As our world constantly develops and advances in technology, we are always craving more out of the platforms we invest in. People are always questioning if the brands they put their money in are effectively meeting their needs. A prime example of this is the various streaming platforms used. Music consumption has drastically increased in the last two decades, and it’s hard to know which service will provide the customers with the best service.
Spotify is one of the largest music streaming services, founded in 2006, currently withholds 574 million monthly active listeners and 226 million premium subscribers. Junior Lily Paul describes what she enjoys about Spotify with the family plan she is in.
“I like that it has a family plan, so my mom, my auntie and my cousins all get Spotify Premium and I can listen to whatever I want and as long as it’s on Spotify,” Paul said. “And when I really don’t have any Wi Fi or internet, songs [are] downloaded.”
Spotify is not the only platform that allows you to listen to music without using data. Apple music, which has 112 million monthly listeners, also allows you to download music. Junior Gavin Peraino prefers Apple Music over any other streaming platform.
“I like that you can download your music and it’s all compatible,” Peraino explained. “I love my Apple products. I like having all my stuff being compatible, being able to listen to everything. The compatibility of Apple Music, I think, is the best part about it.”
Junior Jack Champion uses Youtube Music and was once a user of Amazon music. He prefers the ease of creating playlists and the ability to access music even when the phone is off by investing in the subscription.
“I feel like it’s easy to make playlists on YouTube music and I like [that] it gives you different daily playlists of your music.”
Spotify also creates a daylist that constantly changes throughout the day to account for whatever mood you may be in at that specific time. Spotify also offers multiple “daily mixes” that blend the music you like into different categories. All of these platforms have different variations of the same features so it really comes down to the cost of the subscription plans.
Investing in a premium membership for any of these music streaming services is something that is fairly common. For Apple music they offer 4 different plans.
- They have the voice plan which is $4.99 a month and allows you to play music only through voice commands with Siri.
- The second cheapest plan is the student subscription, which sits at $5.99 a month.
- The most popular would be the individual at $10.99 a month.
- Lastly, the family plan which costs $16.99 a month. This plan allows you to hold up to 6 members while also customizing each member’s libraries.
The question is: are these costs worth it though? It all depends on the person and how much they listen.
Spotify matches the prices of the family and individual plan but they also offer a premium duo for $14.99 a month. Youtube also matches the individual plan but they offer an annual subscription of $109.99.
If you are willing to take your listening experience to the next level, Spotify and Apple music offer other apps that allow for you to be more involved in your music. Apps like Spotistats, Apple Replay and SoundCloud Replay are great ways to track all of your streaming data. You are able to look at your music taste in a different light by viewing all of your charts and seeing the amount of minutes listened and what your top tracks are. Most of these apps are free but they offer a fee to remove ads and allow access to more features.
Ultimately, most of these platforms offer similar features and similar subscription plans, so it really just comes down to what works the best for you and how much you are willing to pay for a plan with how much you listen on a daily basis.
