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.

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!

Spotify doesn’t actually use a single revolutionary recommendation model. Instead, they mix together some of the best strategies used by other services to create their own uniquely powerful. Spotify is a prime example of this technology. Quickly throughout various industries and is now often considered the starting point for anyone trying to create a recommendation engine. Spotify for Artists. In an effort to make its mountains of data available to musicians and their managers, Spotify just launched the Spotify for Artists app that provides mobile access to. The Spotify API now provides recommendations: Recommendations are generated based on the available information for a given seed entity and matched against similar artists and tracks.

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]

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

Spotify Recommendation App