How you shouldn't rip Spotify tracks

Extracting tracks from Spotify is morally equivalent to attacking and robbing ships at sea and you should never do it. However, just in case you are asking for a friend how it's done - purely for research purposes - then here's one method:



Test environment: Ubuntu Studio 19.10 (Should work on regular Ubuntu, etc. as well)

1. Install Kazam and VLC media player (may already be bundled with Ubuntu Studio)
2. Open your browser and navigate to the Spotify track
3. Open Kazam and set it to start in 5 seconds
4. Choose Screencast, check the box for "Sound from speakers", and click "Capture"
5. When the Kazam countdown finishes, start the track in the browser
6. While it's playing, click the Kazam menu in the taskbar and when it is done, choose "Finish recording"
7. Save the file
8. Open VLC media player and choose Media>Convert / Save...
9. Add the file and then click Convert / Save
10. In the Profile dropdown menu, choose "Audio - MP3" to convert it from video to audio
11. Click Browse to choose a destination and then click Start

This of course works with a lot more than just Spotify.

Remember kids, intellectual property is not fiction!