have their music on Tidal yet, and asking that they attend. Good for them considering that pay differential.
If you Click on the Sync All slider, you then need to click on Save and Continue.
Then, and only then, will it start Syncing you playlists.
I guess the last waiting period was simply matching up tracks. Enough commentary. I'm going to go... Oh. Wait. It's done.
Sync complete.
Click on continue.
Now it displays results.
And we're done.
Well, now to go to Tidal and organise the confusion.
Wish me luck
PS.
If you have multiple accounts on the same platform, you can add them all to TuneMyMusic.
Click on your account name in the header, then Account in the drop-down menu.
Scroll down to Connections
Click on New Connections
When you go in to Select your Platform and click on one, you will then be given the option to select the account to use.
PPS. All playlists added into Tidal using this method are set to Private.
This was a great relief, considering how many I carried across through inattention. However, I will still be removing them, as I get a handle on things.