Spotify vs Soundcloud, a hot debate in 2021 for music streaming services and brands around the globe – well, not anymore. We’re here to settle this debate once and for all!
As two massive music streaming platforms, Spotify and Soundcloud both have their advantages and disadvantages. What’s more, they both fill two completely separate niches; Spotify provides curated, expansive music streaming services for casual listeners and music fanatics alike. Soundcloud, on the other hand, is a drastically different platform, well-known for allowing startup artists and rappers to get a foot in the door.
INTRODUCING SPOTIFY
Spotify emerged from the concept of creating a music streaming service that would enable its users access to all the songs in the world. The innovative service completely changed the way people consume music, which also strongly affected the whole music industry. Now, Spotify is filled to the brim with content, and users can enjoy unlimited access to personalized playlists, podcasts, and videos. Spotify offers a music catalog that contains about 70 million songs. It’s possible to use the free version of the app or subscribe to Premium, which allows you to avoid certain disadvantages.
The service is available on diverse platforms, has many playlist options, has excellent sound quality, and has a clean equalizer. What is more, Spotify can be synchronized with many devices so you can enjoy the music experience anywhere. If you are attracting with the facts and figures of Spotify and also want to start a similar Website like Spotify then take a look at a customizable ready-to-go Spotify clone script for your start-up.
INTRODUCING SOUNDCLOUD
Soundcloud is often seen as the YouTube for audio because it enables to sharing of home-recorded material. The project aims to promote musical creation in all its forms. Thus, musicians and singers can post and distribute their work. Music artists, DJs, podcasters, and rappers can be found there by an interested audience. This made Soundcloud a bit of a niche site. Unlike its competitors, it gives broad access to independent rather than commercial songs. On Soundcloud, users can find, for example, remixes of popular songs based on musical genres like techno. It’s possible to create an artist’s profile or register as a listener. Artists can fill the catalog with their music, easily accessible to other users who would like to make discoveries.
Soundcloud can also be considered as a social network to promote exchange between creators and users. The paid version launched in 2016 offers over 200 million songs and radio stations – all without advertising. If you are attracted to and want to develop a similar Application like SoundCloud then take a look at a customizable ready-to-go SoundCloud clone script for your start-up.
Features
Both streaming services offer the same basic features such as ad-free listening, offline and on-demand playback, letting you listen to any song, anywhere, with unlimited skips.
Artists can upload to SoundCloud in just about any audio format, however it will be compressed down to 256kbps AAC for SoundCloud Go+ subscribers. Spotify Premium currently maxes out at a comparable 320kbps MP3. Spotify have announced a HiFi streaming tier, however we are still waiting for the feature to launch, and have no word yet on the maximum bitrate available or potential price increase above Premium memberships. With the competition for hi-fi music streaming services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music, it’s likely Spotify will drop any initial plans they had to include a price increase for the feature. We’d love to see a lossless option from SoundCloud soon.
PLAYLISTS
When it comes to playlists, there is no better music streaming service than Spotify. The app offers a multitude of options in this section. You can easily create your playlist just by clicking the New Playlist button, or you can subscribe to other user’s song selection. If you want to stay up to date on a specific user’s playlists, use the “Follow” button at the bottom of the top bar. You will get a notification when the songs add to the playlist. Both Soundcloud and Spotify let you create public and private playlists, but you can also follow your friends and make collaborative playlists on Spotify.
On the other hand, Soundcloud allows you to repost tracks on your profile, just like Retweet. If you want to organize your songs into an album or a collection, it’s easy to make a Soundcloud playlist. Just click the “Add to Playlist” button to create a playlist and add the track. Soundcloud allows you to drag and drop songs into the playlist to reorder them. You can also change the playlist name, change the permalink, add an image, and edit the tags. What is more, Soundcloud has a great sharing tool, with which you can share your playlists via social platforms. Simply copy and paste the HTML code, and a built-in mini-player will appear.
Price
For individual memberships in the US, Spotify Premium and SoundCloud Go+ are both $9.99 per month.
Both services offer various discounts for students and bundles with other subscription services.
MUSIC DISCOVERY AND PODCASTS
When it comes to music discovery, both apps offer a system with suggestions of musicians and composers, which you may like. Spotify has an extensive collection of all the artists you know or have heard of. Its recommendation engine is brilliant – the app creates/shows playlists and songs according to your listening habits. The catalog is full, and you will probably find the music you are looking for. In fact, you might even say that Spotify “knows” its users – and it does! The AI tracks your song collection and playlists to make sure each recommendation matches your preferences perfectly.
Soundcloud gathers mostly indie artists, who upload their original music and various remixes of existing songs. Some musicians and labels don’t want to stream to sites like Spotify, and Soundcloud is the perfect place for them. However, when it comes to music recommendations, Soundcloud doesn’t have a good algorithm like Spotify. It shows new artists that you should check out, but the system isn’t very accurate in your music taste. Also, Soundcloud has paid recommendations, so you might see the sponsored music, even if it’s not your favorite genre.
The Winner – Spotify vs Soundcloud
Spotify champions our list for numerous reasons. Its ease-of-use and library size are virtually unmatched, and there’s no better place to find the latest and greatest in music. On top of that, the curated playlists and “For You” options that Spotify’s algorithms dig up are absolutely brilliant, and you’ll see nothing that compares to it on Soundcloud.
For instance, we’d say the “Discover Weekly” is perhaps the internet’s #1 way to discover new music, bar none. There’s nothing in other apps (not even YouTube) that has the same tastemaking capabilities. We don’t know what they’re feeding that algorithm (except, maybe, all the music we listen to, ever), but it’s working.
Music download and offline use have also never been more seamless with Spotify, making it superbly easy to listen to tunes on a long road trip or airplane ride without a care for cell signal. Spotify also boasts premium audio quality, much higher than the quality that Soundcloud provides. So, if you are the next musician, artist, a band group, music producing and distribution company or any other music lover and willing to start your own online music stores like SoundCloud, Spotify. We would love to serve you with Soundify and transform your dream ideas into reality.
