MIXDOWN’S GUIDE TO: MUSICIAN STREAMING SERVICES
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MIXDOWN’S GUIDE TO: MUSICIAN STREAMING SERVICES

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Spotify

One of the main reasons for streaming being considered as a powerful music tool is because of Spotify. Just like the by-word for watching videos is to YouTube it, the act of streaming music is to Spotify it. And for good reason too. Spotify is the most used music streaming service available, with over 60 million active users – 25% of these users being paid subscribers. So besides for the huge potential audience reach, what other benefits does Spotify have? As Spotify is a paid/ad service, once your music is played on Spotify, you earn royalties! Let’s be honest, this is a big plus as our ultimate goal is to monetise our trade.

 

However, perhaps the most important aspect of Spotify is the analytics tool they offer. As your music is tracked, Spotify are able to offer you in-depth stats about the audience that are listening to your music, giving you greater detail about you target audiences and allowing you to shape future marketing campaigns around them.

 

Getting your music on Spotify can be tricky, so they do advise to seek out either a record label or an aggregator to ensure you get your music on their platform.

 

Apple Music

The new kid on the block, Apple Music is here to eliminate all streaming competitors, similarly to the way the have won ever other market that the have competed for. It makes sense to get have your music on this service, as Apple are a tech-juggernaut that managed to gather 15 million active paid subscribers in its first quarter (albeit a lot of people forgot to cancel their free trial). With a focus on reaching users on iOS devices, Apple Music is a very important tool for reaching a Gen Y audience, therefore if your target audience falls into this category, read on. 

 

It’s fair to say, Apple Music is Spotify’s biggest competitor, and with its intuitive interface, it is only a matter of time before it leads the market. The advantage that Apple Music has over Spotify is their unique artist profile pages, which allows for Musos to connect with their audience more than ever before. Connect is a premium artist feature that you do need to request access to, however if successful, you will have the ability to tell your band’s story and reach an even greater audience.

 

To get involved with Apple Music, Apple suggests using TuneCore for a quick and easy process.

 

Pandora

Internet radio is essentially known as Pandora. The long-time serving music hub works differently to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music as it offers a way to consume music without choosing individual tracks. Why all artists need to be on Pandora is simply for its discovery services. Users can simply enter a band name to have access to a library of similar artists, or bands they might enjoy listening to.

 

The other positive is that Pandora is completely free for users, due to its ad-supported functionality. As Pandora’s focus is around connecting audiences with new artists, they welcome all independent artists from all backgrounds and working styles to submit their music for possible inclusion on their service. For details on how to get involved, head here.

 

Overall, there are quite a lot of streaming services available, and more or less function the same. However, a little more market research on your target audience could dictate which services you decide to invest in. Other platforms you could also consider include Deezer, Google Play Music All Access, Guvera, iHeartRadio Milk Music, Tidal, Vevo, and Xbox Music.