What Music Streaming Service should I use?

With so many music streaming services at our disposal in 2017 it can be difficult to decipher which service is the best for our needs, especially when they all appear to offer very similar services. There is a set standard being followed across every service and it can be difficult to know which one would suit you best, which is why we’re looking to answer the question “what music streaming service should I use” and delve a little bit deeper into each of their features.

Spotify

Spotify offer a completely free version of their service, and whilst you do have to put up with ads and a lack of shuffle on the desktop version, there’s still something to be said for having access to over 30 million songs for free. To upgrade to Spotify premium will currently set you back £9.99 per month but not only does it get rid of pesky ads, it also allows you to download music and listen offline, which is ideal for those of us who live in rural areas or travel.

Connectivity with Spotify is a breeze as it works across all devices, whilst also having the option to connect with Facebook which allows for easy sharing of new music and playlists with your friends. Speaking of playlists, new music, genres, mood and occasions are all ways you can find generated playlists to suit your needs.

The only real downside to Spotify is that due to some artists offering exclusivity to other streaming services you may find some gaps in your music library, which means having to use a different service for certain popular artists.

Apple Music

Apple Music doesn’t have a free option but they do offer a whopping three-months free trial, which is more than any of the other services offer, and paid membership is the same as Spotify at £9.99 per month.

You can find playlists to suit your mood, genres, occasions and so on, as well as creating your own and combining streaming with music you already have on iTunes. They offer music recommendations based on what you enjoy listening to and, as you’d expect from Apple, multi device support across Apple products. Additionally, on newer Android devices you can take Apple Music along with you too, which is a nice touch considering these two platforms usually like to keep things separate.

Apple’s approach to design really shines through with Apple Music and it’s no surprise that the user interface is a breeze to use, so if you’re already a regular of Apple products you’ll find it works ‘straight out of the box’.

Tidal

Tidal have followed Spotify and Apple Music in terms of membership pricing, with their lowest tier starting at £9.99 per month, however for £19.99 per month they boast a HiFi membership option which offers ‘lossless sound quality’ across all of their songs and videos. Videos is where Tidal stands out from the rest of these services because they offer over 46 million songs to stream and nearly 190,000 high definition music videos.

Huge artists such as Beyonce, Kanye West and Rihanna are now exclusively available through Tidal, which means if you want to stream any of their new music this is the only platform to do it on. This is due to Tidal’s large emphasis on benefits for artists as well as its users, something they also do with their Tidal Rising playlist which showcases new songs from unknown artists to help them with discovery.

As with all other services, Tidal works well across most devices, offers an offline mode where you can download music to listen to without Wi Fi signal and has playlists to suit any and every musical taste.

Deezer

Deezer are the only other service along with Spotify to offer a completely free version of their service, meaning you can stream unlimited songs across your computer and tablet, however their free service doesn’t offer streaming of all songs on mobile like Spotify, instead they offer Flow and Mixes only through mobile devices.

Flow is a mixture of your favourite songs along with recommendations, which means you’ll still have access to your most played tracks, but you’re limited on choice based on Deezer’s opinion of your favourite music. Deezer also offers Deezer NEXT, which is similar to Tidal’s Tidal Rising playlist in that it showcases new music from relatively unknown artists, which makes it a great choice for music discovery.

Deezer’s membership subscriptions start at £9.99 which opens up offline music and full streaming access on your mobile, however their free membership option offers more than enough for those of us who aren’t ready to commit to monthly payments.

Amazon Prime Music

If you are a member of Amazon Prime then you can get yourself Amazon Prime Music absolutely free as part of your membership, which gives you access to over two million songs for ad-free listening. Additionally Amazon offer a higher tier which is £7.99 per month which unlocks 40 million songs for your consumption, including new releases weekly and the ability to download music to listen to offline.

For the version included with Amazon Prime you may find a lack of popular artists available, however they offer playlists for anything and everything in line with other service providers, whilst uniquely including an ‘Amazon Acoustics’ playlist which has been likened to Radio 1’s Live Lounge, a big music fan favourite.

Amazon Prime Music is different from other services in that it offers another membership option for £3.99 per month which allows you to use it with your Amazon Echo or Echo Dot speakers, which can be controlled by their virtual assistant Alexa.

Google Play Music

Google Play Music allows you to combine your current music library (as long as it’s under 50,000 songs) with their streaming service so you have access to as much music as possible, which is similar to iTunes except you will have to upload your music to your Google account to take advantage of this feature. They offer playlists based on mood, activities, and situations, as well as recommendations based on your tastes.

Google’s unique feature lies within their playlists, where you can take one song and create and ‘Instant Mix’ playlist based on that song, which is ideal if you’re looking to discover new music to add to your collection.

Membership costs £9.99 per month, seemingly the standard for music streaming services, with Google offering a 30-day free trial to give their service a whirl before deciding to sign up. Membership also includes a subscription to Youtube Red, a service to stream Youtube videos before their actual release and music found exclusively on Youtube, a nice extra touch for your money!

As you can see there isn’t one music streaming service that works better than another and it’s very much down to the individual and their needs. If you’re after new music then Tidal or Amazon Prime could work best for you, whereas if you’re interested in combining your current offline library then Google Play Music or Apple Music seem like the obvious choice. And what about those of us who aren’t quite ready to pay a monthly fee for our music consumption? Well, then it’s Spotify or Deezer for you. So which one will you choose?

Talk to the team at Clarke Infinity today for up to the minute advice and guidance on what streaming services would best suit you.