Spotify and Apple Music: Best Streaming Service for Musicians

Since music streaming platforms began to dominate among users, there is one question: which one is better? Users look for the best music listening experience without paying for streams. At the same time, musicians want to know how much the platform pays per stream, what monetization features are available, and how they can grow to get more music royalties and find the best music publisher to cooperate with. It's a long and difficult discussion, especially when every person has personal preferences. Some individuals recommend SoundCloud because it's a good starting point for young musicians, others prefer Spotify because it has a bigger audience. But now, people are talking about one more service: Apple Music. 

Key features for artists on both Spotify and Apple Music 

Of course, the majority of users with iPhones prefer this service over other available platforms, but this is not the only reason. It has several differences and similarities compared to Spotify, which brings us to the question: Which music streaming service is the best? Keep reading because we are going to compare these online music streaming services.

Paid or Free?

Both Spotify and Apple Music use a freemium subscription model. This means both services have basic features available for free. Still, if you upgrade to premium (Spotify Premium and Apple Music Premium), you will access additional features. For example, a paid subscription allows you to listen to music offline, have unlimited skips, and listen to selected songs in a better quality. On Apple Music, you get access to live broadcasts, music from iTunes, and content from exclusive radio stations. 

Paid subscriptions are also advantageous for music creators. On Spotify, if you have more listeners with a premium subscription, you receive more royalties for your streams. Royalties are essential for artists because it's what brings money. So, the next part is about streaming royalties.

Management and Control

App design is essential. The easier it is to control the processes inside the platform, the easier it is to manage your songs, make changes to your profile, search for new music, etc. Library management is essential for both musicians and listeners, and this is where Apple Music takes advantage. You can easily find needed tracks, unite them into categories and have your own sound archive. 

If we look at Spotify, we see a basic set of features to manage your library. This is not nonsense if we remember that this platform focuses primarily on playlists. You can find mixes based on recommendations and recently played tracks.

Another advantage of Apple Music compared to Spotify is pre-releases. When an artist announces a new song, listeners can pre-save and stream it immediately after the release. This feature resolves the problem of scammers who create additional apps for pre-saves and force users to leave their personal data. Apple's streaming music service resolves this problem and makes it safe for individuals to pre-save the tracks they were looking for.

Personalization and Recommendations

Both platforms possess great personalization features, offering great recommendations based on your search history, recent streams, daytime, and other factors. Spotify is more advantageous at this point due to its AI-based algorithm. It offers three types of playlists with suggested songs (Release Radar, Discover Weekly, and Daily Mix). It's also good for musicians because they have more capabilities to share their music among users to expand their audience. Since there are over 600 million users on the platform, it's easier to find enjoyers of your music. If you want to make music sharing even more powerful, purchase Spotify stream promotion. Your rate per stream won't change, but your stream count will grow.

If we look at Apple Music, we see two options for personalized playlists: Listen Now and Browse. You can open any of these compilations to find suggested playlists, mixes, and even radio stations. You can also find top daily playlists and city charts.

Monetization

To unlock payouts on the platform, you have to verify your profile and have at least 1,000 streams over the last 12 months. Once you match this requirement, you can expect to get paid on Spotify. Apple Music unlocks royalties 90 days later after the release. After that, the music service pays you for all the streams that happened during the month. Still, You get $0,01 on Apple Music and $0.003 - $0.005 on Spotify (depending on the location). Apple Music pays more per stream than Spotify, but it's very limited for users with free plans. To unlock additional features, they have to pay, and even though the paid subscription has a free trial, most individuals don't want to do it.

Still, music streaming is not the only way how people can earn on these platforms. For example, artists on Apple Music can earn by receiving money for songs purchased on iTunes. Also, artists make money by including ads in their songs, collaborating with influencers, and selling merch. The income will depend on the terms you have. For example, if the total amount of sales from your link will surpass a specific number, you will receive an additional payout. That's how it works.

Music Promotion - Best Way to Scale Your Income

Since you focus on increasing the number of streams on platforms, you have to make your music heard and visible. You can't increase per-stream payment, but you can increase the stream count. The best way to do this is to promote your content in all available ways.

Social media promotion is available for everybody and can be very effective in sharing your music with your followers. The more platforms you have, the better because you will expand your reach and share songs not only with those who follow you but with other users who have the same music taste. For example, if you create dancing music, your Instagram reels or TikTok videos will be recommended to users who watch similar videos. 

Music promotion won't bring rapid results. It's a long game, and you have to work constantly. This means:

• Creating engaging videos and thinking of new formats
• Following trends and using them for new ideas
• Selecting the best time to post to reach the maximum engagement

You also need to analyze your content to understand what's good for your audience. According to the number of views, likes saves, and other engagements, you can focus on using specific types of content to maximize your Spotify or Apple Music Streams.

Another essential point is paid promotion. When you pay, you give your content an additional push that places your songs higher in rank. It will appear in regular playlists (Discover Weekly, Released Radar, and personalized playlists). Increased visibility leads to higher engagement and allows you to maximize your revenue. You can push the most popular tracks so that they will bring you almost twice as much compared to other songs. 

Still, the problem is that people don't know where to find reliable music promotion services. You should look for companies that rely on organic promotion without bots or fake profiles. Artist Push is a great option because here, you will receive organic music push with real engagement. You can purchase music plays or get a complex organic push with likes, plays, saves, and new followers.

Your songs will be presented to individuals with the same music tastes, covering a solid number of users. Regardless of your choice (Apple Music or Spotify), this is a wise investment because you will be pushed to the top, and the total number of streams will rise. If you want to make a slight impact on Apple Music, you can use our latest service - Apple Music Plays.

Who Wins the Tie?

If you are a constant user of Apple and want to stay on that track, you may choose Apple Music, especially because it can be controlled by Siri. However, if you don't care about gadgets and want to expand your audience, you should go for Spotify. This is a giant in the world of music streaming as it has more active users and offers more options to earn royalties. It depends on your personal preferences and goals, so decide what you want to achieve and start acting now.