Best Music Streaming Platforms in 2021
Music is the food for the spirit and has been the major source of entertainment since ancient times. Humanity has always had a special relationship with music whether played through centuries-old instruments or by new technologically evolved methods. As the world has progressed, so have our forms of entertainment, and the entertainment industry is the one that has capitalized the most with the evolution of technology. The results of which we see today in the form of smartphones, smart TVs, cinemas, gaming consoles, and probably the most popular one out of the lot, music apps. Music has come a long way since its inception. The history of music is as rich as its sounds, but it was a long journey for music to reach the point where it stands today.
Although there is a lot of debate on how music was originally discovered, modern historians attribute the great Greek philosopher Pythagoras as the inventor of the current form of music that is played on proper instruments. Music is considered a native human trait and dates back to 35,000 years. As humans split up and formed different civilizations, they carried their music tastes with them and created their own instruments. Due to this reason, it is estimated that today there are more than a thousand music instruments attributed to 1,300 music genres. Every culture has its own traditional values that are defined by architecture, cuisine, language, arts and craft, and especially music. Today, music holds a very symbolic value in every culture.
Evolution of Music Platforms
In early times, music was only played on instruments because there was no technology at that time to record it. The first medium of recorded music came in the form of vinyl discs. These were large black discs on which sounds were recorded through analog means of creating actual physical patterns on the disc, and this disc was played on a vinyl player. The next step came in the form of magnetic tapes. It was a state between digital and analog on which sounds were recorded through microphones and embedded on magnetic tapes. These tapes were played on big stereos and after that, it was transitioned into handheld music players called Walkman.
After the age of Walkman came CDs. This was the first digital medium of music on which tracks were recorded electronically. CD players became a trendsetter and soon they were also seen in handheld forms. But probably the biggest advancement in the music industry was made by Apple with the invention of iPods. These were considered the marvel of technology at that time because there was no need for any kind of cassettes or CDs to play the music as the iPod had a memory of its own and this memory was in GBs, which was considered a big deal at that time. With the arrival of the internet, everything was transitioned online and now all you need is internet access to listen to your favorite tracks. This was the dawn of music streaming apps.
Music Streaming Apps
As the world embraced the internet, it soon became a crucial necessity of today’s day-to-day happenings. The same was the case for entertainment. With the introduction of the streaming concept, there was no longer a need for huge disk spaces to store data, because now everything was over the internet and only access to the internet was required to enjoy a plethora of content. This move introduced the general audience to the world of streaming apps. Now, there are a lot of streaming apps available, supplementing customers with video and audio entertainment. While on the visual end, we have movie streaming apps like Netflix, and many cable providers have launched their own apps to watch TV on the go. If you subscribe to Cox cable packages, you get tons of streaming apps as well.
On the audio end, we have these music streaming apps that have made it easier for music buffs to listen to millions of tracks from around the world, create their own playlists and select the genres of their choice. Now, music from different parts of the globe is at the fingertips of a user. The smart ai music of these apps recommends tracks to listeners according to their tastes. But an important thing to note here is that given the immense saturation of apps in the streaming industry, a new guy who is just gearing up to start using these services might get confused. So, for the ease of music lovers, we have created a list of the top music streaming apps in terms of quality of service, features, and pricing, which users can enjoy in 2021.
Spotify
Spotify is considered the king of music streaming apps. With an intuitive and user-friendly interface, Spotify has become the favorite of music lovers. Music lovers can get organic promotion services on Spotify playlists.
Having probably the largest collection of tracks and genres, Spotify is the number 1 choice for artists around the globe to publish their music. Apart from that, all the big labels and music albums release on Spotify. This is the amount of confidence the general audience has towards it. Not only can you subscribe to its paid version, but Spotify also gives the option to use it for free, so that no one is deprived of their favorite music.
Apple Music
The most intense competitor and coming on the second place is Apple Music. Apple is already a giant in the world of technology and entertainment, and they were the ones behind the iPod, which is still considered the holy grail of musical gadgets. Apple has invested heavily in the entertainment industry especially the music industry, and Apple Music is the result of those efforts. It also has a vast library of music plus native support for all Apple products, which means that you can listen to your favorite tracks wherever you are. Apart from that, its locker facility allows you to create custom playlists and keep your tracks saved. Many small and almost all popular music stars release their albums on Apple Music as well, so rest assured, it will give countless hours of unmatched music experience.
YouTube Music
YouTube is the top free video streaming service in the world and YouTube Music is its sub-branch that’s trying to be the best music streaming service in the world. With the backing of tech giant Google, the future of YouTube Music is quite promising, to say the least. A library of up to 40 million tracks and a clean user interface makes YouTube Music a significant choice to consider. Although, at the moment, it’s not as big as Spotify or Apple Music it’s well on its way to give competition to these big names of music streaming.
Final Words
We can easily conclude that in the current music scene, Spotify is the undisputed king but seeing the growth of music streaming apps, many other contenders are ready to lock their horns with Spotify for the number one spot like Apple Music. The ultimate choice between these apps comes to individual user’s preferences, the pricing, and the range of content one like to listen to. Although, it will be interesting to witness what the future holds for these music-streaming platforms!
