What is Spotify? Here’s everything you need to know in 2023
Back in 2006, on 23 April, Spotify found was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden. It has been almost 17 years since the date of launch; it’s still gaining popularity year after year. Much has been revolved and some amazing updates made this music platform more appealing in contrast to rivals like ‘Apple Music’ and ‘Amazon Music.
The basic purpose of Spotify’s founders was to overcome piracy as many people used to download music illegally for free. It was such a music streaming platform that is a better option than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry as it makes it quite easy for a music listener to buy music rather than to go for piracy.
In this article, you will get to know the answers to your peculiarity regarding this music app, what is Spotify, what it offers, and how much worth it holds to invest your money and time.
What is Spotify?
It’s a digital music streaming service that gives you access to a music world comprising millions of songs, playlists, albums, and podcasts. It has a vast online library of music from pop to classic all genres that give you an edge in listening to content as per your music taste at any time. By analyzing your listening habits, Spotify’s unique algorithm curates a personalized playlist that is, ‘’made for you”, as it contains a list of songs that could synchronize with your favorite genres and music. You can also make your playlist and could also find playlists that are made by other users.
It’s not only limited to playlists and albums, it has something appealing for artists which is ‘Podcasts‘. More than 389 million listeners on this music streaming giant, listen to their desired podcasts. Hence, a podcaster can target a plethora of listeners with the same interest base on its podcast’s content and ultimately get monetized by getting subscribers. If you love to listen to crime stories, or you are fond of listening to tech discussions, you can get to listen to everything as per your listening mood. Moreover, the company is investing a lot in podcast content as it purchased networks like Gimlet media and Parcast.
Read More: How to Change your Spotify Password?
Is Spotify Free?
Yes, the ad-supported version of Spotify is free. The free version gives you unlimited access to music and podcast but on the other hand, free Spotify comes up with irritating ads that disrupt your listening mood. These ads kill your groove, as while getting amused by your favorite music you have to listen to the interrupting ad just like radio station ads
In the free version, you are restricted to skip only six songs in an hour, as well as you can’t listen to a song in repeat mode. Moreover, the song quality is limited to 160kbits/s. In the desktop app, you can listen to anything you want, but you are limited to listening to your ‘made for you’ playlist in the mobile app and can’t open an album and play a song as everything has to have been listened to on shuffle.
Hence, free Spotify is for the one who is new to Spotify and wants to examine the worth of this platform before opting premium subscription.
Why Spotify Premium:
- No advertisement: You can get rid of pesky ads after a premium subscription and an ad-free experience could make your listening more relishing.
- Better Audio Quality: In the premium plan, you can listen to music of high sound quality from 160kbit/s to 320kbits/s.
- Unlimited Skips: You are not restricted to skip songs for only 6 times as in free Spotify. You can skip as many songs as you want and could avail advantage of your spending with a premium subscription.
- Hulu Access: If you live in the United States, you can avail of this great feature.
- Download Music: If you are concerned about your network data consumption, you can download your loved music for offline listening. You have to keep in mind that once your subscription ends you won’t be able to access your downloaded content as it automatically vanished with the premium plan expiry.
- Spotify Connects Unlocked: With Spotify Connect, you can use a device that can remotely control listening on another device. You only have to ensure that both devices are on the same WIFI, the device software is up to date, and your Spotify app is updated.
Read More: How to See your Spotify Stats?
How Much is Spotify Premium?
If you want to get rid of pesky limitations in the ad-supported free version of Spotify, you can buy a standard premium plan of $9.99 per month in the USA, €9.99 in Europe, and £9.99/per month in the UK.
If you are a couple, then you can avail of two accounts separately that are just $12.99/Month. The most appealing plan that could save you on your hard-earned money is the family plan which offers 6 separate premium accounts for a family member living under the same roof for only $12.99/month. Students are facilitated with an almost 50% payment plan that is $4.99 per month.
Let’s get deeper into premium plans:
Individual — it is a standard plan for one user that’s $9.99/month and it offers an ad-free music experience, offline listening, and on-demand playback.
Duo — $12.99/month. This plan is for two users more specifically couples, who used to live in one house. It offers ad-free music listening, offline listening (downloading), and on-demand playback.
Family — $15.99 per month. This plan includes 6 separate premium accounts for users who live under one roof, ad-free music listening, block explicit music, offline listening (Downloading), on-demand playback, and Spotify Kids (an app for kids).
Student — $4.99/month. This plan offers access to one user, ad-free music, Hulu (ad-supported) plan, access to Showtime, and on-demand playback. While gaining a student plan, a student must prove that he attends an accredited higher education institution.
How Does Spotify Work?
you are new to Spotify and haven’t given it a try, then it’s is the right time for now you can avail premium subscription free for three months. A user will find perks that outstand paid subscriptions over the free version of Spotify.
- As on other apps, one should have to sign-up for his/her account, similarly, you’ve to sign-up for your account by visiting the sign-up page on your Spotify Website. It is also recommended to sign up using your Facebook account as this lets you connect with friends and fellows on Facebook so that you could get to know about their music tastes and you can compare your listening habits with theirs.
- Spotify is available on both mobile and desktop apps or you can also access it on your browser which is “Spotify Web Player”. After signing up, you can start listening to your loved content. Your listening habits are properly tracked and synced on your device. It also offers you daily mix playlists based on your listening taste and it is available in, the “made for you” section in your library.
You can also create your playlist and add any song to it by simply tapping the heart icon or by pressing the three dots with the song title and clicking add to your playlist.
Spotify Alternatives:
It’s always better to have options and there are surely some multiple options and additional features of other music streaming services that a giant like Spotify is lacking deliver. I’ve brought up some major rivals of Spotify with a few reasons that could be considered better alternatives to Spotify.
Apple Music
Spotify and Apple Music are both undeniably giants in music streaming, as both have a lot to offer to their users. Same as Spotify, Apple Music is also available for free and as well premium subscription. The premium plan of Apple Music is the main contender as the free tier is quite limited compared to Spotify. The premium tier of Apple music outstands itself with a great library of 50 million songs that are integrated with the full catalog via iCloud integration.
If I put some light on pricing, then both charge almost the same for the individual plan which is $9.99/month. Those who are already involved in the Apple ecosystem could avail of Apple one program bundles whose subscription facilitates you with Apple TV Plus, iCloud, Apple Arcade, and much more for only $14.95 a month. This is much better than the Spotify family plan which is worth $14.99/per month
If you aren’t keen on downloading music and could compromise on access across multiple devices then you could also go for the stripped-down version of Apple Music that is called Voice for only $4.99 per month which only gives full access to the Apple music library.
Youtube Music
Another relatively great alternative to Spotify is ‘Youtube Music’, which is Google’s premier music service replacing Google play music. It’s also in a free ad-supported version. Youtube music is the world of music, where music geeks could find a plethora of obscure and hard-to-find music collections. You can find remixes and remakes of all new and classic songs so that’s up to your music taste you opt the one to listen to. If you go for the premium plan which is the ad-free version of Youtube, the package price goes the same as for Spotify that’s $9.99 a month.
Spotify music and podcasts safe for kids?
Yes, Spotify is designed as a completely safe app for older kids and teens, however, parents must check that profile should be set to private in settings as the account registration requires a lot of personal information. Moreover, Spotify has also launched a separate dedicated app for kids that’s called “Spotify Kids”. This app caters to children’s age group of three and above and is designed to be safe and private too.
Can I connect to Spotify via Bluetooth or WI-FI?
Yes, Spotify connects works over Bluetooth and WI-FI. The devices must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network and you can control listening on other devices while playing from a remote device. Similarly, you can play Spotify on Bluetooth-supported devices from a remote device that should also support Bluetooth.
how can I cast Spotify on a smart TV?
Yes, Spotify connect is an amazing feature that can be used to stream Spotify on any WI-FI supported device.
can I upload my music to Spotify?
Yes, you can upload your music to Spotify, but that uploaded content is only available for just your listening. Otherwise, you need to upload your content from a hosting or you have to submit an RSS feed link for public streaming of your content.
what is the best free Spotify alternative?
Youtube Music is the best free alternative to Spotify as it offers a lot more in its music library with additional features that could easily overtake any other music streaming service.
