I wonder if it's just different ways that people listen to music that lead them to prefer one service over another?
But then they started butchering it more and more and now it's almost completely unusable.
I've been a paying customer since 2009 and I'm thinking of cancelling, I don't use it any more because it's just a mess.
I started using it when it was launched or shortly after, before most of the alternatives (including Youtube Music) even existed. It was great ~10 years ago.
I still use it because I'm invested into it: we have our premium family account, with all smart speakers configured to play songs using it, we have playlists, out of the music I like I know what's available and what's missing and I have acquired what's missing by other means (but switching to another service would mean different songs/artists would be missing, etc.)
Compound that with lack of time (work, parenting, etc.) and while the Spotify UX has really gone downhill, it would have to get really, really bad for me to switch...
Walled gardens are evil. But so convenient...
That being said I have started collecting vinyl, which I do enjoy, but don’t often have the extra money laying around each month to buy more. One day I hope to have a nice dedicated setup for it :)