Now my podcast player and by extension adtech markets know what I listen to, when I listen to it, how long I listen, when I stop, when I fast forward/skip, etc., with no way to opt out. This is not freedom.
You have to pay for cable / Netflix. Spotify is free (with ads).
I pay for Spotify and don't get ads, so its not really adtech for me.
Paying for Spotify does not imply that they cease spying on you, only that they aren't using that information to serve you ads on their platform.