Being a pioneer in the music-streaming market, Spotify is one of the best-known music streaming apps besides Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, Deezer and SoundCloud. The app has 172 million premium subscribers and 381 million monthly active users. Although the audio streaming giant has revolutionized the way of consuming auditory content online, is it really possible to create an audio streaming app like Spotify or even surpass it? Well, no harm in trying! Here’s the ultimate step-by-step guide to building an audio streaming platform like Spotify.
Steps to Create an Audio Streaming App like Spotify?
Before you begin development, you must prepare a blueprint of the business concept. Consider including features that Spotify uses like registration and signing up, music organizing, music discovery, social sharing, push notifications, and a music library.
You need to license your content for building a music streaming app like Spotify. Licensing will directly implicate the volume and quality of your music catalog, and thus, is the most crucial component of your acquisition budget. In the U.S. audio license is called Public Performance Rights and handled by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers or Broadcast Music Incorporated. In Europe, it is dealt by the European Stage Authors and Composers. As far as Spotify is concerned, the platform has two types of licenses including the Sound Recording License Agreement and the Musical Composition License Agreement.
There are a lot of factors to consider, such as platform capabilities, ease of integration and deployment, secure streaming, strong delivery network, cost, etc. Also, you have to decide whether you want to hire a team of developers for building a music streaming app like Spotify or invest in a music streaming platform provider who is going to do the job for you.
We would suggest you to opt for the latter option as it is much easier and cost effective. All you have to do is pay a monthly subscription to your chosen online audio streaming platform service and they will build the app for you ground-up without you having to spend time, money and effort to hire and pay developers.
Muvi lets you launch your own branded, fully featured audio streaming website and apps across 20+ platforms, devices, and ecosystems such as iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV(tvOS), Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and more.
Basic Audio Streaming App Functionalities like Spotify
Here are the high-end features you need to consider for building a Spotify-like music streaming app:
User Registration and Authentication
While building an audio streaming app like Spotify, think carefully about the Registration and Authorization options. While users log into their app accounts, it’s absolutely essential to have their basic information, and credentials by means of a registration or sign-up process. Users have to mention relevant information about themselves like: name, sex, age, location, interests and hobbies, and, of course, musical tastes. The last point is paramount considering what audience the Spotify app is targeting. Today most apps of all types offer the possibility to register via social media, so you can include this option for the convenience of your users.
Spotify has championed personalization in the music streaming landscape single handedly. To compete with the likes of Spotify, you would have to build an audio streaming server that is tailored according to your user’s preferences. Aimed at getting better engagement and content viewing satisfaction, personalization of your music streaming app can be achieved by investing in an AI-based recommendation engine.
An AI-based recommendation engine is to recommend content based on an individual’s music listening history. A tailor-made recommendation feature can be provided by collecting data such as what kind of music is being played or how long a user listens to a particular type of music, what kind of device is being used for listening, etc.
The Spotify app is a pioneer when it comes to organizing music based on tailored playlists. There are innumerable playlists created by Spotify on a daily basis including a wide range of collections based on genres, artists, moods, etc. You too, should add a similar functionality option to your service where your users can be able to create playlists according to their preferences in a jiffy or provide specially handpicked playlists that match your users’ music listening patterns.
To motivate users to engage with your app more often, you need to provide them with personalized content through a robust search engine and here is where Spotify has a great competitive advantage over other services. Once your platform has grown, it could be increasingly difficult for your viewers to skim through the content. Hence, a well placed and prominent search bar on your home page is a must.
Instantly showing results as users type in the search bar can also enhance user engagement. Rather than simply showing “no results”, displaying results based on auto-correct for mobile users engages your user to keep exploring and navigating.
Keep filters for searching by search query, location, length of the audio, genres, language, etc.
As a music streaming app owner, you’ll be able to inform your users about new tracks (potentially interesting to them), discounts on some albums and songs, and much more through a push notification system. In a social community-based app, this is how content can be spread and you can receive more hits. Push notifications are a good way to promote such user engagement in the feeds.
Spotify has had this feature since 2011 and this enabled users to share the app’s news and Timeline actions on their Facebook pages. Social media sharing option in your audio streaming app allows users to share songs with friends and highlight favorite tracks on a social feed. It’s a good practice to add integration with popular social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.).
Multi Platform Compatible
If you plan to build an audio streaming app like Spotify, it goes without saying that you would have to reach all platforms- mobile, laptops, PCs, tabs, etc. With the proliferation of new devices in the market and the rise of mobility, viewers expect audio streaming platforms to deliver an accessible, flexible content consumption experience as they swap from one device to another.
Muvi is multi-device compatible and provides end-users the ability to swap devices on-the-go. With Muvi you can launch your Multi-Screen audio streaming platform across Website, Android App, iOS App, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV as well as Smart TVs instantly.
Creating a stunning UI/UX goes a long way in engaging and retaining customers on your audio streaming app. The app interface plays a key role in improving the efficiency of the streaming music program. Make sure your user-interface is intuitive, and user-friendly.
Users always prefer an uninterrupted streaming experience. Factors such as disruptive data coverage or poor bit-rate management are hindrances in the way of providing seamless music streaming. So, your app should support offline streaming or a download-to-own option using which your users can enjoy continued listening on-the-go.
How to Make Money with an Audio Streaming App like Spotify?
Launching a new audio business based on the Spotify model does not necessarily guarantee an immediate success. In order to incur a steady monthly revenue, you must be ready to spend at least a few years on making your business profitable. If you’re serious about converting your music into a source of income, you have to find your own way to monetize your content.
Spotify has two main ways of earning: premium account and running ads.
Premium Subscription Services
The premium Spotify account provides users with free access to unlimited music across other devices. Paid plans include packages targeted at various segments of audiences.
- Student plan at $4.99 per month
- Regular account at $9.99 per month
- Family account at $14.99 a month
Ad-supported Services
Another way of content monetization is running ads. This model is used in the freemium version of Spotify where app users with a free account can listen to a limited set of songs on demand, which may be interrupted by an advertisement. By using this business model, Spotify charges advertisers a cost-per-click and cost per mile fee.
Also Read: Video Monetization Options- What to Choose?
Wrapping Up,
According to Statista, music streaming has all the chances to cover 86% of the Digital Music Market of Europe by 2022. Maybe it’s time to take action and join the ranks of leaders while it’s still possible.
Needless to say, if you are planning to build a streaming service like Spotify, you will have to include a lot of features to make your audio streaming platform stand out from the crowd. Selecting a professional audio streaming service provider like Muvi to help promote your brand name, market and monetize your audio content. Features like adaptive bitrate streaming, bulk upload, multi-CDN, cloud transcoding, DRM, monetization, payment gateways, etc are features only an enterprise-grade OVP will give you.
Sign up with Muvi and make it effortless and easy for your users to access your fine music catalog.
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