Comprehensive Guide: How to Create a Music App Like Spotify

Launched in 2008, Spotify is a free music streaming app, which has completely changed the way people listen to music. Rather than downloading each song, Spotify app enables the users to play music directly from the cloud.

Spotify has raised $ 2.1 billion in total funding and received 17 million downloads, including 6 million iOS and 11 million Android downloads.

Spotify became one of the leading music streaming service providers and gave tough competition to Apple’s iTunes. Since Spotify is in demand, entrepreneurs look forward to developing an app like Spotify.

Are you the one to develop the app in the music streaming market? Your search ends here.

By taking the help from our mobile app experts, we have curated the blog, which covers all the essentials on how to make a music app like Spotify.

Table of Contents

Market Statistics And Overview of Music App

Before creating your music app, we would like to show you some interesting facts about the music streaming app. It needs a considerably strategic approach before tapping into this industry. Let’s explore some of them as below,

The global music streaming market size is estimated to hit $60.5 billion by 2026.
Spotify has the highest user base of 345 million in Q4 2020.
A report by Music Business World suggests that there has been a 22.6% surge of time spending on music streaming worldwide.

These statistics show that the music streaming industry has a broad market if you want to launch your music streaming app. However, it can be challenging to compete with big players like Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal, but targeting the right audience, developing high-end features, and using the suitable monetization model can help set the user base.

Popular Music Streaming Apps in the Market

popular music streaming app in the market

Taking an idea from the industry’s top players might result in the success of your music app. So here, we are going to see the top three and popular music streaming services.

App	Features
Spotify	One of the leading apps in the music streaming industry having the most significant market acquisition with 158 million subscribers Offers services for three different platforms, Android, iOS, and desktop to make their reach better in the market Provides a wide range of functionalities such as the enable to search for any track, artist or album, play music while using another app, design your customized playlist, and provide shuffle play based on your choice of songs Offers free as well as paid services in the app
Apple Music	Launched in 2015, and within a short period, it became the most loved music streaming app in the market Available for both platforms users Android and iOS Has more than 30 million songs, reads lyrics for the songs, Artist profiles, and limits downloads to optimize storage Offers different plans with great discounts
Pandora	Pandora is the globally recognized music streaming platform for two decades Available on various platforms such as Android, iOS, Apple Watch, Wear OS smartwatches, integrated with smart speakers, desktops Pandora has reached 40 million monthly users and provides personalized playlists, the ability to skip or replay more tracks, and offline listening to the music Like and dislike feature for recommendations in music and tracks Charge $9.99/month

However, many popular streaming applications offer compelling features to entertain people around the world.

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Let’s dive into the crucial things you need to take care of before making your music app.

6 Essential Factors to Consider While Making a Music App

factors to consider while making a music app

Recognize Your Target Audience

For making successful music streaming app like Spotify, it’s crucial to know what your audience is looking for in the music market. Therefore, researching the type of music preferences as per the location, age group, and spending time identifying your user base will help you make a music app according to the market scenario.

If you are targeting to gain users from a particular country, consider the music trends and provide them with that suggestion. That will help determine which type of content users love and create a monetization model depending on additional features.
Check the Music Streaming Services

Music Media Libraries

Opting for the music media library gives unlimited access to the songs to users. Users need to opt for a subscription service so that they don’t need to pay for individual songs or albums. For instance: In Spotify, users will have access to 70 million songs, 2.2 million podcasts. And users will be able to stream these files at 320 kbps without spending any extra penny from their pockets.

Cloud Storage Based Music Players

In cloud storage music apps, users can host audio files which can be accessed from any device. That means users can upload their favorite music, playlist, and album in cloud storage. It also allows users to share the files with other people as well. Some of the famous cloud storage music mobile apps are pCloud, AudioBox, CloudPlayer, and 9Cloud. These cloud apps also allow users to create playlists, adding favorite music tracks to their cloud storage. For example, AudioBox offers 5 GB at $0.99/month pricing for online storage and enables users to stream your music library online anywhere, irrespective of any platform.
Identify the Platform for Providing Services

Today, there are two most popular platforms to make the application – iOS and Android. Both platforms have vast user bases around the world. Hence, it becomes critical to decide which platform is the best to create your own music streaming app. The answer is simple – developing a native music app for both operating systems can help gain a vast audience and compete in the music streaming market.

Although, if you are tight on your budget, the second option could be identifying the region for which you want to develop the music app. A Statista report suggests there are over 120 million iPhone users in the US, while Europe has 68.86% of the market share of Android smartphone users.
Monetization Model for your Music App

Let’s have a look at what monetization model you can opt for after developing the music app.

Freemium: This model works well to provide free access to the app with basic functionality. However, you charge them to access the advanced features of your app. For example, the Pandora Plus plan offers various features to its users such as unlimited replays, skip tracks, create personalization stations and listen to offline stations.

Freemium is the most used monetization model and works well to get the most subscribers. With this model, you can provide music streaming for free with limited advertisement.

Paid Plans: You don’t offer free services; instead, you charge them for accessing your music streaming services. Additionally, you have different subscription plans for users’ convenience, such as basic plans, premium plans, etc.

For example, Apple Music offers a monthly subscription for $9.99/month and offers a three-month trial before you want to buy their service. To continue the use of Apple Music app services after trial, you will have to buy the subscription.

Run Ads in between: Usually, the mobile app owner displays mini-banner ads in between audio tracks. This might become frustrating for users if not used or managed perfectly in the mobile app. Although, users may upgrade to a paid version to avoid the ads.

Ticketing Option: Ticketing is also a fantastic business model used in music streaming apps. In this model, users get notifications of their favorite singers’ events in their city and provide a facility to book tickets quickly. That excites them to buy the concert tickets of their famous music singer.

For example, If you listen to your favorite singer’s music track, a notification suddenly appears on your screen. It shows you a famous music singer will conduct a concert in your town and encourages you to purchase the tickets. Hence, users can get discounted tickets in both ways, and music app owners can generate revenues.
Get the License

Licensing the app is essential to protect your app from unwanted problems when your music app is in the market. For example, while making a music streaming service app, you require rights on artists’ sound recordings and compositions.

You need to pay royalties to music artists; otherwise, it might be considered a copyright violation. The song creators have a publisher to manage the rights. It includes management of issuing the licenses, maintaining/collecting royalties, and dealing with other administrative work.

Local radio stations or on-demand music streaming apps have to pay the song owners or composers to avoid copyright issues. And these payments are called royalties.

US-based entrepreneurs can get in touch with organizations like BMI, ASCAP, SESAC to get published songs.
Development and Cost of the App

After conducting initial research on creating a music streaming app and gathering all the necessary licensing to create a music app, it’s time to build it. For that, you will require to consider several factors like tech stack, platform choice, features, and mobile app development agency.

Before hiring a mobile application development company, you can ask them some questions to know if they are perfectly suitable for building your project. For successful on-demand music app development, you will be required to specify all your requirements to the development team to get the technological suggestions and project estimation.

Developing a full-fledged product and launching it into the market takes a long time. Using the Minimum Viable Product approach for your music streaming app can help to move faster in the market.

Moving further, the cost of making a music app depends on the features, tech stack, and music app developers you choose. However, we have listed the average price of app developers from different regions:
- North-American App Developers – $50 to $150/hour.
- Eastern App Developers – $50/hour.
- Western App Developers – $60/hour.
- Australian App Developers – $100 to $150/hour.

Features to Consider in Music Streaming App

features to consider in music streaming app

This is the first step to make a music app; you have to decide what features you would like to include in your streaming music app? What types of advanced features can you provide to your premium package subscribers? To make your work easier, we have listed down some of the essential features below,

Registration and Profile Creation: Upon downloading your music app from Google Play Store or iPhone App Store, users should create their profile using a social media account. Providing them hassle-free signup/login without asking for much details could be the best way. After registration on your music app, they should manage and update the playlist and share songs easily on social sharing with friends.Search Music Track: It is the most required functionality for the app. Users can easily use this functionality to search for their favorite tracks and albums based on different conditions. For example, users can search by artist name, album name, etc. Providing them easy navigation around the platform to search tracks increases the app’s credibility and conveniences. Users always want a fast, smooth, and suitable app experience where it becomes easier for them to play their favorite songs in a few taps.

Share Music & Playlist: This feature helps users share their favorite songs with their friends and like-minded audiences. You can also add the social media integrations in-app, and users can efficiently perform social sharing for the music on Facebook, Instagram, and Skype.

Push Notifications: A push notification is a pop-up message that appears on the notification bar of every smartphone device. Through push notifications, you can provide info to your users on new song releases, the addition of a new playlist, an app update, or updates on their favorite tracks and artists. This helps you in developing better engagement with your audience in the music app.

In-App Purchase: This feature allows users to update their subscriptions without any hassle. From a business point of view, providing an in-app purchase option to users is a great way to generate revenue. In addition, your users will enjoy the additional benefits of upgrading plans like download songs, offline music, ad-free music, download podcasts, and much more.

Music Library: If you allow users to make a music library efficiently, users will appreciate your effort as they won’t need to spend time searching the music tracks. Additionally, you can also use this as a two-way feature by offering artists the to create their playlists and charge them a fee. As a result, users will get a list of their favorite singers, and singers’ songs will gain popularity.

Do you have any unique feature ideas in mind for your music app? What are you waiting for?

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How Long Will It Take to Make a Music Streaming App?

At this stage, you might have decided to make an MVP structure for your music app, and your development is all set to go. However, the result of music streaming service apps depends on features and functionalities.

The app development process is divided into app prototyping, designing, developing, testing, and deploying the app. Hence, considering all the stages, the development time may vary from 19 weeks to 32 weeks. Additionally, it also depends on clients’ needs and changes suggested by the client during custom music streaming app development.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does the music streaming app work?

The music streaming app uses streaming technology; however, the songs are converted into small data packets and delivered over the internet. And then, the buffer on the devices for a few seconds or a minute. So it allows users to listen songs without downloading them on their devices which enhances the user experience.

1. What are the monetization options for music streaming apps?

Several monetization options are available for a music app that works well for owners to earn decent cash. Below are some of them,

1. - Subscriptions plans
  - Running in-app advertisements
  - Ticketing option
2. What is a music streaming service app?

It offers various songs to hear online and users get offline access by buying premium subscriptions. In addition, companies regularly develop various new features to the app to grab users’ attention.

Wrapping It Up

Music works like relaxation therapy and helps people feel fresh when they are stressed out. Spotify music app is one of the leading music streaming markets enabling users to hear music on the go. Since Spotify is in demand, this is the right time for you to enter the global music streaming market and create your own music app.

Do you have an idea about on-demand music streaming app? Are you looking to develop a cloud-based music app and want to offer unlimited music to users? Or do you have a unique feature idea for your music streaming app development? Just feel free to contact us. Our expert Android and iOS developers will guide you in the complete process of app development to grow your business with the help of technology.