Following music-sharing service Napster’s success starting in 2000, everyone knew the music industry would change forever. But no one could have predicted the amazing change from CD players and cassette players to personalized apps that fit in people’s pockets and can play virtually any song in the world. With the rise of Pandora, and later the mass flocking of music listeners to music streaming apps such as Spotify and Apple Music, users can now listen to music in ways that have never before existed, with levels of personalization that even industry leaders in the 80’s never dreamed of. Now the problem becomes this: which streaming service to pick?
Spotify
The streaming giant of 2011 forward (though it launched much earlier in Europe), Spotify has remained a crowd favorite for its sleek, stylish interface and highly personalized user experience. Rivaled mostly by Apple Music following the competition’s launch in 2015, Spotify stands out from the rest for its cherry-picked, expertly-made playlist of every genre and mood possible, as well as for its incorporation of weekly user picks based on the user’s listening habits. A basic subscription costs $9.99 a month and only $4.99 for students.
Apple Music
A little late to the game, Apple Music closely follows Spotify in terms of popularity. Though possessing less complex features than its rival, the service received attention following its launch in 2015 for the easy integration it offers to Apple product users. The app’s drawback: non-Apple users, a majority in many non-US countries, do not have access to its services. The cheapest subscription costs $9.99 a month and costs $4.99 for students, but users can save money by bundling an Apple Music subscription with other Apple subscriptions like Cloud and Apple TV.
YouTube Music
Though it launched in 2015 in an attempt by YouTube to bring in non-ad based revenue, YouTube Music really became a new player in the streaming service game when the less-popular Google Play Music merged with it. Former Google Play Music subscribers had their subscriptions and music libraries automatically transferred to the service. Though nowhere near in popularity to Spotify or Apple Music, YouTube Music remains unique for its automatic connection to YouTube, allowing users to view music videos (or lyric videos) for their favorite music if they so choose. A subscription, which comes bundled with a YouTube Premium subscription, costs $11.99 per month.
Though other streaming services exist, such as Soundcloud and iHeart Radio, the ones above remain the most accessible and genre encompassing for all music lovers, regardless of age or music preference. Happy listening!
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