Spotify vs. Apple Music

There is an ongoing battle between Spotify users and Apple Music users—many people are willing to argue over and over in favor of their preferred music streaming service. So, let’s finally settle this for once and for all. The secret is… they’re really not so different. In all the big ways, Apple Music and Spotify share the same price and features with only minute differences. 

However, these minute differences are often what a person uses to decide, so let’s get into it, starting with price and content. Apple Music boasts over 20 million more songs than Spotify, while they share the exact same price for their individual plans ($9.99/month) and their student plans ($4.99/month). Spotify does offer a free option, but not a very desirable one, with ads interrupting songs and playlists nearly constantly. Standard quality Apple Music songs are also much higher in sound quality than Spotify’s (unless your Spotify subscription is a premium one).

These features are practical to a music listener’s experience, but, unsurprisingly, the aesthetic and social sharing features of a streaming app often mean more to subscribers than the features of the actual music. Spotify’s app layout is much cleaner than Apple Music’s and allows users to access their music more directly. 

Spotify has truly capitalized on the social media age, recognizing the millennial and Gen-Z urge to share every tiny detail of their lives and preferences on social media and creating features that make choosing Spotify almost irresistible. 

Spotify easily integrates with Instagram and Snapchat, and even allows for more intimate sharing with collaborative playlists. Spotify’s Spotify Wrapped marketing campaign is one of their most successful initiatives that takes place at the end of the calendar year. It allows users to be able to view easily shareable infographics of all their streaming habits. While Apple Music also offers statistics on its users streaming habits (Apple Replay), it doesn’t appear to do so with the same intent of marketing that Spotify Wrapped does. 

Overall, to the average individual listener, Apple Music and Spotify each serve their purpose successfully, and close to equally. In the end, it comes down to availability and marketing. Apple Music is only available to Apple users, while Spotify is available on all platforms. And Spotify’s marketing team has figured out how to create free advertising for themselves through the social media feeds of young adults. Bare bones, the two aren’t so different, but viewed through a social lens, Spotify takes the cake again and again.