Four alternatives to Spotify: swapping is easier than you think

How do you turn over from Spotify to a different music service? What are the choices? And which service pays artists probably the most?

The ongoing controversy over Spotify’s flagship podcaster Joe Rogan, whose vaccine misinformation has led to musicians pulling their music from the platform, has additionally triggered quite a lot of listeners to search for alternate options. Spotify reportedly accounts for 31% of the whole music streaming market, greater than double its nearest competitor – Apple Music – at 15%.

Whether or not you’re motivated by becoming a member of Neil Younger and Joni Mitchell of their boycott, otherwise you’re simply excited by seeing the alternate options, it could possibly appear formidable to make the change after years of being with the service.

However it's very easy. Streaming companies are likely to not have lock-in contracts, so in the event you’re trying to change to a different service, step one can be cancelling your present subscription.

Sadly, Spotify doesn’t make it attainable to cancel by way of its telephone apps, so that you’ll must log in through an online browser and cancel your premium subscription by way of the account settings perform. Relying on once you subscribed, you’ll have the ability to hold the premium options till the subsequent fee was due.

So what are the choices?

1. Apple Music

When Apple Music launched, it felt clunky and restricted. However it has come a good distance previously few years, with huge enhancements to its performance, music choice (75m songs), radio, playlists and different options like music movies which Spotify doesn’t have.

The person expertise now appears a lot nearer to Spotify. Apple additionally has launched lossless and spatial audio for a greater high quality of hear. Lossless audio is one thing Spotify promised in 2021 however has not launched.

Should you’re already within the Apple ecosystem that is undoubtedly the best choice, however there's additionally an Android app.

Apple affords three months totally free to new customers however after that subscriptions are A$11.99 (£9.99) a month or A$119 (£99) a 12 months, with household plans at A$17.99 (£14.99) a month. There are additionally bundled subscription offers with Apple’s different companies, reminiscent of iCloud storage and Apple TV+.

Hand holding a phone in front of a laptop, with both displaying YouTube Music apps
YouTube Music doesn’t have the audio high quality of different companies however, in the event you’ve already obtained YouTube premium, it’s not the worst deal. Photograph: Thiago Prudencio/Dax/ZumaWire/Rex/Shutterstock

2. YouTube Music

Should you pay for a YouTube premium subscription – A$14.99 (£11.99) a month – you get YouTube Music totally free. It has about 60m songs and also you get entry to YouTube movies together with it. The audio high quality is reportedly inferior to different companies however it does have playlists and radio stations and different options you'll see elsewhere.

As with Apple Music and its ecosystem, in the event you’re already an Android person, that is a neater choice for you.

3. Amazon Music

Australians paying for Amazon Prime can already entry a restricted model of Amazon music (2m songs in SD solely), or it’s A$11.99 a month for the total service. Within the UK, it’s £7.99 a month so as to add to Prime, or £9.99 a month for non-Prime clients. It has lossless and spatial audio tracks, 75m songs, podcasts, playlists, and integrates with Amazon’s different applied sciences. Younger has been selling a proposal with Amazon for 4 months of free music for brand new sign-ups to the service this week.

If you wish to keep away from giving three of the most important tech corporations your cash, although, there are a rising variety of different choices.

Tidal UI mockup on a smartphone displaying Doja Cat’s album Planet Her
Tidal’s most unusual function is its dedication to present your most-streamed artist every month 10% of your subscription payment

4. Tidal

Tidal has at all times been pitched because the service that compensates artists the perfect and affords the perfect audio high quality. It has a list of 80m tracks and a free tier that operates just like Spotify’s. Up from which are A$11.99 (£9.99) and $23.99 (£19.99) plans, the latter of which rewards the artist you take heed to probably the most every month with 10% of your subscription payment.

Along with high-quality audio and all of the anticipated options, Tidal has greater than 350,000 movies and live performance reside streams.

Different non-major corporations providing streaming companies consists of Napster (sure, the previous peer-to-peer file sharing service has gone authorized), Qobuz and Pandora.

Transferring playlists

The most important difficulty for individuals trying to change is transferring your long-curated playlists. That is made simpler by way of third-party companies. If you'd like it to be quick you’ll should pay however in the event you don’t have many to switch or have the time, you possibly can often convert one playlist at a time totally free.

The preferred is the app SongShift (though it is just out there on iOS) and Soundiiz (which runs in an online browser). You’ll want to present whichever app you select entry to the accounts you might be switching over however you possibly can take away entry as soon as you might be finished.

The companies will often flag if a tune on the playlist can’t be discovered. Generally it’s so simple as a mismatch with the precise title of the tune and it may be discovered as a unique combine or title.

How nicely do the companies pay artists?

The businesses are likely to hold the details about how a lot they pay artists for every stream a intently guarded secret however a report from Tricordist in 2020 provides us an image of the tough funds artists can count on.

In accordance with the report, Spotify pays US$0.00348 a stream, Apple Music pays US$0.00675 a stream, Amazon pays US$0.00426, Google pays US$0.00554, and Tidal pays US$0.00876. Surprisingly, the health firm Peloton comes out on prime of the checklist, paying US$0.03107 a stream. Napster additionally charges greater than others at US$0.00916.

It’s all nonetheless shockingly low for artists however the best choice would in all probability be Tidal. Along with the streaming price being barely greater than common, Tidal can also be straight paying artists 10% of its upper-tier plan for every person – relying on which artist the person streams most.

However if you wish to assist artists extra straight, you should buy vinyl, or digital copies of the music by way of iTunes or comparable companies, or pay straight by way of Bandcamp or Soundcloud.

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