Rivers Cuomo Doesn’t Pull Music From Spotify, Launches Weezer-Specific Streaming Service Instead

Rivers Cuomo of the rock band Weezer performs to a sold out crowd during the Hella Mega Tour at T-Mobile Park on September 06, 202 1 in Seattle, Washington. Photo: Xander Deccio/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX/AP Images

As more musicians pull their music from Spotify amidst the controversy surrounding Joe Rogan, listeners are contemplating making the jump to alternate streaming services. There are a few options available, the more obvious choices including Apple Music and Tidal, but Rivers Cuomo is adding his own self-made app to the mix: Weezify.

“Tired of Spotify” the Weezer frontman wrote on Twitter. “Come on over to Weezify.” The only catch with Cuomo’s venture is that when he created the app last year, he filled it with the more than 3,200 demos he recorded between 1975 and 2017 — and nothing else.

Similarly to Spotify’s interface, Weezify offers a number of curated playlists for users to follow, or they can create their own. The library of demos is split into 12 bundles broken down by era. For instance, there’s “Weezma,” which holds demos made with the California band Ozma between 2012 and 2014, and “Patrick & Rivers,” which boasts music created with Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson between 1991 and 2012.

The bundles cost $9 each to purchase and play through Weezify, less than a monthly subscription to Spotify. Weezify also appears to be an outgrowth of another tech project Cuomo launched in 2020, a digital marketplace where he was also selling bundles of old demos.

Weezify arrives as Weezer plot their new four-part seasonal album cycle. “Spring is kind of like happy chill. And then we move through to dance rock, like a Strokes-style album for the fall, and then sad acoustic, Elliott Smith-style for winter,” Cuomo told Good Morning America of the project which plans for a new release on the first day of each season throughout the year.

From Rolling Stone US.