5 Best Music Streaming Services of 2024

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With so many options for music streaming services available these days, there is no reason to make any compromises when finding the perfect one for you.

Gone are the days when you had to go buy the whole CD just to hear the song you loved from it or listen to the radio for hours hoping it comes on. Now we can use modern conveniences to listen to, learn about, discuss, and even discover music—usually for just pennies a day.

In this article, we break down the five best music streaming services available in 2024. Each is suited for a different type of listener, so see which service resonates with you the most.

Most people who just want a solid way to listen to their favorite songs will be more than happy with the streaming services on this list.

Choose the ideal streaming service from this list and start rocking out right away!

Best Music Streaming Services

1. Best Music Streaming Service for Apple Enthusiasts – Apple Music

SPECS

• Price: $9.99

Apple Music was launched in 2015 and shook up the market in a couple of notable ways. For starters, it served as the first major direct competitor to Spotify.

Also, it essentially replaced iTunes, which had become obsolete by that point, as it no longer made sense to pay to own audio files locally when users could easily stream an unlimited amount of songs for far cheaper.

Apple is known for its extremely simple and intuitive user interfaces, and Apple Music is no exception to this. The minimalist design approach will appeal to people who want the simplest platform they can find.

As far as features, Apple Music is very similar to Spotify. They both function the same, but Apple Music uses slightly different terminology. For instance, you can "play next" rather than "add to queue." This very simple language is in line with Apple's branding.

Between Apple Music and Spotify, it just comes down to which interface you prefer. Most general audiences will prefer Spotify because it is more immersive overall. It has the social aspects that Apple Music lacks, and its curated playlists are generally considered superior to Apple's.

The number of plays that Spotify displays next to each song has also become a fairly reliable measure of a song's popularity, at least for songs released in the modern era.

Apple Music has not quite gained the status that Spotify has, so why choose it as your streaming service? Well, if you already have an iPhone and a Mac, then you might love how seamlessly Apple Music integrates with your existing devices.

Apple Music offers essentially the same functionality as all the leading platforms, but it is tailor-made to fit right in with Apple's ecosystem of devices. For example, the service is deeply integrated with Siri, so voice commands work very well for Apple Music subscribers.

There are other corner cases where Apple Music will be especially preferable for some. It integrates with your existing iTunes library.

So if you were an avid iTunes user back in the day, you could use Apple Music, rather than Spotify, to enjoy your existing music library from iTunes while adding to it with Apple Music.

At the end of the day, if you are a fan of Apple's approach to UI and aesthetics, then chances are you will be happy with Apple Music.

2. Best for General Audiences – Spotify

SPECS

• Price: $10.99 per month

Spotify had the first-mover advantage in the music streaming service space, launching all the way back in 2008 when most people were still listening to audio files they had downloaded on their devices.

For several years in the early 2010s, Spotify was the only music streaming service that was regarded with any legitimacy.

YouTube and SoundCloud existed, of course, but they were geared more toward platforming independent creators. Apple, meanwhile, was still fully relying on iTunes as its music service, which of course, required users to pay $0.99 - $1.29 per song (seems crazy by today's standards).

Spotify has had 15 years to adapt to the music-listeners market, and now they are even more user-friendly and feature-rich than ever before.

Other attractive streaming options have popped up, so it's no longer like it was in the 2010s, when "Spotify" was synonymous with "music streaming" (like how "Kleenex" is synonymous with "tissue").

But still, most music lovers know that Spotify has remained the gold standard of music streaming services. This is due to its expansive music catalogue and its user-friendliness.

Spotify's user interface is simple, intuitive, and seamless. It contains a host of functionalities that will please the average listener (like creating playlists, generating mixes of recommended songs, and adding songs to the queue) without including unnecessary features that will confuse inexperienced users.

Many music lovers also enjoy the social features of Spotify as well. Spotify is not the only streaming service to offer social media features, like seeing what your friends are listening to, but it does integrate its social features in the most seamless way.

In addition, users can enjoy personalized features like the Discover Weekly playlist and Daily Mixes. These are just more examples of how Spotify continues to expand its functionality to include just about anything and everything the average music listener could want.

Spotify uses a freemium model, so you can listen for free with ads until you decide whether or not you want to pay for the ad-free experience.

3. Best for Background Music – YouTube Premium

SPECS

• Price: $13.99

YouTube has gone through too many platform-altering changes to even count. Since its inception in 2005, it has maintained a reputation as one of the most influential user-driven entertainment platforms out there.

Nine years after buying YouTube for over $1.5 billion, Google launched YouTube Music in 2015. Since then, the platform has had considerable success (how bad could you really do when you've got Google's marketing budget behind you), but users have had mixed feelings about the platform.

YouTube's greatest asset is its plethora of user-generated content, so when huge companies like Warner Music Group and Universal started flooding people's feeds with commercial music, it compromised their brand position as a user-driven website.

We do NOT recommend YouTube Music as a streaming service because it has no particular benefits over the other major platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. But for people who want to stream both music AND videos, YouTube Premium is worth looking into.

YouTube Premium is $2 more a month than YouTube Music, but it is more than worth it. Almost any song officially released on YouTube Music can be found uploaded to YouTube Premium by a user.

In addition, YouTube Premium allows you unlimited ad-free access to the millions and millions of YouTube videos already at your disposal.

Here's why we recommend YouTube Premium for people who love background music. There are numerous user-uploaded music mixes on YouTube that are hours long, and they span any and all genres.

Countless hours of vaporwave, drum n bass, city pop, jazz fusion, and many other obscure genres can be found at your fingertips with YouTube Premium, and the catalogue continues to expand daily.

These mixes are perfect for throwing on in the background while you work, socialize at a house party, exercise, or just go about your day.

Compared to the more orthodox streaming services out there, YouTube Premium lacks a user interface that is geared specifically for music streaming.

On Spotify, for example, you can search for "Taylor Swift" and see all of her albums listed in order of release date, with each song listed in track order. But if you search "Taylor Swift" on YouTube, you'll simply get the top videos for "Taylor Swift" listed in order of popularity.

With this in mind, it's important to note that YouTube Premium is not a substitute for Spotify and Apple Music. It can instead be seen as an alternative or an additional service for people who don't mind subscribing to two different streaming services.

YouTube Premium is fantastic for music discovery and for exploring more obscure genres of music, many of which will be from independent artists.

If you search "trap beats mix" and select the first video that catches your eye, you can have the videos auto-play so you can enjoy an endless stream of trap beats without having to select the next song until you feel like it.

Just remember that with YouTube Premium, you're not necessarily streaming music so much as you are streaming videos, many of which happen to be songs and music mixes.

4. Best for "Audiophiles" – Qobuz

SPECS

• Price: $12.99 per month

Qobuz is not exactly a household name, but that's just all right with them. This service prides itself on appealing to listeners who take their love of music a bit further than general audiences do.

Qobuz is somewhat of a hidden gem for audiophiles. Most hi-fidelity music enthusiasts have heard of TIDAL, which was launched in 2014 and had a considerably effective marketing rollout.

Qobuz, however, gets our pick for this category rather than TIDAL. Both platforms allow you to stream songs in a lossless FLAC format, but Qobuz is slightly cheaper and has a bit more to love if you are a music enthusiast.

Both Qobuz and TIDAL have positioned themselves as music streaming alternatives to the major platforms, specifically geared for people who care more about sound quality than most people do.

The average listener will be just fine with Spotify or Apple Music because the difference between mp3s and lossless filetypes like FLAC and WAV is not noticeable unless you have high-quality speakers or headphones.

But for people who love high-quality audio files, Qobuz and TIDAL might be the way to go. We choose Qobuz over TIDAL, which is somewhat of an unpopular choice (at least according to the numbers). This is because we really like Qobuz's exclusive articles about music news and topics.

They are written by music experts and focus on some less popular artists, which many music enthusiasts may find refreshing.

Ultimately, if you want top-notch audio quality, then both Qobuz and TIDAL will serve you well. Qobuz is a smaller company and can offer a more personal touch when it comes to their customer service, which we believe many audiophiles will appreciate.

5. For Those Who Love Indie Artists – SoundCloud

SPECS

• Price: $4.99 per month

Like other entries on this list, SoundCloud is arguably long past its heyday. It's hard to think of SoundCloud without thinking of the stranglehold it once had on the independent artist landscape back in the early to mid-2010s.

While it's likely that SoundCloud will never return to its level of relevance when compared to other larger streaming sites, it still remains one of the overall best music streaming services for music enthusiasts.

What sets SoundCloud apart from other sites is its emphasis on community. Independent artists are encouraged to platform themselves on the site, and the social features make it easy for artists and fans to interact with one another.

The robust commenting and messaging features of the app allow you to leave comments on specific parts of songs. This makes for engaging feedback between artists and fans, and it promotes collaboration and sharing.

Anyone can upload their tracks to SoundCloud, so the platform is well-suited for people who want to hear the latest from independent artists as soon as they drop. If you don't care about listening to independent artists, you will be better off with one of the other entries on this list.

At only $4.99 a month, SoundCloud is the cheapest option on this list, and you can listen for free with ads as well. We think the average fan who enjoys both commercially released and independently released music will enjoy having a subscription to both Spotify/Apple Music and SoundCloud.

Best Music Streaming Services Buyer's Guide

Streaming is the most convenient and cost-efficient way to enjoy all your favorite music. Since it's become the standard way to consume just about all forms of audio, there are numerous options for streaming services on the market, and all the different specifics can be confusing.

This guide will tell you the most important aspects to focus on in your search for the best music streaming service, so you can be sure you're finding a platform that meets all your needs.

Subscription Price

Price is the first consideration for a lot of people when it comes to subscription services. If something isn't in the budget, then there's no point in moving forward with it.

Fortunately, just about every major music streaming service falls within a price range of $5 - $15 per month, making them within reach for most music consumers.

At least by the market standards of 2023, any music streaming service charging more than $15 is overpriced. You can expect to pay around $11 for your music-listening platform.

Most of them also allow you to try their services out before you start paying, either by offering a free month of premium or a free version where you can listen with ads.

SoundCloud is the most budget-friendly option on the list, particularly for fans of independent artists.

Music Catalogue

The best music streaming service for you will have all the songs you want to listen to. The catalogue of music available from your music provider is perhaps the most important thing to look out for.

No service will have every single song ever released on it; that would be impossible. But major label releases from contemporary artists are likely to be available on all the major platforms.

YouTube Premium and SoundCloud have a diverse catalogue that will include some obscure songs and mixes. However, some full-quality versions of big-label releases will potentially be missing.

Spotify and Apple Music, while they may not have obscure independent tracks, are likely to have all the major label releases you're looking for.

Audio Quality

All streaming platforms on this list offer audio quality that is up to par for the average listener. Unless you plan to listen on extremely high-quality headphones or speakers, then the difference between Spotify and Qobuz will be imperceptible.

However, if lossless streaming is important to you, then try the high-quality streaming services like Qobuz or TIDAL. Many producers, musicians, people with sensitive ears or just fans who listen to hours of music per day will appreciate the slight edge that lossless audio file types will provide.

Features

See if there are extra features that the platform offers and whether they are important to you.

Some of the most popular features to consider are offline listening, social features, commenting capabilities, and playlist creation.

Interface and Design

You use a platform's interface every time you open the app. The market offering of all the major music streaming platforms is essentially the same, so a lot of your decision just comes down to how well you like the user interface.

Spotify and Apple Music both have simple but robust user interfaces that are very intuitive and powerful. Qobuz and SoundCloud have perhaps the least intuitive design of the entries on this list, but they are still simple and functional enough for the average listener.

Alternative Pricing Plans

If you're looking to save a bit of money, you can opt for the family pricing or duo pricing plans. Spotify and Apple Music both offer these kinds of alternative pricing plans, as do many other streaming services on the market.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much do music streaming services cost?

You can expect to pay $10 (or slightly more) per month on your music streaming services. SoundCloud would be the major exception to this, at just $5 per month.

If ads aren't a deal breaker for you, then you can also use Spotify, SoundCloud, or YouTube Music for free.

Do you need internet connection to use streaming services?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: You need internet connection to save songs and create playlists, but if your platform offers offline listening, then you can download songs while you have internet, and then listen to them later offline.

Can I access streaming services on multiple devices?

Most streaming services are cross-compatible with multiple devices. Spotify, for example, will allow you to control your account and the current song from your computer, phone, or smart TV all at once.

Can I listen to more than just music using streaming services?

Absolutely! The major streaming services also host podcasts and in some cases, music videos. Qobuz and TIDAL also offer exclusive articles for you to read.

Conclusion

Whether you are a music fanatic or just a fair-weather fan, you will find that subscribing to a music streaming service is worth your time and money.

Being able to listen to any song or album instantly without having to buy it is something that people could have only dreamed of 20 years ago. Listening to streamed music also allows you to free up space on your device that you would have had to use for music files.

Find the right music streaming service for you and start jamming out today!

If you're unsure about which speakers will enhance your music experience, browse our list of the Best Speakers for Music to make an informed and harmonious selection.