Spotify and YouTube Music allows you to stream music, create playlists and search songs according to your preferences. But there are various differences between them. Both the platforms might have different library sizes, provide extra content beyond music and have different streaming qualities. The differences definitely matter and work as an important factor when we have to decide which streaming service we want to subscribe to.
People who stream their music on Spotify mostly need to buy Spotify plays in some situations and the same happens in the situation of YouTube Music. We will now have a look at the major differences between the two music streaming platforms –
1. Free plan limitations
YouTube as well as Spotify have their own free plans but they come with certain limitations. Spotify allows you to choose songs you want to play on particular playlists like personalized Daily Mix. You can skip the songs you don’t like and that is for only six times in one hour. 160kbps is the maximum limit for audio quality and songs cannot be downloaded for offline listening. Eventually, you have to buy Spotify plays to increase your number of listeners.
On the other hand, if you are using YouTube Music, you can pick and play any track according to your choice, and you can skip as many times you want. 128kbps is the maximum limit of audio streaming quality and you cannot download music to your phone. It’s free version is supported by ads.
2. Content
Spotify and YouTube Music provide access to millions of songs. But if it comes to content, you can access podcasts on Spotify and you can also buy Spotify plays if you want some extra publicity for your music. YouTube Music puts more focus on music and music videos.
There are various podcast titles on Spotify. There are chances that the ones you are listening to are already available on Spotify and it doesn’t matter if they are popular or super-niche. But, instead of podcasts, YouTube Music has hundreds of thousands of music videos and a long list including the recommended and new videos always shows up at the front page and you can check out different charts that have the top global 100 music videos.
3. Music discovery
Music discovery is a section where the difference gets much bigger between YouTube Music and Spotify. Spotify can be considered as the best choice for music discovery because it can easily provide access to your music and you can gain Spotify plays. Spotify has a different Discover Weekly playlist that consists of songs from artists and genres that are your daily choices for listening.
YouTube Music has three different personalized playlists. The Discover Mix has 50 lesser-known tracks every week and the New Release Mix has the very recent releases from your favorite artists and a list of mixes on the basis of your listening habits. But, still, Spotify has more playlists for every genre in comparison to YouTube Music.
4. Plans and their pricing
There are free plans on Spotify and YouTube Music but both the streaming platforms also have their own premium plans. Still, in terms of Spotify, if you feel that your music should get more famous, then you can buy Spotify plays from different websites.
The monthly subscription of Spotify has been priced at $9.99 per month for one user. There is a plan priced at $14.99 that can be used by six people and a different plan priced at $4.99 for students. On the other hand, the YouTube Premium subscription has been priced at $2 more for every month and includes YouTube Music as well as YouTube Premium.
YouTube Premium does not have ads and you can download videos from YouTube and use the feature of background play where the audio of the video will still keep playing if you turn off the phone or quit the app.
5. Music sharing
If you are using Spotify, you can share your songs on social media and you can gain Spotify plays. If you are aiming more, you can buy Spotify plays. You can also check what your friends are listening to.
You can check the number of monthly listeners of an artist. You can also share songs on social media if you are using YouTube Music and check the number of subscribers of each artist. But you cannot see what your friends are listening to like you can on Spotify.
Spotify has a sleep timer that can stop playing music after a particular period of time. Spotify can also function on Google Maps. You can play, pause and also skip tracks without turning off the app and the leaving the navigation turned on. Spotify has a separate app for Windows and the same is not available for YouTube Music.
Conclusion
If we have a detailed look on everything, then clearly Spotify is a winner because you can discover new music, and it has playlists and better social features in comparison to YouTube Music. But, still, you can choose YouTube Music because there are people who love to watch music videos instead of just listening to the audio.
Both the platforms provide equal opportunities for you to promote your music and still if you are not satisfied with the result, you can buy Spotify plays and the same can be done in YouTube Music.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” He is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
