Music streaming platforms are now the mainstream, with more people using them to listen to music than vinyl or CDs. This rise in popularity has led to an explosion of new streaming sites giving music lovers an amazing degree of choice. This article will take a look at the best of these services and why they are the best streaming sites.
Spotify
Spotify is easily the most popular music streaming site among the general public and its status as the market leader means that almost every artist has their music on it. Its catalogue includes both the hottest new releases and a huge back catalogue of classics, making it one of the best sites for anyone with broad tastes. It is available as both a free-to-use app or a monthly subscription one. The major downsides with the free version are the ads and the difficulty in switching off the shuffle mode, both of which are sorted out by choosing the Premium service.
Tidal
Tidal is perhaps the best streaming platform if you are a major audiophile who wants the same sort of sound quality that you would expect from a record or CD. This particular platform is owned and run by musicians and contains a strong selection of both old and new music. It also has other interesting features that music fans will love, including its blog and playlists that are put together by musicians. The biggest downside of it is the comparatively high monthly subscription price of $19.99, but that is how artists get paid for their work.
Deezer
This French-based streaming platform has a good mix of new songs and classics and is available either in a free version or a subscription one. You can subscribe at either $9.99 or $14.99 with both removing the ads but the latter offering higher sound quality. One thing that makes Deezer stand out as a top music streaming platform is its family plan that allows you to block songs that have swearing or sexual content in them. That makes it perhaps the best one for people with young children.
Apple Music
This is likely to be the streaming service of choice for most iPad, iPhone or Mac users and the feature enabling them to use Siri to find playlists, musicians or songs they want quickly is a real plus. Another good thing about it is the fact that anyone who has built up a library of favourite songs on the iTunes Apple service will find these transferred across to their Apple Music account when they create one. Apple Music also has great additional features like Beats 1 Radio, which is a 24/7 radio station that offers star live performances and top DJs, putting it firmly among the best choices for streaming music.
These are the top four sites right now for streaming music on, each of which has its own particular strengths that makes it stand out from the competition in what is a very crowded market
