Spotify Alternatives For Your Local Music Streamer
Do you want to ditch Spotify but you aren't quite ready to give up music streaming altogether? Then this page is for you! I've done the research and sampled as many of the free and paid alternatives to Spotify as I could and now they're all collected here for your reading pleasure.
Disclaimer:
This list is very USA-centric. I'm from the states and because of region locking, I don't have access to all the streaming services out there. For some streaming services, I don't even have access to the full catalog of media. So if you have any non-USA music streaming services that you'd like to see here, please e-mail me:
Income Sources
Part of reviewing these music streaming platforms was trying to find out how much they pay artists per stream. It wasn't an easy task. There are so many different factors that go into how much a streaming platform pays that it's almost impossible to find one difinitive answer. I did my best to find up-to-date reliable sources and ended up pulling from a few sites.
Spotify Free vs Premium: Is it worth it? by Sara Carbone of Soundguys - This is the main source I used. It was written a few days before I drafted this page (05/11/24) and it has most of the streaming sites listed in a convenient table. (There are even some sites that I didn't look into listed.) It's also a very good article on the differences between Spotify Premium vs Free Spotify.
Spotify Royalties Calculator by artist.tools - Has some good insight on how royalties are calculated at the bottom of the page.
Streaming Royalties Calculator: What Your Streams Are Worth by Ditto - Another article that sets out to demystify what goes into calculating royaly payouts. It was written this year (01/11/2024), but there's no author listed so there is a possibility that it was AI generated.
Streaming Calculator - There's absolutely nothing on this website that says who it's by or where they get their numbers.
How Much SoundCloud Pays Per Play: The Ultimate Guide by Kristian Gorenc for Vibrate--Music Data Company - This is the source I used for my Soundcloud numbers. I used the lower end of the spectrum for my calculations. The article is from last year (10/19/23), but it was one of the only sources I could find on Soundcloud royalty payouts.
Spotify
Windows | Windows alt | Android | Apple | Amazon
Free version? Yes! You can only skip 6 tracks/hr, you're perminantly stuck in shuffle mode, you can't pick a specific song to play, you can't even see the track listing for playlists on mobile, and there are absolutely obnoxious unskippable ads that taunt you for not having premium.
Paid version?
Premium: $10.99/mo
Student: $5.99/mo (comes with a free ad-supported Hulu subscription)
Duo: $14.99/mo (2 accounts)
Can you block the ads? No. Even on the web version with uBlock running, it'll still interrupt your music to play some kind of ad every 10 or so songs.
Pros? Spotify makes you playlists based on your listening history that are super useful for finding new music. In fact, one of the biggest draws for Spotify is that it's super easy to find new music and small artists.
Cons? If you want to get any kind of value out of the mobile app, you're going to need premium.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00348/stream or 288 streams/$1
Notes: You can get around most of the downsides of Free Spotify on the web version. Most ads are blocked, you can see what songs are in a playlist, you can play specific songs, and you don't have to get stuck on shuffle.
Rating: 2/5
Amazon Music - Prime Version
Amazon Music - Unlimited Version
Web Player | Windows | Android | Apple | Amazon
Free version? No.
Paid version? Yes. The Prime version comes free with your Amazon Prime Subscription ($12.99/mo). The Unlimited version is an additional $10.99/mo.
Can you block the ads? n/a
Pros? The Prime version is free with your Prime. It's been a while since I personally used this one, but it looks like they've added an option to stream your owned music via Amazon's cloud storage feature. They also offer a selection of ad free podcasts with your subscription.
Cons? It's Amazon. The UI of the app is... bad. They seem really focused on algorithm generated playlists vs your own playlists and music. If you want the Unlimited version it's going to be more money. And, to top it off, the difference between Prime and Unlimited is super unclear. It might be as little as an extended catalog and HQ/HD audio.
How much do artists make per stream?
Prime: $0.00426/stream or 235 streams/$1
Unlimited: $0.01123/stream or 90 streams/$1
Notes: I haven't used Prime Music/Music Unlimited in literal years. My memories of it are hazy and mostly involve buying music vs. streaming it. However, most of the reviews on the app are not great and the main complaints seem to be the UI design and how much Amazon is pushing its own playlists.
I also can't seem to get a straight answer about how much the service costs. On the DDG page when you search it, Amazon Music Unlimited comes up with a link that says it's $4.99/mo. Then, if you click on it and you're not logged in, it says it's $4.99/mo. If you click on the main Unlimited link and you're not logged in, it says it's $9.99/mo. I logged in after clicking the link and it then said it would be $10.99/mo. (Presumably because I'm not an Amazon Prime member.)
Rating: 1.5/5
Apple Music
Web player | Windows | iTunes | iTunes alt | Android | Apple
Free version? No.
Paid version? Yes.
Basic: $10.99/mo
Student: $5.99/mo
Family: $16.99/mo (6 accounts)
Can you block the ads? n/a
Pros? Apple has a truly massive library of songs. They've been an industry standard of digital music for years with iTunes and now with Apple Music.
Cons? n/a
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00675/stream or 149 streams/$1
Notes: I've never used this service, but I have used iTunes before and if it's up to iTunes' standards it's perfectly fine.
Rating: 3/5
Deezer
Free version? Yes. The free version is ad-supported and you only get 6 skips per day. After you hit that sixth skip, it gives you an unskippable 30 second ad and you're cut off.
Paid version? Yes.
Basic: $11.99/mo
Student: $5.99/mo
Duo: $15.99 (2 accounts)
Family: $19.99/mo (6 accounts)
Can you block the ads? No.
Pros? You can import your entire music library--not just playlists--from another streaming service.
Cons? You can't listen to full songs on the free version of their web player. It plays a 30 second sample of the song you're after and then you're done. So, if you want to use it for free, you're locked into the app.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00562/stream or 178 streams/$1
Notes: I only used Deezer long enough to get a feel for what the free version was like. It wasn't a good feel. Especially when I figured out you couldn't listen to full length songs on the web app. The mobile app is nothing to write home about; just a typical Spotify clone. It's also more expensive than Spotify is for seemingly no reason.
Rating: 1/5
iHeartRadio
Windows | Android | Apple | Amazon | Samsung
Free version? Yes! You don't need to make an account to use either the website; for the app you do need to make an account. Their skipping policy seems to be 3 skips before a full page ad for premium and then skips are cut off.
Paid version? Yes.
Plus: $4.99/mo (no skip limit, ad free radio)
All Access: $9.99/mo (all Plus features and: play any song or album, downloads and offline listening, and unlimited playlists)
Can you block the ads? Yes and no. Radio ads are baked into whatever broadcast you're listening to. uBlock takes care of any visual ads there might be on the page. It was also half an hour before I heard an ad when I tested it on the app without any adblock.
Pros? You can listen to radio stations from (at least) all over over USA. There's also a thumbs up/thumbs down feature very similar to what Pandora has.
Cons? The load times are slow. It took so long for one of the artist stations to load for me that I pressed the button like three times befre I realized it was just buffering. Full disclosure, I have Spectrum so it could just be my ISP. I was able to skip about three times before they cut me off and gave me a full page ad for their premium version. I couldn't even swap stations after the skip cutoff. When I went to check some settings on the mobile app, it gave me three popup ads asking if I wanted to listen on another device or with my headphones or if I wanted to get premium.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.01798/stream or 56 streams/$1
Notes: I tried to find my local radio stations and I couldn't find a single one. I even tried one from a few states over and still nothing. So if you're looking for a particular radio station, you're better off checking out their website and seeing if they have an app.
Stars: 2.5/5
Napster/Rhapsody
Web player | Windows/Mac | Android | Apple
Free Version? No
Paid Version?
Basic: $10.99/mo
Family: $14.99/mo (6 accounts)
Can you block the ads? n/a
Pros? It looks like they have a rewards program for members. You also get ad free access to music videos from your favorite artists. You can transfer your music library from another streaming service when you sign up.
Cons? n/a
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00916/stream or 110 streams/$1
Notes: I've never used Napster.
Rating: 2/5 (from a non-user's POV)
Pandora
Free Version? Yes!
Paid Version?
Plus: $4.99/mo
Premium: $10.99/mo
Family: $16.99/mo (6 accounts)
Student: $5.99/mo
Military: $8.99/mo
Can you block the ads? Yes, in the web player.
Pros? I've always loved the ability to mix different artists and music genres together into a radio station of my own concoction. Pandora also seems to have the thumbs up/thumbs down as a tuning mechanism down pat.
Cons? They play a metric fuck ton of ads if you don't have Plus, Premium, or an ad blocker. The last time I used Pandora it was around one ad per two or three songs. I believe there are also in-page ads, but I haven't used it without an ad blocker in years.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00203/stream or 493 streams/$1
Notes: Pandora was the first music streaming service that I ever used back in the day. It's certainly been enshittified since then, but it still remains one of the better ones.
Rating: 3/5
Soundcloud
Free Version? Yes, you don't need an account to listen either.
Paid Version?
Soundcloud Go: $4.99/mo (ad-free, offline listening)
Soundcloud Go+: $9.99/mo (Go features + full catalog)
Can you block the ads? Yes, in the web player.
Pros? I mean. They've got SpongeCore. This is probably one of the better platforms for finding smaller artists and new genres of music.
Cons? You don't get their full catalog of songs unless you get Go+.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.0025/stream or 400 streams/$1
Notes: As far as streaming alternatives to Spotify, Soundcloud is probably the best free one. The ad/song ratio is low enough that it isn't horribly disruptive, they have a good selection of songs, and they also have a reputation for hosting small artists.
Rating: 4/5
Tidal
Web player | Windows | Mac | Android | Apple
Free version? No.
Paid version?
Basic: $10.99/mo
Family: $16.99 (6 accounts)
Student: $4.99
Can you block the ads? n/a
Pros? You can bring your playlists over from another streaming service.
Cons? n/a
How much do artists make per stream? $0.00876/stream or 115/$1
Notes: I've never used Tidal and I didn't even know it existed until I started doing research for this page. The website and the marketing make it looks like it's trying to be a more upscale version of music streaming.
Rating: 2/5 (from a non-user's POV)
YouTube Music
Free version? No.
Paid version?
Basic: $10.99/mo
Student: $5.49
Family: $16.99 (6 accounts)
Can you block the ads? n/a
Pros? n/a
Cons? It saves all of your music in playlists on your YouTube account. Which is great if you want to have your playlists easily accessable via your YouTube, but as someone who likes to have those things seperate it was a huge bummer.
How much do artists make per stream? $0.01009/stream or 100 streams/$1
Notes: I had YouTube music for a while after they moved over from Google Play Music and it was fine. It also comes free with YouTube Premium if you have it.
Rating: 2/5