Whereas streamed movies and TV shows make a lot of sense because there are only so many major companies who hold most of the rights—making it far less complex than music rights—paid music streaming has always struggled to establish itself. These three have forged ahead with their paid streaming platforms and remain locked in battle to outpace each other. While other streaming platforms still exist—Pandora, Deezer, and Tidal to name a few—they all fall short compared to the leading trifecta. And they’re each popular for good reasons.
Audio and Music Library, Compared
Ease of Use, Compared
Ease of use is everything to the consumer. If a service is too confusing or frustrating, then say goodbye to everyone who uses it. Apple is king when it comes to making products so easy to use that even your grandma will have no trouble. The designs for everything they make are built on the pursuit of simplicity and elegance. And that’s certainly true for Apple Music. The design and UI are easy to navigate, easy to use, and have no significant drawbacks. The app’s interface looks clean and tidy, with all the different sections labeled well. Along similar lines, Spotify’s UI is designed to be borderline foolproof—anybody can use the system with ease, right from the get-go. And we’d hope so, given the many years they’ve had to interate and upgrade.
Offline Playback Capabilities, Compared
If you want to listen to your music offline, you have to do what we used to do in “the old days”: download songs to our phone. (Except back then it was a portable MP3 player, not a phone. But I digress.) Offline music playback will always be a big deal for music lovers, and that’s why the feature is often behind a subscription. As a paying customer, you’re allowed to download songs from their servers, keep them on your device, and listen to them whenever you want. But some platforms are more restrictive when it comes to what you can download, how much you can download, where you can download, and how long you can keep those downloads. For example, Spotify Premium allows downloads for albums, playlists, and podcasts (Spotify Free can only download podcasts). You can download up to 10,000 songs per device, up to 5 devices. Downloads need to be refreshed every 30 days, requiring an internet connection. One thing to note: regardless of which streaming service you use, downloaded songs are protected by DRM and can only be played using the appropriate apps for the service.
Price Paid to Artists, Compared
You probably don’t think too much of it in your day-to-day, but we think it’s a big deal when it comes to music streaming services and how much they pay the artists on their platforms. In all cases, these rates are what streaming platforms pay to rights-holding labels. When the labels get their money, they decide how much to share with their artists based on their internal contracts.
Bang for Your Buck, Compared
No matter which platform you prefer, the Family plan will always be the best bang for your buck. Spotify is slightly more expensive, but negligibly so.
The Voice plan ($5 per month) has full access to all songs in standard quality, but can only be used on Apple devices via Siri.The Student plan ($6 per month) is the same as the Individual plan, but requires verification of active enrollment at a college or university.The Individual plan ($10 per month) has full access to all songs in lossless quality, works on supported non-Apple devices, and grants offline playback capability.The Family plan ($15 per month) allows up to six people, who each have all the benefits of the Individual plan, plus personalized libraries and recommendations for each person.
The Individual plan ($10 per month) has full ad-free access to all songs in highest quality, plus all features and benefits.The Duo plan ($13 per month) allows up to two people, who each have all the benefits of the Individual plan, plus personalized libraries and recommendations for each person.The Family plan ($16 per month) allows up to six people, who each have all the benefits of the Individual plan, plus personalized libraries and recommendations for each person. Also provides the optional Spotify Kids app, made just for kids.The Student plan ($5 per month) is the same as the Individual plan, but requires verification of active enrollment at a college or university. Comes bundled with Showtime and Hulu With Ads access.
For students, Spotify’s Student plan is an insane deal with its inclusion of both Showtime ($11 per month on its own) and Hulu With Ads ($7 per month on its own). That’s a lot of extra streaming. For those most concerned with ethical consumption, you’ll want to go with one of Apple Music’s plans because they pay the most to artists.
