What the Tech: Music Streaming Services

WCCB Staff, Jamey Tucker,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Now that some musical artists are removing their music catalog from Spotify over its Joe Rogan podcast, many Spotify users are beginning to wonder what the other streaming services are like. There’s no shortage of ways to listen to music on an app. Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Pandora, and Tidal are some of the other popular services.

Spotify is the biggest with over 500-million subscribers but that doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for everyone. Many music lovers have chosen to leave Spotify themselves because of the tiny amount of money the company pays artists for their music (around .004-cents per play).

Let’s take a look at some of the streaming choices and compare them with each other based on their catalog, price, sound quality, and other features.

Songs Available

  • Amazon says it has 75 million song titles.
  • Spotify puts its number at 70 million (before Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren removed their music)
  • Apple Music has 90 million
  • Tidal, a service you may not have heard about, says it has 80 million songs.
  • YouTube Music has over 50 million songs available for streaming

Amazon, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube have music videos. YouTube also has concerts, covers, and content uploaded to YouTube by other users.

Apple also allows users to upload music from their library that is accessible with available titles.

Some artists are missing off all of the streaming services. For example, I found The Allman Brothers on all of the services except Tidal but Tidal has Neil Young and Joni Mitchell that Spotify no longer has rights to stream.

Amazon frequently removes music from its service. I created a playlist on Amazon years ago but every now and then I find a song or two that are no longer available. They might be available to stream somewhere on Amazon but that particular version of a particular album may no longer be available.

Spotify, Apple, and Tidal seem to keep more titles for longer.

The cost is pretty standard across the board at $9.99 per month, though Amazon Prime Members can subscribe to Music Unlimited for $7.99 a month or $79 if you pay annually.

As far as sound quality, Amazon and Apple say millions of their songs are in “spatial audio”, while Tidal says its music is all in “HiFi”. Truthfully, unless you’re a real audiophile, you may not be able to tell the difference. I can hear a slight improvement over the same song playing on Spotify but unless you listen to them side-by-side or you’re someone who has a real ear for music, it might not make much of a difference.

Spotify has the best user interface and song recommendations. Its 500 million users create and share their playlists which can help you find new music. Amazon’s playlists, while good for what I like to listen to, have nowhere near the variety of Spotify. I haven’t been using Tidal long enough for it to build an algorithm for my tastes. Apple does a very good job of recommending artists and music it thinks I might like.

YouTube also does a great job at knowing what I like to hear.

Apple Music is best for Apple fans, particularly those who listen to music on Apple Airpods. The Apple Music App for Android draws a lot of criticism from people listening on Samsung and Pixel Phones. The same is true for the YouTube app for iOS.

Amazon Music Unlimited is fine for Prime Members or someone who listens to music through Echo devices and it is less expensive if you already have a Prime account. Prime members do have access to a free Amazon Music subscription but it only offers around 2-million songs.

Tidal has the best sound quality though again, most casual listeners won’t notice.

YouTube music is best if you’re an Android user who likes concerts, B-sides, covers, remakes, and music videos.

One great thing about subscriptions to any of these music streaming services is you can try them for free, and there’s no contract, so you can cancel at any time.

Spotify and Amazon have free versions if you don’t mind listening to ads every 20 minutes or so.

I should point out that switching subscriptions is not seamless, especially if you have built custom playlists and marked hundreds of songs as favorites. None of these services make it possible to move one playlist from their service to another.

That’s a story for another day.