{"id":14705,"date":"2015-07-10T12:49:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T16:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=14705"},"modified":"2015-07-11T09:04:11","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T13:04:11","slug":"stream-wars-an-a-z-of-the-top-music-streaming-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2015\/07\/10\/stream-wars-an-a-z-of-the-top-music-streaming-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Stream Wars: An A-Z of the top music streaming services"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Headphones.<\/a>

Headphones. Image: Gustav Soderstrom<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

If you use an iPhone, you may have noticed the major update that launched last weekend. Apple Music promised to create, “One complete thought around music.” This thought includes a new design and new features that emphasize streaming music, rather than relying on downloaded mp3 files.<\/p>\n

With online music sales at an all time low; sales are down thirteen percent compared to last year, Apple has decided to join a growing market for streaming music. Today’s market requires a new approach in order to attract a younger audience. Listeners want a service that offers customization, mobility, social networking features, and on top of all of that, ease of use.<\/p>\n

Apple Music joins an already saturated market of streaming services including, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music, iHeart Radio, Rdio, Tidal, Soundcloud, Pandora, and many others. With all these choices, how can listeners decide which service is best? In truth there really isn’t one. It is up to the listener to decide which service\/services best fit their needs.<\/p>\n

Here’s a little A-Z of some of the best services and their features.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Amazon<\/a>

Amazon Prime logo<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Amazon Prime Music<\/p>\n

Cost: $99 a year<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 256 kpbs Mp3<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS devices, Android, Windows, all Amazon devices, and Web<\/p>\n

Catalog: Over 1 million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty info:\u00a0$0.00012 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: None<\/p>\n

Radio: Prime Stations, with Prime access are ad free, and offer unlimited skips.<\/p>\n

Prime Music looks pretty weak when compared to these other giants. Its catalogue is limited and radio playlists are created by algorithms. On top of that, Amazon doesn’t allow artists to negotiate royalty rates. So what does Prime Music offer? Well, it’s free\u00a0<\/em>to paying members of Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime also includes instant video and free two day shipping. Prime Music is great if you already subscribe to Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a>

Apple Music<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Apple Music<\/p>\n

Cost: $9.99 a month for personal use, or $14.99 for a family of up to six.<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 256 kbps AAC<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS devices, Windows, and eventually Android<\/p>\n

Catalog: 26 Million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty info: $0.0013 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: @Connect, allows the user to follow the fan similar to a twitter feed. Listen to songs in progress, view photos, comment, share through Messenger, Mail, Twitter, Facebook, etc.<\/p>\n

Radio: Beats 1 radio streams 24\/7. Includes a variety of stations based on Artist, Genre, and Songs.<\/p>\n

Overall, Apple Music feels good. The For You feature creates custom playlists designed\u00a0to your tastes. The new look allows you to customize song order on the spot. These playlists are created by real people, not algorithms. However, it’s hard to navigate certain parts of the application, unlike Spotify, there is no”Go To Artist” feature.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a>

Google Play Logo Design<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Google Play<\/p>\n

Cost: Free with ads, $9.99 a month for all access<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 320 kbps Mp3<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS devices, Windows, Android, and Web<\/p>\n

Catalog: 30 million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty info: $0.04 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking features: Linked with Google Plus, and Youtube<\/p>\n

Radio: Stations based on genre, mood, artists, songs and your tastes.<\/p>\n

Google Plus is another force in the streaming era. Not only does the service offer a great looking service, but it is also easy to use. The app allows you to upload up to 50,000 songs for free, plus more with a premium subscription. Google also has a special card in its hand: YouTube. Play Music is working on introducing “Music Key,”, YouTube function which removes ads from music videos. Google’s problem is that the social networking aspect is weak; not many people use Google Plus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

iHeartRadio<\/p>\n

Cost: Free ad based programing<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 128 kbps Mp3<\/p>\n

Compatibly: iOS devices, Windows, Android, Web<\/p>\n

Catalog: 20 million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty info: $0.0022 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking features: Share your stations via Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus<\/p>\n

Radio: Connect to live stations across the country that play songs based on a particular genre, or create your own stations.<\/p>\n

With over 50 million registered listeners, iHeartRadio is the largest online radio network. Creating an account is easy, either enter use your email or link with Facebook or Google Plus. The “Perfect For” feature allows the user to automatically generate a playlist based on an event. For example, you can create a “Perfect For Summer” or a “Perfect for Kids” playlist. \u00a0iHeartRadio does not offer any On-Demand access.<\/p>\n

\"Rdio<\/a>

Rdio Logo<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Rdio<\/p>\n

Cost: Free radio with Ads, $3.99 for streaming and storage of 25 songs, $9.99 for full access<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 320 kbps N2K<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Windows, Roku, Sonos, and Chromecast<\/p>\n

Catalog: 32 million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty Info: $0.00692 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: Follow anyone via Twitter, Facebook, Spin, Pitchfork, etc.<\/p>\n

Radio: Radio based on 10 different characteristics, and\u00a0You FM, Radio designed\u00a0to your music taste. You FM draws from tracks you listen to, your radio likes, Facebook likes and Twitter follows.<\/p>\n

Rdio is a revolutionary way to stream music. Rdio stands out in a couple of different ways. Its social networking capabilities are unparalleled, it is compatible with a variety of devices, and its mobile app is sleek, and refined. Unfortunately, Rdio’s search function is weak; users cannot search by genre or year.<\/p>\n

\"Soundcloud<\/a>

Soundcloud Logo<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

SoundCloud<\/p>\n

Cost: Free to listeners 3 hours of upload space, $59 a year for 6 hours, $145 a year for unlimited storage<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 128 kbps Mp3<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Windows, Web<\/p>\n

Catalog: 10 million artists<\/p>\n

Royalty Info: Managed by Artists<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: Link Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. to your profile<\/p>\n

Radio: Stream, a constantly playback of all artist, and genre’s you follow<\/p>\n

Soundcloud is geared towards independent artists who are looking for a space to store and share sound files. Soundcloud’s media player looks great. Not only does it show the listener the shape of the sound file in wave form, but it allows listeners to comment directly on the wave. The cloud is also constantly growing; 12 hours of music are uploaded every minute. Unfortunately for listeners, Soundcloud doesn’t offer a wide selection of music, and many mainstream artists don’t use the site at all.<\/p>\n

\"Spotify<\/a>

Spotify Logo Vertical Black<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Spotify<\/p>\n

Cost: Free with Ads and limited skips, $9.99 for premium access<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Windows, Sony, and anything with an internet connection<\/p>\n

Catalog: Over 30 million songs, with 20,000 added a day<\/p>\n

Royalty Info: $0.0052 a stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: Link with Facebook, and view a live feed of what your friends are listening to.<\/p>\n

Radio: Stations based on genre, mood, artist, playlists, songs, and top charts<\/p>\n

Spotify works very well. Not only does it provide the\u00a0user with a great looking interface, but it works really well. Users can easily navigate the app and search the site for albums, artists, and even user-generated playlists. Spotify also features a connect feature which allows users to control their audio devices from any device connected to Spotify. Connect allows you to hook your laptop up to speakers and use your smart phone as a controller. Spotify has had some trouble with artists and royalties. Taylor Swift even had her whole collection removed from the site.<\/p>\n

\"Tidal<\/a>

Tidal HiFi<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Tidal<\/p>\n

Cost: $9.99 for Premium, $19.99 for HiFi<\/p>\n

Quality: 320 kbps AAC with Premium, or 1411 kbps Lossless with HiFi<\/p>\n

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Web, and with some speakers<\/p>\n

Catalog: 30 million songs<\/p>\n

Royalty info: $0.012 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: Link account with Facebook, ability to share URL’s<\/p>\n

Radio: Based on Genre, Artist, or Song.<\/p>\n

Tidal is partly owned by Rapper Jay-Z. The service has several unique features, such as the highest audio quality in the game. The service also boasts the highest royalty rates in the business since artists own it. A more recent feature is integration with Ticket Master, connecting the user to live concerts. Tidal is not making waves in the streaming market, in fact the company has been delisted from Nasdaq Stockholm. Tidal’s search function is weak. A misspelled word and your search will turn out nothing. Even though artists own Tidal, it is only owned by the wealthiest artists, less popular artists don’t get much say in policy.<\/p>\n

\"Pandora<\/a>

Pandora Logo Blue<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Pandora<\/p>\n

Cost: Free Ad based programing with limited skips, or $4.99 for premium with no ads, and more skips<\/p>\n

Sound Quality: 64 kpbs AAC with standard, 192 kbps AAC with Premium<\/p>\n

Quality: iOS, Android, Windows, Xbox, Roku, and more<\/p>\n

Catalog: 1 Million Songs<\/p>\n

Royalty Info: $0.0015 per stream<\/p>\n

Social Networking Features: Create a User profile, Share with Facebook, Twitter, etc., via URL<\/p>\n

Radio: Create 100 unique stations based on genre, artist, songs, generated by the Music Genome project.<\/p>\n

Pandora was the first service to open the box of online streaming. Since then it’s maintained a strong presence in this growing market. Pandora’s Music Genome project is truly unique; the project analyzes songs based on 450 musical characteristics.\u00a0Experts with degrees in music theory orchestrate Music Genome<\/span>. This project is allows Pandora to create one of the smartest online radio stations in the world. Pandora is limited in the fact that it doesn’t offer any on-demand functions or the ability to skip multiple songs without penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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