By Mia Brixey
Music Streaming Logos Through the Years
As many of us already know, there are many different ways to listen to music. There are digital recordings for almost any song, as well as countless CDs and records for people to listen to. Even just within the digital sphere, there are so many options available to stream your favorite songs. Each app has different benefits and downfalls, and they are in constant competition with each other to service different groups of people. Trying to figure out which app to use can be way too intimidating, so I’m here to boil these platforms down to some key features that listeners might be looking for.
The first (and most common) music streaming platform I will cover is Spotify. Spotify has so many features and has lots of users for a reason. I think one of the main appeals of Spotify is the ability to share music with friends and family through following others’ profiles and through their “Jam” feature. In this way, music becomes a communal activity in conjunction with your solo music journey. While the friends feature on Spotify is a bit more obvious when using the computer application rather than its mobile interface, it still provides listeners with the opportunity to bond with each other over music and introduce each other to new songs.
Another social aspect of the app is the collaboration that Spotify has with MusixMatch, a lyric database that is community-run. This allows listeners to contribute to the ease of having the lyrics available for their favorite songs on the app. Spotify also works with a lot of artists to provide lots of content for their listeners.
Another one of the main selling points of the app is “Spotify Wrapped.” Spotify Wrapped comes out at the end of the annual year and ranks listeners’ top songs, artists, genres, and other stats. They were able to make this a sort of event for people around the globe, developing it into an extremely marketable aspect of their platform. People post their Spotify Wrapped immediately after it comes out and use it to flex their music tastes on other people. It’s also just a fun way to see how your listening has evolved throughout the year.
The interesting thing about this feature, however, is that many streaming apps actually offer the same thing. Spotify was able to make their “Wrapped” a trendy thing, making the app more desirable and giving them a kind of monopoly on this feature. They have been able to utilize their music algorithm in a really cool way.
Spotify Wrapped Advertisement
Spotify is not a perfect app, though. There is a massive music streaming disparity between the Premium Spotify subscription and the free subscription. While Spotify Premium offers listeners a lot of freedom with music selection and playlist creation, the free subscription is extremely limited.
As someone who has used both subscriptions, I can see how Spotify quickly becomes less attractive when you no longer have access to the Premium perks. You have to start listening to ads pretty often, which isn’t the worst thing ever, but it does tend to interrupt the flow of music (especially when trying to study).
Without Spotify Premium, the listening experience is rigid and fixed, rather than fluid and constructive. You have to listen to the radios of certain artists or songs with the hopes that the song you want will come on. The free version of Spotify also restricts the user from making playlists to listen to and share.
We can now move on to Apple Music, the next most common music streaming app that I hear people using. Apple Music offers listeners a lot of perks with their monthly subscription. One thing I discovered was that they offer spatial audio on their platform. I haven’t seen this exact genre being pushed, and I thought this was something cool that Apple has.
Another really cool genre that Apple Music has is Fitness DJ tracks. They offer different DJ sets with different exercises in mind that people can use. This aspect of the platform seems super interesting, and it turns out that they bring in famous DJs and producers to curate the playlists for them.
Right now, they even have a running playlist made by Dillon Francis. Apple also offers artist interviews within the app that listeners can easily access. They have videos ranging in length that can offer any type of experience someone can want. Other streaming platforms do this through other streaming channels like TikTok or YouTube, but I’ve never seen it in the way that Apple Music has it directly built-in.
Something that Apple does similarly to Spotify is mood-influenced playlists. Both platforms use keywords such as wellness, evening, sleep, chill, happy, etc., to guide listeners toward music that might aid them in whatever mood they are feeling. I really enjoy the way that the platform uses keywords to make listening easy when someone might not know exactly what they want to listen to.
Dillon Francis’ Dj Mix aimed to use while running
One of the main cons of Apple Music is that they do not offer a free subscription for listeners at all. You can browse their music/playlists/videos but you must subscribe in order to use the basic aspects of their platform. I find this aspect of the platform slightly annoying but somewhat justified due to the massive amount of extra content Apple Music offers.
I have also seen that they do not support lossless data transfer across platforms. Lossless audio is a type of audio transfer that ensures all the original data found within an audio file remains intact. While researching Apple Music, I found that their platform doesn’t guarantee this lossless transfer for users, and some people have become dissatisfied with it. While this doesn’t apply to the average listener who is just using the app, it is an interesting point to bring up for people trying to curate playlists for possible sets or to use in other applications. Overall, Apple has a compelling platform that offers some unique opportunities for listening.
The third streaming platform I will be exploring is none other than SoundCloud. SoundCloud has become somewhat of a meme over the years, with the rise of “SoundCloud rappers” and a basically freeform music posting aspect to the platform. Despite these funny jokes, I do think there is some real merit to having a platform where anyone can post their music and start amassing a fan base.
Another plus of this platform is the fact that any audio snippets can be uploaded and made into small songs for listeners to add to their playlists. Personally, I’ve used SoundCloud to find audio from some of my favorite singers’ livestreams and have been able to enjoy some of their non-official covers that way.
SoundCloud has a unique listening platform that allows up-and-coming artists to fully explore their own style through music without having to worry about too many restrictions from the app or other people. The radio aspect of SoundCloud also tends to be pretty good in terms of suggesting similar artists and vibes of the song you have picked. They will take you through lots of artists who have plenty of listens to artists who maybe just started or haven’t gained as much traction yet. As someone who is constantly looking for new artists to listen to or follow, I appreciate this about SoundCloud’s algorithm.
SoundCloud has a fun user interface in place as well. While they also put songs into groups of genre and artist, the aspect that is pretty unique to the platform is the ability for users to leave comments at certain points during the song that pop up for other listeners as the songs play. It’s a fun way for people to highlight their favorite part of a song or just hype up an artist.
Screenshot of SoundCloud’s Home Page
Now for some cons of SoundCloud as a streaming platform. There are also ads on this site, which can be frustrating but understandable. Also, you will not find many mainstream artists on SoundCloud. This platform is mainly geared toward smaller artists who want to get their music out rather than already well-established artists. In many ways, this can be a pro, but if you are looking for a place to stream all of your favorite artists, this app might not be the way to go. SoundCloud also has a paid subscription that offers more than the free version, which has garnered some complaints from listeners who wish for ease of use and a free platform.
These are just some of the ins and outs of a select few of the many music streaming platforms that are prevalent today. While each site differs, they can each serve their listeners in unique ways and each can be used to help with any music needs. At the end of the day, the one who decides the most convenient platform is the listener.
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