Everyone likes music. The tempo of life is getting faster and faster. Often there's no time to go through an entire list of music tracks and purchase the ones you like. Fortunately, audio streaming applications have changed the way we listen to music.

With modern technologies, we get effortless user experience and receive music in a matter of clicks. Mobile devices and a stellar speed Internet connection only compliment this trend.

High quality audio with wide range of content. Cost: £9.99/mth or £19.99/mth (HiFi tier). When it comes to music streaming apps, Spotify has the best user interface—which is surprising considering Apple is typically the king when it comes to design. In this case, Spotify’s app layout is much cleaner and better organized than Apple Music. Spotify’s UI is laid out in a way that gives you instant access to your own content.

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.

Read on!

5 Steps to create an app like Spotify

Step 1. Consider the main Spotify-like app features

A music streaming app includes such features as registration and signing up, music organizing, music discovery, social sharing, push notifications, and music library.

Step 2. Choose licensing type

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses including Sound Recording License Agreement and Musical Composition License Agreement.

Step 3. Find music app developers

Choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company.

Step 4. Develop an audio streaming app UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. For that, you need to create an app Wireframe, Mockup, and Prototype.

Step 5. Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

Why consider music streaming

If we're talking about music services - there are typical online radio stations and music streaming services, like Spotify. That's how people enjoy quality, easy-accessible sound spots.

What's more, people globally shift to their mobile devices to do pretty much anything. Phone calls only use a fraction of the time people spend on their cell phones.

But there is more!

• The global music streaming market is growing steadily — the global subscriber base is expected to reach 2.81 billion by the end of 2025.

[Image source: Goodwater]

• Music Streaming Application Market is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025
• Statista said 14% of the population use paid music streaming services several times a day.

[Image source: RIAA]

• There are 186.7 million digital music users in the U.S.
• Spotify has over 200 million active users, more than 109 million paid subscribers, and about 40% of the global music streaming market

Did I mention that 72% of Spotify users are millennials, who, it seems, were born with mobiles in their hands?

Driven by advantageous technologies, the music streaming industry continues to grow. Therefore, the development of your live audio streaming app might be a great idea.

Current Leaders of the Sound Streaming Market

There are three leaders in the sound streaming market, including

• Spotify with 36% market share
• Apple Music with 19%
• Amazon Music counting 12% market share

Now, let us take a closer look at each of them.

[Image source: MIDA]

Spotify

Being a pioneer in the music-streaming market, Spotify is the best-known music app. The app has 109 million premium subscribers and 232 million monthly active users.

App users receive access to different music services. They include Discover Weekly playlists and experimental ones, like the Australia-only station.

Spotify has Facebook integration, which allows users to share with their Facebook friends. Besides, this feature enables Spotify users to share their music easier than competitors.

[Example of Spotify interface]

Apple Music

Apple Music is the second most popular music streaming app. It provides users with plenty of features and a discount for families and students. In June 2019, Apple Music had over 60 million paid subscribers, and 50 million songs in the library. All Apple devices, including Apple HomePod, are compatible with this app. Still, unlike Spotify, the app does not have robust sharing options.

[Example of Apple Music interface]

Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon Music is an advanced version of Amazon Prime Music, provided to Prime subscribers for free. For an extra payment, users receive access to an expanded catalog. Amazon Music recommends playlists grouped around artists the user already listened to. Also, the app shows the song lyrics on the 'now playing' screen.

[Example of Amazon Music interface]

To conclude, Spotify is not alone in this online music thing. Other significant players are Apple Music and Amazon Music.

All music streaming services have a lot of benefits, including:

• Quick access to music
• Affordability
• Unlimited storage
• Social engagement

As you can see, all these services appear to be outstanding because of these common features- they are effortless, intuitive, and easy to use.

The Killer Idea Behind Spotify

To give you a clear idea of how to start a music streaming service, let's discover the inner logic behind Spotify.

• Spotify stores music on various servers
• To stream a random track on your mobile, Spotify finds it on one of the millions of servers and sends it to your device
• Servers, in this case, are computers and all other gadgets of Spotify's subscribers

This concept is more effective than hitting servers with requests to download the track. At the same time, you become an essential link for the global social music sharing network, which is engaging too. And, it enables users to listen to all this music legally by paying royalties to authors.

Now, let's learn how to build a music streaming app and make it profitable.

How to Make Money with a Spotify-Like App

Music streaming services, like Spotify, have two main ways of earning; premium account and running ads. Let's check how Spotify applies these strategies.

[Image source: Statista]

Premium Services

The premium Spotify account provides users with free access to unlimited music across other devices. Besides, the app allows temporary downloading of songs for offline access and plays the highest quality music. There are several types of paid plans, including:

• Student plan cost $4.99 per month
• Regular account - $9.99 per month
• Family account - $14.99 a month

Ad-supported Services

App users with a free account can listen to a limited among of songs on demand, which may be interrupted by an advertisement. By using this business model, Spotify charges advertisers a cost-per-click and cost per mile fee.

According to their site, Spotify spends a significant chunk of money to pay royalty rewards to artists.

[Image source: Statista]

Read also: How Do Apps Make Money?

This concludes how to earn with your Spotify clone. You have to become a part of 'back to paid music' preachers, deal with authors and provide your users with a good deal of music value for their membership.

Critical Features to Include in a Spotify-Like App

If you are looking for ideas on how to make an app like Spotify, consider the following app features:

Registration / signing up

First, a user should be authorized to use your system. Users can register in Spotify via email or social media like Facebook.

3 Download Music from Spotify to Windows PC Click the ' Convert ' button and the Spotify song or playlist you selected in Step 1 will soon be converted and downloaded to your local computer. Spotify is all the music you’ll ever need. If your download didn't start, try again. Visit the Microsoft Store to download. Bring your music to mobile and tablet, too. Listening on your phone or tablet is free, easy, and fun. One account, listen everywhere. Mobile; computer. Download music from spotify onto computer. Download Music from Spotify on Computer without Premium. Musify can help you very easily download Spotify music to your computer even if you don’t have a premium subscription. The following are some of the highlighted features: Download music from Spotify as well as more than 1000 other music.

Make sure you take this step very effortless for users. Connect it to social media and you get new subscribers in a matter of taps.

Music organizing

The app should provide features of grouping one's music, etc.

So, users can create playlists for different purposes, like current activities and genres.

Music Discovery

To motivate users to engage with your app more often, you need to provide them with personalized content. And here is where Spotify has a great competitive advantage over other services.

Spotify uses an AI-based recommendation algorithm that selects songs for the Discover Weekly section. Spotify developers created their own powerful discovery engine.

Let us check how it works.

For Weekly Discovery recommendation, Spotify uses three types of recommendation models, including:

• User crossovers with the listening history of other users
• Natural language processing. In Spotify, this technology works on the Echo Nest API. It learns about the music genres by analyzing the text and looking at similar terms associated with the artist across the Internet. Kafka manages the data in real-time.
• Deep learning to analyzes the raw tracks. For this, Spotify applies' convolution neural network.' This deep neural network learns from experience using only raw data input.

All things social

This feature allows users to share songs with friends and highlight favorite tracks on a social feed. It's also going to serve your app with a good deal of word-of-mouth advertising at the same time.

Read also: How To Develop a Social Media App?

Push notifications

Push notification is a deciding feature for such a social community based on follow-ups and spreading content. People want news from their favorite sources; that's how it works now - users wish to have valuable personalized benefits from your service.

Music Library

Unfortunately, this feature is absent in Spotify. Because of this, users can not host or upload their tracks and create a music library. The only option is to create personal playlists and subscribe to music channels created by other users.

At the same time, this feature is available in Apple Music. It allows users to add and synchronize songs on their devices and in-app playlists. Users can store a certain amount of songs on their app for free or upgrade to a premium plan.

To give you a clue of how to make a music app, and even better app than Spotify, consider this function as well.

Now, let's find out, how to build a music app.

Where to Start: Your Guide to Making a Music App like Spotify

Now, let's dig deeper into the process of music streaming app development. Below, we share a step-by-step guide on how to make a music streaming app, together with cost estimations.

Check this out.

Ideas are everything

For music app development, you need to specify the whole concept of the app. In order to do this, find a similar application, and of course, think of something that makes your app special.

Licensing

When developing a music streaming service, you need to get a license to provide your subscribers with legal audio content.

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses for music distribution, such as:

• Sound Recording License Agreement, covering recording rights. Spotify uses licenses received from the big three record labels - Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment Group, and Warner Music Group.
• Musical Composition License Agreement. This covers the rightful owners of the songs, managed through two main firms in the U.S.-BMI and ASCAP.

When looking for an answer on how to make your own music app, do not forget to get such a license.

Find music app developers

Now it's time to come to the actual work and choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. To estimate how much it costs to develop a music app like Spotify, check developer rates among regions:

• USA/Canada-based dev teams - $50 to $250/hour
• Western Europe - $30 to$170/hour
• Eastern Europe - $25 to $150/hour
• Australia - $50 to $150/hour
• India - $10 to $80/hour

You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company. From the beginning, communicate with your team to make sure you're on the same track. At the APP Solutions, we usually hold meetings with our clients on a regular basis via Skype.

See also: How to Outsource App Development?

Plan & Estimate

This market has significant potential, but that's not enough to run and spend all you have for a killer application. You need to run a study and learn about your target audiences' preferences. Then, communicate your business idea to your development team. The team will come up with some technological solutions, cost estimation, and project requirements.

Develop an audio streaming app

UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. Here, you can offer the design team some ideas, if you have them.

The necessary process of the music app design creating includes the following stages.

• Wireframe. The team will create a black and white app that shows the general concept of the app.
• Mockup. The team develops colorful but static screens of the future app. Mockups include icon design, button shapes, spaces, etc.
• Prototype. The team creates an interactive model of the app that shows how the app acts. As a rule, prototypes give you an option to tap, swap, drag, and see the result.

Choose tech stack

To develop your Spotify-like app, consider Spotify developer tools, like Python and JavaScript. Besides, Spotify uses PHP for the server-side and Java for back-end structure. As we said, Spotify stores all the music files on the device cache. For this, use Cassandra, PostgreSQL, as well as a general memory caching system.

When looking for a clue on how to create a music streaming service, take into account that Spotify uses the following technologies:

• Kafka software for real-time data management and processing
• GraphWalker for model-based tests and Python integration
• Amazon S3 for cloud-based music streaming
• Dataproc for platform infrastructure
• Chromium embedded framework for building UI for desktop application
• Bootstrap for web app development
• Nginx as open-source HTTP and proxy server
• C++ for Windows/Mac clients
• Java for Android music streaming app
• Objective-C for iOS music streaming app

How to make a music streaming website?

You can empower your app with Spotify players by integrating Spotify player SDK. This library contains classes to stream management and audio playback. It takes on all the negotiation with Spotify's back-end, digital rights management, and decoding.

[Spotnews screens]

We did such integration for our recent project, SpotNews. SpotNews is an audio streaming platform that provides personalized music content. The idea behind the app is to allow users to listen to their favorite songs while reading the news sections.

We also used:

• Spotify SDK for authorization via the Spotify user profile
• Java Android SDK, Retrofit, Fresco, Crashlytics, and Realm to provide smooth app performance
• PHP, Silex, MySQL, Composer HTML5, CSS3, Twitter BootStrap, Jquery, Bower, Less, Nginx to moderate the news feeds via the Admin Panel

You might also like: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO DEVELOP A CHAT APP LIKE SNAPCHAT IN 2019

Paid users are the one who opts for Spotify Premium. Spotify legacy app. As compared to Spotify, the premium version of the same comes packed with certain essential features that are not present in the non-premium version. However, you can get access to the premium features, without paying a dime, wit h Spotify free download.

Music Streaming App Spotify Music Converter

Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

All iOS users can use DJ Player Pro to create your unique tracks and controls them on your controller.The default music library of the iOS device, the same library used by the Apple Music app. In this post, we’ll talk about how to mix Spotify with DJ Player Pro. Similar to Apple Music, Spotify offers a huge catalog of tracks to listen to. DJ Player Pro is an exceptional full-stack DJ system as it implements all DJing styles from traditional mixing of two tracks, manual beat-matching, to the most complex 4 decks synced controller plus turntable setup. https://gourmetgol.netlify.app/spotify-download-music-to-mp3-player.html. You can make your music available offline in the Apple Music app as DJ Player can read fully downloaded, offline music only.

When looking for ideas on how to create a music app, consider the following features for your music streaming app MVP:

The average development cost of a music streaming app like Spotify is about $40-50K per platform.

For a more detailed estimation, you can use our project cost calculator. Now you know how to create a music app like Spotify.

You might also like: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE AN APP?

Take it to the test

After the application is ready, the team does in-depth testing to ensure the app runs smoothly. We usually implement it right after the app is prepared and approved. Plus, three months after release our developers can fix any issues occurred for free.

Wrapping up

The music streaming app market is growing, and its revenue is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025.

Spotify is the leader among music streaming apps. It uses a raft of modern technologies to provide users with relevant music content.

While music streaming is a hot trend, you have a chance to get your share of the music streaming market, as Spotify did.

But, to achieve success with your app, and be ahead of competitors, you need to get started asap.

The last thing that remains is to find a development team. And we are here to help.

Music is like the pill which keeps people going in weekends and tough times. To keep up with the latest tracks, you can download apps like Spotify. I am sure you must have been using some kind of music apps right now to get in touch with the latest releases and soulful music of all time.

Top 10 Apps like Spotify

But you can make most of these apps when they are the right ones. To guide you in the same, I am listing down some apps like Spotify. Yes, Spotify is a very popular music app but you know, you should always have some options with you. And for the same, I decided to compile a list of the Spotify alternative apps which are given below.

1). Deezer

Download Apps:Android, iOS

I am starting this list of apps like Spotify from a popular app that many of our readers would have been using right now. Deezer is like your personal music player where you can listen to your favorite songs and also download them digitally to listen to them when you are offline.

This handy app is a great option for music streaming and comprised of a database which is updated on a daily basis with the songs from top artists.

Be it single tracks or entire albums, you are surely going to find it on Deezer. Deezer also follows some subscription plans too. Apart from offering free services under the basic plan, it also offers Deezer Premium+ and Deezer family too with different features.

The basic features which you can access with this alternative app like Spotify are on screen music lyrics, search by song, artists, albums, music downloading, live radio stations, import music to mp3 etc. There are more upgraded features which can only be accessed when you opt for the paid subscription plan.

2). SoundCloud

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Another addition to the list of apps like Spotify is SoundCloud. This app is capable to bring you the freshest releases from throughout the world and then allows you to stream them online. SoundCloud is one of the most loved music app worldwide.

You just need to install this app and create an account on it. Afterwards, personalize it by inputting your choice of music and then you are going to get relevant suggestions quickly.

SoundCloud too offers some subscription plans which are the paid plans by it apart from a free service. For SoundCloud Go, you would have to pay $4.99 per month and for SoundCloud Go+ you need to pay $9.99 per month. Under SoundCloud Pulse, you can upload your creations on this app easily.

Now, I would like you to get acknowledged to the premium features offered by SoundCloud. These are vast library of over 120 million songs, offline collection, no ads, suggestions as per your taste, playlists creation etc. Spotify alternative apps like SoundCloud are really making it big because of the fast growing popularity and wonderful services.

3). Google Play Music

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Google Play Music is one of the largest music libraries in the world and there is no doubt in it. So, it was obvious to include it in the list of apps like Spotify to let people grab on a huge collection of latest tracks from different genres.

There are various basis over which you can your favorite music like mood, activity, artists, albums, decade, songs etc.

In fact, Google Play Music is not only about streaming music on it but also about uploading your own collection on it. It allows you to upload about 50,000 of your own songs on it. Google Play Music offers both free and subscription based plans which offers different services.

The basic features that come under Google Play Music are discovering and subscription to podcasts, smart recommendations by the app, offline mode, access to millions of songs, family plans, ad-free streaming, digital download, etc.

Google Play Music is turning out to be one of the most favorite music app to millions and billions of people around the world and the reason is simple, its simplicity and long list of services provided by it.

4). Slacker

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Slacker radio is not like the traditional radio app which only streams live radio for its users but it is something different than that. I would say that Slacker Radio functions in a way that no other music app has ever worked. It takes care of your music taste and then functions accordingly.

Slacker is one of the most powerful musical tools in the list of apps like Spotify. It not only allows you to stream various stations but also gives the power to download them to listen later.

Slacker has two modes, one works for free and for the upgraded services you would have to pay the subscription amount. You are going to witness hundreds of music stations on this app. You can even create one for yourself too which can be comprised of the music of your choice.

Slacker Radio also works as one of the best music album download sites too. The interesting features which come along Slacker are weekly music shows, offline playback of music, news and sports programming, millions of songs on subscription, music stations etc.

Streamlabs Obs

5). Tidal

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Tidal is a popular music app whose fame is because of the high fidelity sound offered by it. Actually, this is not about the vastness of the music library here but about the high definition quality sound which is offered by it. Tidal is specially edited by music journalists, artist and experts altogether.

Tidal can called to be one of the most perfect apps like Spotify in this list. With taking care of the minute details, Tidal went on to become the superior quality music app.

Tidal not only offers the audios and mp3 songs only but it has about 130,000 music videos too in its database. Overall, you are going to have access to 40 million tracks when you will be installing and creating an account in Tidal.

Some of the features of this app are going to remain same as the rest of the Spotify alternative apps like playlists creation, offline mode of streaming, smart recommendations, no ads, no fuzzy images, streaming through songs, artists etc. Apart from all, the quality of the sound is something which you are not going to witness elsewhere.

6). SoundHound

Download Apps:Android, iOS

If you love apps like Shazam which are great enough to discover the currently playing song somewhere then you would love to use SoundHound too. The only thing which differs in SoundHound is that it provides full-length song but Shazam is not capable to do so and redirects users to some other apps.

Being a wonderful music discoverer I got SoundHound listed in the category of apps like Spotify here. SoundHound is perfect to discover, identify and then stream songs.

SoundHound also allows you to go hands-free to. You just need to say “Ok Hound.What’s that song?” and it will automatically fetch the song playing and will tell you which song it is. Other great options that comes associated with SoundHound are lyrics availability, video playback, music sharing and streaming, history accessing etc.

SoundHound is also counted amongst music download sites but the app provides better accessing. The app is free to use but to download music you would have to buy it otherwise it is perfect to stream music on it.

7). Apple Music

Download Apps:Android

There is no doubt in the fact that iTunes is the largest music library for the iOS users but now you have Apple Music for the android users to access it along with iTunes library. This will give you the benefits of the vast music streaming hub that you will forget using other apps like Spotify completely.

Apples Music is not free to use but you can opt for your trial period anytime you want and cancel your subscription in this time period too.

Apple Music catalog gives you access to a vast library containing more than 40 million tracks belonging to different countries and genres. In this way, you have a lot of options to stream music from. The exclusive features that come along with Apple Music are offline mode of streaming, playlists creation, follow friends, smart recommendations etc.

You are also getting behind the scene videos, personal documentaries of artists under this app too. The app is a power pack collection of everything and anything that you want to be showcased regarding music.

8). Audiomack

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Audiomack is a music streaming app which also supports downloading them too. So basically, this app is all about fulfilling all your music needs with just one tap. Audiomack is a great pick under the category of apps like Spotify.

I would strongly recommend Audiomack to the people who are crazy about listening to mixtapes regularly as their collection is just amazing in that category.

When you are browsing Audiomack then you have the option to browse music on the basis of the different categories and genres like Hip-Hop, EDM, R&B, Rap etc. Thankfully, you get all of these features for free on this app.

Audiomack also serves as a fantastic music album downloader too. This means it is going to keep up with all of your music needs for sure. Some of the features of Audiomack are data free listening, great mixtapes, playlists, ad-free for $1.99 per month, audiosnap, mood and genre-wise songs etc.

9). Music Stream Hub

Download Apps:Android, iOS

Before I describe further about Music Stream Hub, let me tell you that the app is completely and totally 100% free. This means it does not charge any amount for any of the services provided by it. This makes it very few apps like Spotify in this list.

You just need to install the app and then search for your desired song and listen to it peacefully. Music Stream Hub provides you access to all the top songs in different genres.

Other great features of Music Stream Hub are music streaming on the go, search filters, genre wise classifications, save albums and songs, playlist creation and sharing, no sign up required, built-in music player etc.

This app releases a lot of extra issues which you generally get to see in various other apps of the same category.

Free Online Music Streaming Spotify

10). Musicsense

Download Apps:Android, iOS

And finally, the last one in this section of apps like Spotify is Musicsense. This app is a bit different as compared to the other ones. It brings you great music to be streamed through the radio stations. Be it latest tracks or artists, Musicsense gives you access to everyone with just one click.

The app is just like its name and the priority of this app is the taste of the user who is accessing it. It analyze the choices and taste of music and then responds accordingly.

Some of the features which comes under Musicsense are personal music playlist, ad-free accessing, easy user interface, smart recommendations based on choices, like and dislike buttons, offline streaming, etc. You get all these features for free through this app.

Being one of the most reliable Spotify alternative apps, Musicsense has really developed a deep user understanding which most apps lack. You can give it a try and I am sure you would not be disappointed at all.

Most Visited Music/MP3 relates post for You:

Conclusion

Music does not need any language to be perfect and I guess this is the reason you can listen everyone singing Despacito. These apps like Spotify are going to keep you updated with various types of music like country, folk, pop, rap, EDM, soft, workout etc.

You just need to understand the settings first then you can utilize the apps in a better way. Music apps like Spotify are going to help you get suggestions according to your taste along with great features. I am sure this will totally change the way you have ever heard music.