From Olivia to Taylor: Why I Switched from Spotify to SoundCloud for EDM Versions That Hit Harder

Spotify might show you what’s trending. SoundCloud lets you be part of a moment before it ever trends.


I didn’t ditch Spotify overnight. It took a while. It started with one remix I couldn’t find. Then two.

Then a realization that the versions of songs I kept craving—the ones I’d heard on TikTok, in random DJ sets, or buried deep in a friend’s playlist—just weren’t there.

I wasn’t looking for studio-perfect. I was looking for emotion—for the messy, unexpected, beautifully reworked versions of songs I already loved.

Think: a slowed-down house remix of Olivia Rodrigo, a dreamy flip of a Gracie Abrams ballad, or some atmospheric take on Taylor’s You Belong With Me that makes it feel like you’re hearing it for the first time.

Spotify couldn’t give me that.

SoundCloud could.

So yeah—that’s why I switched from Spotify to SoundCloud for EDM.

Spotify’s Great—Until You Want Something That Isn’t Official

Spotify has its place. It’s organized. It’s clean. It gives you what the labels want you to hear, and most of the time, that’s fine.

But when I wanted a bootleg remix of Feather or a synth-heavy rework of Espresso—stuff that lives between genres, between moods—it just wasn’t there. Or worse, it was there briefly, then pulled. Like the platform’s constantly scrubbing the edges clean.

And honestly, that’s not how music lives in my life.

Music—real music—lives in the in-between.

SoundCloud Still Feels Like the Wild West—in a Good Way

What I love about SoundCloud is that it feels alive. It’s not curated to death. It’s unpredictable. Some uploads are rough. Some are pure magic. You stumble into a remix that sounds like it was made at 2 a.m. by someone just feeling things—and suddenly you’re feeling it too.

There’s a version of Enchanted I found last week, stretched and glitched into this cinematic swirl—and it hit harder than anything I’ve heard on Spotify all year.

That’s the heart of it. That’s why I switched from Spotify to SoundCloud for EDM. Because I don’t just want music—I want to feel surprised again.

It’s Not Just About the Remixes. It’s About Being There.

The best part of SoundCloud? You’re closer to the people making the music. There’s no wall between you and them. No PR team, no “out now” campaign. Just the track, raw and real.

Sometimes the producer has 3 followers. Sometimes the remix only lives for a week before it gets taken down. But that kind of fleeting magic—that’s the point. Spotify might show you what’s trending. SoundCloud lets you be part of a moment before it ever trends.

That’s why I switched from Spotify to SoundCloud for EDM. Because I wanted to be there again. In the middle of the noise, not just observing from a distance.

I Still Use Spotify—But It’s Background Now

I’m not saying Spotify is bad. It’s just… passive. SoundCloud is active. You go there to find something new. Something weird. Something personal. And lately, that’s what I’ve needed more than ever.

I want the remix that makes a sad pop song hit even harder.

I want the bootleg that turns a radio hit into a dancefloor anthem.

I want to feel like the song was made for someone like me, not just for charts and streaming numbers.

And right now, only SoundCloud gives me that.

That’s the real reason why I switched from Spotify to SoundCloud for EDM. Because the music I care about most doesn’t always show up on release day. Sometimes, it shows up in someone’s SoundCloud repost at 1:34 a.m.

And when it does? It feels like home.

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By George Kamau

I brunch on consumer tech. Send scoops to george@techtrendsmedia.co.ke

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