According to widespread reports and the web monitoring service Down Detector, prominent iOS apps like TikTok, Spotify, Pinterest, Venmo, and more experienced issues on Wednesday. A search bar is a must to join the ranks of leaders, become an app like Spotify. Spotify app allows users to initiate a conversation through personal messages inside the service itself. It's not the key feature but an interesting one. If you want to learn more about music streaming apps or create a music app, this article is right for you. Below, we share the music streaming market statistics, song streaming app monetization strategies, and how to make a music app like Spotify. 5 Steps to create an app like Spotify Step 1. Consider the main Spotify-like app features.
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Pandora is a great music streaming app if you’re looking to discover new music. The ability to create over 100 different music stations to fine-tune your listening habits goes far beyond any similar features from its competitors, and its paid subscription service (Pandora One) is quite a bit cheaper than the subscription plans of its rivals. Plus, Pandora is available on various platforms, including the web, mobile devices, and even some modern sound systems. Pandora’s main downsides are that you don’t have a lot of control over the exact songs or artists that you listen to, and that it’s only available in select countries .
If you’re curious as to what other Pandora alternatives are out there, here are six that we can recommend.
1. Spotify
(www.spotify.com)
Spotify is a very popular alternative to Pandora. It has a similar feature to Pandora in that you can start a “station” based on a song, artist, or genre, and then get Spotify to play similar songs that you can approve or disapprove in order to get better results. However, you’re only allowed to have 20 of these stations. To make up for it, Spotify allows you to search directly for songs, and put together playlists of tunes that you already like. Spotify’s subscription service, Spotify Premium, gives similar benefits to Pandora One, but costs almost twice as much.
Oh, and we have a Spotify course, if you’d like to learn about the features of Spotify that we discussed here.
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2. Deezer
(www.deezer.com)
A popular Pandora alternative from France, Deezer also has “radio stations” functions called “Flow” and “Hear This” that allow you to listen to custom mixes of songs. They’re not as precisely tailored to your tastes as those on Pandora, though; they only adhere to what music is in your collection, and what you have listened to recently. On the plus side, Deezer allows you to listen to specific songs on demand and create custom playlists, two things that Pandora does not allow. Deezer also has a subscription service that eliminates commercials between songs and allows for offline listening; it costs about the same as Spotify Premium.
3. Google Play Music
(play.google.com/music)
Google Play Music is one of the most unique sites like Pandora on this list. For $10 per month — about the same cost as Spotify Premium or Deezer’s subscription service — you can listen to songs on-demand, as well as create custom radio stations (like you can on Pandora). In addition, Google Play Music also offers a free service where you can store your music files — up to 50,000 in total! — so that you can get at them from pretty much anywhere you want! You can also purchase and download songs straight onto your computer from Google Play Music, something that neither Pandora nor the two alternatives to it that we’ve listed so far allow you to do.
4. Tidal
(www.tidal.com)
One of the newest Pandora competitors, Tidal was created by a group of musicians led by rapper Shawn Carter, better known as “Jay-Z”. They wanted to make a music-streaming service that avoided the licensing issues that Pandora and Spotify ran into by having artists license their music to a service that they owned themselves, resulting in more money going directly to musicians (instead of record labels and other middleman distributors) and thus more incentive being created for artists to put their music on Tidal. Tidal itself allows you to listen to songs on demand and in high audio quality from a library of over 25 million songs. In addition, you can watch over 75,000 music videos in high-quality video on demand as well. However, Tidal cannot be used for free, and its subscription options can get as expensive as $20 per month.
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5. iTunes
(www.apple.com/itunes)
Like Pandora, iTunes lets you listen to Internet radio stations free of charge. However, it doesn’t allow you to customize those stations like Pandora does. However, iTunes does allow you to purchase and download individual songs or albums — as well as some movies and television shows — which you can organize into playlists on iTunes, move to other devices, or manage pretty much any way that you want. And there are no subscriptions involved; on iTunes, you just pay for what you want to listen to or watch.
![Spotify Spotify](https://d3qvyul2tp4j8.cloudfront.net/i/YB1HqKltJ7.jpg)
6. Apple Music
(www.apple.com/music)
Like iTunes, Apple Music is another Apple-owned entry on the list of Spotify competitors. Like Tidal, it can’t be used for free (though you can get a three month free trial), and costs between $10 and $15 per month. What you get for that is commercial-free streaming of songs on-demand from a very large library of music. You can sort your music into custom playlists, or — like on Pandora — you can use songs as launch pads for custom radio stations. And with the “Connect” feature, you can listen to radio stations curated by celebrity DJs and musicians, or just see what your favourite bands and singers are coming out with next.
So, have any of these websites like Pandora piqued your curiosity in the past? Was your curiosity rewarded, or was disappointment your only reward? Are there any other apps or sites similar to Pandora that you would recommend to our community of users? Let us know by writing a comment below, or leaving us a message on Twitter or Facebook.
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Life is somewhat like a movie. Don’t all of us have music playing in the background when something special happens? People tend to associate certain individuals or events with particular songs. Music has become everyone’s universal companion that follows wherever we go.
Only half a decade ago an iPod with couple hundreds of favorites was enough, but today the advancement of internet connection speed has changed the demand for music and resulted in the rising popularity of music streaming app, thus, increasing the demand in music app development.
Having over 75 million users, Spotify is the most popular among them. What is the reason behind its popularity and how to make a music app like Spotify? These are the topics of our article.
What is a Spotify streaming app?
In short, Spotify is a video and music streaming app that allows users to browse for any song, artist, album or genre. https://newinvestor743.weebly.com/app-igual-spotify-offline.html. Users can share favorite tracks, add them to playlists or even collaborate with their friends to create compilations.
The Spotify app was launched back in October 2008. The idea behind it belongs to two friends, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, that came up with it sitting in the nearly empty apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. It provides access to all music in the world, anywhere and anytime.
The benefits of an online music streaming service are clear:
- Quick access
- Affordability
- Unlimited storage
- Social engagement
Spotify offered an inexpensive alternative to piracy. A monthly subscription does not cost much, so users can enjoy their favorite tracks and give credit to artists at the same time.
Cost forming factors of building a music streaming app Like Spotify
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same thing goes for an application. There is a long process involved in creating a music streaming app. In brief, it looks like this:
- Planning and estimating
- Finding tech crew
- Designing the app Like Spotify
- Deciding on a Platform
- Getting licensed
- Developing features
Let’s take a closer look at each of these stages.
#1. Planning
Before getting down to developing a music app, prepare the planned concept of the project. Try out the main competitors, check out what is so special about them and how to outrun them.
Of course, not all niches in the music streaming industry are taken, but you have to study what people are going to use your product. What is their age? How do they live? Why do they need you? Tailor the application’s features and design to match the needs of your target audience.
#2. Finding Tech Crew
When you finally have a vision of what your product is going to be, it’s time to locate the team that will build it for you. There are lots of factors (e.g. rates, location, language and time zone differences, etc.) to consider while setting down with one company.
In case you want to roughly estimate how much it costs to build an app like Spotify, use the average rates per region given below:
- North America
- Western Europe
- Eastern Europe
- Asia
Pay attention to the project history of the company. Do they have relevant experience in creating music streaming applications? Is their reputation any good? You can go as far as checking out their applications in App Store and Play Market.
#3. Designing the app Like Spotify
When you have found the team that is going to make your music streaming app, proceed to make wireframes for the project. The application’s purpose has to be understandable. Every action and feature has to be straightforward and intuitive. Users love apps that are easy to use.
The time spent on making a prototype strongly depends on how thoroughly you thought out what you want from the finished product. Make sure to analyze your main competitors and learn from them. Pick up the best parts, and look at the app like a user would, not like the owner.
#4. Deciding on a Platform
It’s one of the key aspects to influence the final development cost. It’d be better to create a native applications for each platform so they would perfectly interact with the existing operating system, and offer users the most authentic user experience. No matter what platform you go with, the Spotify’s SDK are available for both iOS and Android. It will ease the work of your developer crew in making features like music streaming or authentification.
#5. Getting licensed
There is no way you will be able to take someone’s composition and spread it everywhere all that simply. There are copyrights and legal procedures that should be followed. Otherwise, a lawsuit is in store for you.
To provide users with high-quality audio or video content, you have to receive a Public Performance Rights license. In the USA, it is handled by three agencies: ASCAP.com, BMI.com or SESAC.com. Moreover, a particular share of revenues will have to be paid to artists as royalties for using their music.
#6. Developing features
Authentification
Spotify utilizes the freemium business model, which requires the user to sign up before using a system, and what’s more important, it lets them access the content for the trial period before purchasing a subscription. Also, Spotify is connected to Facebook and allows users to sign in through their account.
- Developing this feature is going to require 24 hours of front-end time, and 16 hours to build the backend part.
Music streaming
The streaming method does not require the whole file to be downloaded. Actually, the audio is delivered in small “packets” for the data to be buffered into the device and instantly played. You have to make sure that the stream in steady and uninterrupted to hear the clear sound without any stops.
- As for a simple MVP, it will take about 60-80 hours for front-end, and 50 hours for back-end part. However, building the music streaming feature altogether is going to take about 600 hours (350 hours for front-end including caching, and 250 for back-end without scaling).
Search
Spotify allows users to choose among tons of playlists and select the one that suits their mood the best. Aside from that, users can search the track by artist, album or a particular genre.
- The MVP needs 50-60 hours to develop the front-end, and 50 hours for back-end.
Sharing music
The application has taken after a social network in giving the ability to see the playlists of friends and share liked tracks with them.
- Front-end: 5 hours per each platform
- Back-end: 60 hours
Playlists
There is a whole team dedicated to creating relatable playlists suitable for a special occasion like having a road trip with a family or enjoying the party with friends. Moreover, users can set up their own music collections on their own, or together with their buddies. These playlists can be shared and popularized on Spotify.
- Front-end: 40 hours
- Back-end: 70 hours
Offline mode
This feature allows users to listen to their favorite songs without the internet connection. It uses the local storage of the device to cache the audio data.
- Front-end: 40 hours
- Back-end: 20 hours
The time needed to develop an MVP of a similar music streaming app like Spotify is going to take approximately 550-600 hours of working time. However, if you aim for the same quality and usability as in Spotify, multiply this number by 2 or 2.5.
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Approximate overall cost of a music streaming MVP Like Spotify
Relying on the rough estimate in the table given above, we can say that the development of an average music streaming MVP is going to take the minimum of 530 hours (development time). So the sole development is going to cost around $16-20 K. We covered only the essential features of music streaming app, and that is only the top of the iceberg. However, why is Spotify so successful?
Feature | Front-end | Back-end | Total +/- |
---|---|---|---|
Authentification | 24 h | 16 h | 40 h |
Music streaming | 80 h | 60 h | 140 h |
Search | 60 h | 50 h | 110 h |
Sharing music | 5 h per platform | 60 h | 65-70 h |
Playlists | 40 h | 70 h | 110 h |
Offline mode | 40 h | 20h | 60 h |
530 hours |
Secret behind Spotify’s success (or why you won’t make it)
Spotify has become so popular because it gives users what they want. It understands users’ preferences by analyzing enormous amounts of collected data with the help of specially developed algorithms.
While the basic Spotify technology stack may look quite simple: they build the app relying mainly on Python and JavaScript, and PostgreSQL in combination with memory caching system to save the music directly on the device, the true fame should go to the discovery algorithms.
It is the long process of receiving the data on user and user’s behavior together with creating algorithms for analyzing its every aspect.
To provide personalized user experience, companies offer their users an option to like or dislike songs they listen to. Whenever a user likes or Spotify a composition. The information is stored in the user’s preferences section combined with the name of the artist, album, song, and more.
It is also possible to analyze what tracks the user has skipped, or what he has listened to until the very end. It will also allow offering tracks that suit a user’s taste.
With time, the analysis will help improving user experience, but the cost of storing space and developing algorithms for analysis will require additional funding.
As the amount of users’ data increases, you will have to think about improving or implementing new algorithms to better the system of music recommendations and daily discoveries.
Spotify, for instance, uses Echo Nest API, that utilizes data mining and machine learning technologies to collect information on what user listens to on a daily basis, what artists or songs are most or less favorite. This information is used to create personalized playlists for the user and his particular mood. It works on proposing suitable music for every moment of user’s life.
Why it is nearly impossible to repeat Spotify’s success
The streaming market is not as easy to enter as it may seem. Here at IDAP we get a lot of clients that want a Spotify-clone. However, despite that is simple on the tech side, there are a lot of processes involved that remind in the background. If you want to have a successful streaming application, you have to dig deeper where no one has dug before.
Spotify did not become famous in one day. They have spent nearly 5 years, acquired machine learning, created a system of algorithms that analyzes user’s preferences and offers a playlist for a day.
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Therefore, it would be difficult to compete with the giant of the music streaming industry. Instead of trying to succeed at something that is already made, try to find your own niche that will help people of a specific profession or interest.
Summary
Summing up, the initial cost of building a simple Spotify-like music streaming app starts from $16,000, and can only grow and grow some more. We at IDAP have no problem in building the technical part of any streaming application, both video and audio.
However, no matter how much money you invest into another Spotify clone, the probability of its success is very low. The magic of Spotify is unique and not cloneable. It is something that cannot be technically built, as it is driven by an idea.
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