Music is a huge part of our everyday life, which makes music streaming platforms an important application to rely on. Over the years, many have come and gone in this industry. One that stands strong is Spotify. Tagging along with this longest-running streaming service is YouTube Music, which is comparatively not so popular but holds the brand name of the second largest search engine- YouTube. As both the streaming services charge a similar price per month, it often confuses the audience which to opt for and which to let go. It is quite easy to get popular on Spotify as compared to YouTube music. Well, here is a comparative study on YouTube Music Vs Spotify that will help you decide for yourself better.
The main difference between YouTube Music vs Spotify is that Spotify works on all devices while YouTube only works on a limited number of them. Spotify is also cheaper (9.99$/month) than YouTube (14.99$/month). An advantage of YouTube is that it allows ads to be skipped while Spotify does not.
- Library & Selection
Spotify has a catalogue that holds over 50 million songs. YouTube Music, on the other hand, hosts through its deals with record labels. Thus, YouTube Music not only has official songs and albums from the record labels but also official music videos, live concert videos (official and fan-uploaded), remixes, mashups, fan covers and more. Lyrics are available on both Spotify and YouTube Music. However, it is only YouTube Music that will offer you the viewing of the music video for the song as it plays.
Another big news in the industry is that Google Play Music is going to give its music locker to YouTube Music. Google Play Music is free with 50,000 songs. In case, anyone is unable to find a song in Google Play Music’s library, they can upload it to their library themselves. This edge is going to give YouTube Music the long leap it needs to compete with Spotify in the market.
- Algorithm
Spotify leads because of its impeccable algorithm. It offers you Daily Mixes as well as Discover Weekly. The Daily Mixes are further broken down into several genres. These Spotify recommendations are constantly developed by tech enthusiasts and music addicts alike.
However, YouTube Music is upgrading its algorithm. It has the upper hand as it has years of your YouTube history to feed on. Presently, there are several automated playlists like My Supermix, Discover Mix, New Release Mix and like Spotify’s Daily Mix, it now has My Mixes with seven curated playlists to choose from. Something new that YouTube Music offers is its Offline Mixtape that is regularly updated, even without a data connection. The Offline Mixtape takes the algorithm from the ever-evolving Supermix and creates a playlist that regenerates and redownloads daily. You can include up to 500 songs and get a new mix every day. The Offline Mixtape is revolutionary and beats Spotify in all aspects.
- Quality & Sound
As an application, YouTube Music is buggy and lacks many features. Some UI bugs are dominant when navigating through the app offline. The audio quality maxes out at 256 kbps. However, YouTube Music promises to bring in more updates. However, Spotify offers sound streaming qualities to 320 kbps through Spotify Premium. The glitches in Spotify are close to nil and gives you a hassle-free experience.
- Plans & Pricing
Both YouTube Music and Spotify offer free as well as paid plans options. Without a subscription, both the applications don’t let you download music and listen to it offline. Both the applications interrupt your music streaming with ads when you are on the free plan version. However, Spotify lets you play your music while the screen is switched off or while you switch to some other application. On YouTube Music, that is not an option. YouTube Music pauses the music for free users when they switch to another app or turn their screen off. Thus, YouTube Music monopolizes your screen and drains your battery life more quickly.
Spotify Premium is available in a user-friendly package for a single user. They also have a family plan for up to six users. The Spotify Student package is for $4.99/month and includes a basic Hulu subscription too. However, Spotify has a device limit for downloads i.e., five devices with each device holding about 10,000 songs. YouTube Music Premium is priced at the same range as Spotify for a single user plan as well as a family plan. Presently, YouTube Music is available in 97 countries and Spotify is available in 91 countries. You can learn here how to buy Spotify plays and followers from the legit place. Spotify is one of the best options for new musicians as you can buy Spotify streams for your playlists.
For now, Spotify offers the best deal for the audience given its well-known algorithm as well as its good verse in podcast selection. However, it is still very early to disregard YouTube given it is constantly updating. For people who are ingrained in the YouTube/Google system or want access to music that is typically not found on streaming services, YouTube Music is the call!
