photo credit: Sakara Ross
In the hip-hop space, a historic feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake occurred in early 2024. As a result, fans debated over who came out victorious over the other. In the world of music streaming services, the same debate goes on within spaces, just without an actual feud to judge off from.
When discussing music streaming services, the two most well-known are Spotify and Apple Music. Along with other smaller competitors, they allow for a wide range of music to be streamed from anywhere whenever a user feels like it. When it comes to Apple Music and Spotify specifically, both have certain aspects that allow each other to stand out in their own way.
In terms of pricing, Apple Music is a dollar cheaper than Spotify Premium at $10.99 a month compared to $11.99 a month. Unlike Apple Music, Spotify offers a free version of their app that includes ads and restricted access to features.
The expanded reach Spotify has, as a result, allows it to take the top spot in terms of total users with over 625 million monthly active accounts, over 245 million of those accounts paying for Spotify Premium. Apple Music has significantly fewer total users at 93 million active accounts, according to Demandsage.com. Apple Music is more centered on people who own Apple products however, limiting its potential reach on consumers.
A big part of Apple Music is the focus on audio quality with Lossless Audio, which allows for compression of data without sacrificing on the quality of the data. Spotify has not implemented the feature but is expected to arrive sooner or later with a “Super Premium” subscription, according to Yahoo Tech. Apple Music also supports Dolby Atmos with specific hardware like Airpods.
With features for Spotify, Jam Sessions allow for multiple people to join and listen as a group, with anyone being able to add music. Spotify also gives longer song recommendations based on a user’s taste for playlists compared to Apple Music.
On the mobile interface, Spotify feels easier to navigate when it comes to accessing playlists and liking songs. Spotify makes it clear where to find playlists and how to like songs, while users really have to look for Apple Music to find both. If not familiar with Apple Music, there’s a chance a user can completely miss where to access playlists at first.
In early December last year, Apple Replay and Spotify Wrapped both released, summarizing users’ music taste over 2024. With design, Spotify Wrapped has more charm and character compared to Apple Music, which simply gets straight to the point. Despite this, both failed to stand out over the other for 2024, with this year’s Spotify Wrapped being in some aspects worse than the one released in 2023.
Ultimately, the choice of music streaming is up to the preference of a user. If a rating had to be given to both services, both would score a 4/5, as both win in certain aspects; Apple Music wins when it comes to music quality and Spotify wins when it comes to convenience and navigability of the app. In the end, whatever service a user is happy with will be the service they continue to use.
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