Last Updated on March 9, 2020
Thank you Jio. Without you, we wouldn’t really get all these music streaming services trying to compete with each other in India. /s
Well, anyway, it is really a good time to own a smartphone, partly because you don’t really have to pay much for one and the data plans are just so friggin cheap.
So, at the time of writing this article, there are four companies that are really in the fight to win your valuable monthly subscription:
1. Spotify
Spotify launched in early 2019 in India and has quickly garnered upwards of two million users pretty soon after launching.
The biggest feature of Spotify, when compared to other music streaming apps, is the amazing recommendations that you get based on your listening history.
The user interface is really intuitive and the design is really pleasing on the eye. It is available across all devices whether Android, Apple and even your web browser!
The only drawback currently is that it has a limited library in India as they have a couple of disputes with record labels which they are trying to sort out. Apart from this, the app is the best in the market right now. It’s streaming bitrate is 320 kbps, the highest in India but it’s only available in premium.
Spotify has flexible pricing to match almost everyone’s needs:
- Regular monthly – Rs. 119/month
- Student pricing – Rs. 55/month (Rs. 66/month prepaid)
- Prepaid plans – Rs. 13/day, Rs. 39/week, Rs. 129/3-months, Rs. 719/6-months, Rs. 1189/year
We were disappointed that it does not have a family plan yet, but we are hoping it’s gonna come soon.
As of October 2019, Spotify has launched a family plan where for Rs. 179 per month, you get Spotify premium subscription for 6 users. All you need to do is go to this URL and sign up for it. You can then add upto 5 more users.
Other than that, Spotify has the best algorithm, the best UI and the best sound quality. This is definitely our top choice, we just hope that its disputes with record labels are sorted out.
Fast facts:
| Regul | Rs. 119 |
| Student monthly price | Rs. 59 (Rs. 66 prepaid) |
| Streaming bitrate | 320 kbps |
| Max devices at a time | Five |
| Free trial period | 30 days |
2. YouTube Music
Launched in 2019, YouTube Music is YouTube’s attempt to break up the duopoly of Spotify and Apple Music.
The best thing about YouTube Music is that it is basically YouTube with all the user-uploaded content available to add alongside studio versions of songs. We love that we can add our favourite amateur covers along with the original songs in our playlists.
But, and it’s a big but, the app and player, in general,
Because of this, we believe YouTube Music is a great option for Android users till Spotify sorts its shit out with the record labels.
Fast facts:
| Regul | Rs. 129 |
| Streaming bitrate | 256 kbps |
| Max devices at a time | Five |
| Free trial period | 3 months |
3. Apple Music
Apple Music should be the preferred choice for most iPhone users.
Apple’s music subscription service gives the best combination of a wide library, decent streaming quality, smooth user-interface, and an average discovery platform.
However, the Android app is less than stellar and is ridden with bugs and crashes. it is so bad that we believe it is a ploy by Apple to make people switch to Apple devices.
A great thing about Apple Music is that you have the option for a family plan as well where you can buy a plan for your family (up to 6 users) for just Rs. 149/month. This presents the best value out of all the music streaming apps. So, if your family is hooked on Apple devices, this is the way to go.
| Regul | Rs. 99 |
| Streaming bitrate | 256 kbps |
| Max devices at a time | Five |
| Free trial period | 3 months |
4. Amazon Prime Music
And then we come to prime. Honestly, we wouldn’t open Prime Music if it wasn’t bundled with Amazon’s Prime subscription.
With that said, we assume most people in India are going to have an Amazon Prime subscription some time or the other, so this might as well be the default streaming app for people who are not really particular about their music library or streaming bitrates.
Amazon’s Prime Music boasts a decent library across languages but its clunky user-interface does not really let you discover new music like some of the other streaming apps we are so fond of.
Apple Music vs Spotify vs YouTube Music vs Prime Music
| Spotify | YouTube Music | Apple Music | Prime Music | |
| Pricing | Rs. 119/month | Rs. 129/month | Rs. 99/month | Rs. 999/year |
| Trial period | 1 month | 3 months | 3 months | None |
| Family plan | Rs. 179/month (6 users) | Rs. 149/month (6 users) | Rs. 149/month (6 users) | None |
| Max streaming bitrate | 320 kbps | 256 kbps | 256 kbps | 256 kbps |
| Web player | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Podcast support | Yes | No | No | No |
| Free features | Listen at 160 kbps with ads every six songs | None | None | None |
How do you choose?
We would choose based on four main parameters: library depth, audio quality, cost and user-interface.
Library depth: This basically means the number of songs available on the platform. In India, there are like 10 different major music industries with their own language, so getting the streaming app that has music in your preferred language is the most critical aspect.
Audio quality: Audio quality is measured in bitrate. Most platforms stream in 256 kbps and only Spotify goes up to 320 kbps. In simple terms, it means the lower the bitrate, the lower the quality and vice-versa.
Cost: Music streaming comes at a cost and Prime Music unarguably offers the best value in terms of money.
User-interface: This is the basic layout of the app and how you interact with it. We consider it very important that the app makes it very easy to discover music you normally would not have and Spotify is the best among all these.
Gaana, Wynk, JioSaavn… what about them?
Clunky UI, stutters, weird audio quality… no thank you.
