By Disha Chakraborty and Shohom Chakraborty
Music is a major part of many students' everyday lives at NHP. It is not unusual to spot students listening to music through their AirPods while walking through the halls or doing independent work. Although students might be listening to the same songs and genres, many debate what the superior app to stream music is.
There are a multitude of music streaming services apps for users to choose from. Therefore, selecting the right app requires a lot of consideration. The two biggest names in the music streaming industry are Spotify and Apple Music, both with enormous libraries of more than 70 million songs. Another extremely popular streaming service is SoundCloud with an astronomical catalog of 200 million. By far the newest big contender is YouTube Music, with 60 million songs. All four of these apps have major differences that could help in deciding which one to use.
“Selecting the right app requires a lot of consideration...”
Pricing is a huge factor when it comes to choosing a streaming service. Luckily, the pricing is similar throughout these services. All four apps have a standard $10 monthly individual plan, with all but YouTube Music also offering cheaper $5 plans. Apple Music, however, is the only one of these apps that makes these plans mandatory. Meanwhile, the rest have free versions, albeit with far fewer perks. This is part of the reason that many NHP students opt for apps like Spotify over Apple Music.
“I truly am a fan of the features that Spotify offers, like background listening and personalized playlists. One of the main reasons I use it, however, is that it has a free version,” said eighth grader Aaryan Kapoor.
Another factor to consider is how much these streaming services are paying the artists themselves. Per 1000 streams, Spotify pays its artists between $3-5, Apple music pays $10, SoundCloud pays between $2.50 and $4, and Youtube Music pays less than $1. These figures are a reminder of the struggles that many small artists face when sharing their music on streaming platforms.
These services, while similar in some aspects, effectively work on entirely different business models. Spotify allows users to listen to any song at any time, focusing on personalized playlists. Apple Music works in a similar way, but with more of an emphasis on curated radio music. SoundCloud, on the other hand, focuses on helping indie artists reach audiences and vice versa. It acts as more of a music sharing platform for all musicians, especially independent artists, rather than a compilation of mainstream hits. Finally, YouTube Music has a large catalog of music videos alongside their song library, allowing users to smoothly transition between audio and video whenever they wish.
Source by Kristen Schneider
Students debate on the superior music streaming app.
According to a poll conducted by The Chariot which surveyed 64 students, 75% of NHP students thought that Spotify was their favorite music streaming service. Only about 16% of participants said that they used Apple Music, 8% used YouTube Music, and only 1% of respondents said that they used SoundCloud. There are a wide variety of reasons why many students liked Spotify the most. The price, music recommendations, and features are all contributing factors.
“I am fond of Spotify’s excellent user interface, features, and overall quality. I also love the added bonus that it offers a wide variety of podcasts to listen to,” said eighth grader Giada McGloin.
Regardless, the best music streaming service is the one that fits the needs of the listener the most, and primarily comes down to personal preference. Each streaming service functions differently from one another, and each has its own pros and cons.
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