Weekly survey: What’s the main factor for your choice of a streaming music service?

October 31, 2022October 31, 2022 Alan Cross 3 Comments

There are about a dozen music streaming services to choose from. All of them are very similar in that they have access to the same library of digital tracks. There are some differences, of course (high-res/lossless files, Dolby ATMOS mixes, Spatial Audio versions, etc.) but those variations don’t matter to the majority of users.

So if all the streaming services offer the same songs, what determines which one you go with?

All the streaming music services draw from the same universal library of tracks. If that's the case, what factor determines which streamer you go with? (Pls retweet so we can get a good sample size.)
— Alan Cross (@alancross) October 30, 2022

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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3 thoughts on “Weekly survey: What’s the main factor for your choice of a streaming music service?”

Scott

October 31, 2022 at 8:09 am
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I realise Twitter limits the number of options, but a couple of important options are missing:
– how they pay artists
– library size

I’d say these are my two primary considerations (plus audio quality). The top on your list would probably be price.
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Matt

November 1, 2022 at 5:57 pm
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I use Google’s “YT Music” because for the same price as Spotify it comes package with YouTube Premium (basically ad-free YouTube). Also, I often use a Google device like a Chromecast or an Android TV box for playing music, so using Google’s streaming service helps ensure compatibility.

So none of the poll options really seem to apply.
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markosaar

November 1, 2022 at 9:51 pm
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I picked Spotify when Rdio died because the desktop app by far had the best interface of any of the competition. (Just being able to copy and paste groups of tracks at a time between playlists was a godsend and impossible on Google Music and Deezer, etc.) There are a lot of things I never liked about it, like its queue handling (which I don’t think anything has surpassed Rdio.)

Nowadays it’s mostly just momentum.
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