In the previous year, I faced the disappointing ordeal of misplacing all my music compilations when I transitioned from Apple Music to Spotify. To me, these compilations hold significant value as they capture specific moments in life; for instance, the summer of 2016 might have had a unique tune to it. However, traditionally, digital music platforms have not made it easy for users to carry their collections when shifting to other platforms.

You can understand my excitement when I discovered that Apple Music had developed a new tool for transferring playlists via the Data Transfer Initiative (DTI), an organization established by Apple, Google, and Meta to design data transfer tools. The Digital Markets Act of Europe mandates these selected “gatekeepers” to finance such tools, serving as a wider solution to Big Tech’s approach of confining users within their platforms.

But, there was a significant issue. The tools are incompatible with Spotify, the world’s leading music service, which seems to have missed out on the data portability trend (or perhaps a regulatory body isn’t instructing them to). DTI’s tool only facilitates transfers between Apple Music and YouTube Music, limiting its usefulness for most individuals.

Chris Riley, DTI’s executive director, shares the frustration towards Big Tech’s restrictive policies. He’s been working tirelessly to persuade more firms to join the discussion and make their services more adaptable.

“Over the past decade, we’ve gotten used to feeling trapped,” stated Riley in a conversation with TechCrunch. “I don’t believe enough individuals realize this is something they should have.”

Despite acknowledging DTI’s limitations, Riley recommended I use Soundiiz, a free independent tool, to transfer my playlists from Apple Music to Spotify. Soundiiz doesn’t work directly with streaming services but develops transfer tools through existing APIs, acting as a bridge between them. In a matter of minutes, I was able to link my accounts, migrate my collections, and begin listening to my old Apple Music compilations on Spotify. It was an effortless and fantastic experience.

Soundiiz offers the ability to transfer playlists between various music platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, SoundCloud, and 20 other services that were new to me. It has an intuitive user interface for connecting your streaming services and choosing the compilations you wish to move, including those created by others.

The origin story of Soundiiz might shed light on its efficiency and affordability. Created in 2013 by two buddies in France, Thomas Magnano and Benoit Herbreteau, who shared a passion for listening to music while coding together. During their free time, they aimed to create a music search interface that integrates inputs from across the web, which led to the development of a handy tool.

Although they never built the music search interface, the playlist transfer tool evolved into Soundiiz.

“While messing around with APIs and trying to match services, I created compilations and shifted them between services for my personal use,” Magnano explained during a TechCrunch interview. “When I showed this feature to my colleague, we thought it could be beneficial for others as well.”

In 2015, Soundiiz received a significant boost when it collaborated with Tidal, a music platform established by Jay-Z. The music platform sought to make it easier for people to switch from Spotify to Tidal with their existing playlists, and Soundiiz facilitated this process. However, Magnano insisted that Tidal also allow users to export their compilations, a condition they impose on any music service API they collaborate with.

Following this, the usage of Soundiiz increased significantly and the creators decided to dedicate full-time to the project while maintaining their values. The founders earn their livelihood from Soundiiz but, as they shared with TechCrunch, they are “not aiming to become wealthy”. According to Magnano, Soundiiz has avoided outside investments to keep the cost low and the founders retain control over their creation.

There are some limitations to the free version of Soundiiz – it truncates longer playlists (capped at 200 songs) and requires individual transfers for each playlist, which can be time-consuming. However, Soundiiz offers a premium plan ($4.50 a month, cancellable post-transfer) to counter these limitations.

Despite the growth, the two founders remain the sole employees of Soundiiz. Over the past decade, they have assisted millions of users in transferring over 220 million playlists. According to Magnano, they’ve never spent money on marketing, but they’ve never had to.

“Back in 2012, if you searched for ‘how to transfer Deezer to Spotify’, there were no answers,” Magnano shared. “So when Soundiiz was launched, it instantly became the top result on Google Search, and we’ve maintained an excellent SEO ranking ever since.”

Magnano believes that Spotify would lose more than it would gain by creating a playlist transfer tool like Apple and Google, and he doesn’t foresee this changing soon. However, he says all these streaming services are aware of Soundiiz’s capabilities, and they’re fine with it — some even promote it in their FAQs. That being said, it’s unlikely they’ll endorse playlist transfer services like Soundiiz any further.