YouTube Music vs Spotify: Which One is Right for You?

YouTube Music vs Spotify

Sitting down and playing your collection of Vinyl records or CDs is quite relaxing. But for convenience, people are more used to listening to music via music streaming apps like Spotify, and YouTube Music. All you need to do is open your app and select a random song to play.

However, YouTube Music vs Spotify, which one is your ultimate choice? To find the most appropriate music streaming services, this blog will compare them from various perspectives.

Differences between YouTube Music and Spotify

YouTube Music vs Spotify: Music Library

This might be the most important part when you select a music streaming platform. Both YouTube Music and Spotify indeed offer a wide range of music including different genres, languages, and decades. You can find most of the hit songs or nostalgic classics.

However, being supported by YouTube, YouTube Music also collects some covers, live performances, or even bootlegs. Technically, every music video uploaded on YouTube can be played on YouTube Music.

So the content published on the artist’s YouTube channel will also be synced to the YouTube Music. The whole uploading process is free, that’s why you can enjoy the works of niche authors on YouTube Music.

On the other hand, Spotify doesn’t allow its users to upload music. If you are an artist who wants to get music on music, you have to pay a commission and cooperate with a distributor.

YouTube Music vs Spotify: Price

 YouTube Music PremiumSpotify Premium
Individual1-month free trial + $10.99 / month after1-month free trial + $11.99 / month after
Student1-month free trial + $5.49 / month after1-month free trial + $5.99 / month after
Family1-month free trial + $16.99 / month after$19.99 / month
Duo/$16.99 / month

YouTube Music Premium: How much is YouTube Music? It depends on your membership. One highlight is that all the pricing plans of YouTube Music offer a month’s free Premium trial. With the family plan, you also need to invite other five family members to enjoy the ad-free listening experience.

Spotify Premium: Similar to YouTube Music, only subscribe to Spotify Premium, you can enjoy Spotify without ads and download songs for offline listening. Spotify’s student plan also allows access to Hulu.

Spotify Premium plan

Except for the common subscription plan, Spotify offers a duo plan which is designed for two people. It will make sure the two users live at the same address. Don’t worry, each one’s Premium account is separate and only belongs to themselves. Spotify will still recommend songs based on your own interests.

YouTube Music vs Spotify: User Interface

The web version of YouTube Music and Spotify is similar. You can find your playlists and library on the left-side navigation bar. The media player controls is on the bottom of your screen. The main page will display the recommended artists or songs that suit your preference. In addition, YouTube Music will recommend some artists or songs based on your YouTube search history.

YouTube Music User Interface

Moreover, one difference between YouTube Music and Spotify is the search bar. When you type an artist’s name in Spotify, it will search for the most matched results and show the artist’s albums or songs.

Spotify User Interface

For YouTube Music, it will more work like a search engine. For example, if I enter The Weeknd, YouTube Music also displays the related keywords like The Weeknd blinding lights or The Weeknd earned it.

Tip:

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YouTube Music vs Spotify: Audio Quality

 YouTube MusicSpotify
Low48kbps AAC & OPUS24kb/s for Spotify Free24kb/s for Spotify Premium
Normal128kbps AAC & OPUS96kb/s for Spotify Free96kb/s for Spotify Premium
High256kbps AAC & OPUS (only available for YouTube Music Premium)160kb/s for Spotify Free160kb/s for Spotify Premium
Extremely high//320kb/s for Spotify Premium

As you can see, for free users, YouTube Music’s audio performance is generally better than Spotify’s. If you only want to enjoy the free services, YouTube Music might be a better option. However, to pursue the best audio quality, you need to subscribe to Spotify Premium.

To switch your sound quality on YouTube Music, just press your profile image and select “Settings”. Go to “Download & storage” and click “Audio quality”. The higher audio performance will take up more storage space of your space.

For Spotify users, you can navigate to the profile image and tap “Settings & Privacy”. Scroll down to find “Media Sound Quality” or “Sound Quality” and select the audio quality you want.

Be aware that the Spotify player on browsers can’t change the sound quality. The web player of Spotify offers AAC 128kb/s for Spotify Free and approximately AAC 256kb/s for Spotify Premium users. Apart from that, the podcast’s sound quality is about 96kb/s on all devices but remains 128kb/s on the web player.

Conclusion

In this blog, we have compared YouTube Music and Spotify from four aspects: library, interface, sound quality, and price. Each one has its own targeted users, our mission is only to display a comprehensive guide for you.

YouTube Music vs Spotify, which one is better for you? After reading, you might have selected the most appropriate one. Enjoy your music journey with the right music streaming service.

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