Spotify Review

History

Launched in 2008 Spotify has 381 million active users with 172 million paying subscribers (as at Q3 2021) across 184 countries.

Spotify has been the leader in the streaming field for some time and despite not having a CD Quality or HiRes service it has produced a service which has near ubiquitous availability across HiFi, mobile, PCs, tablets, smart TVs and speakers and In Car Entertainment (ICE) systems. That and its ease of use and innovation has contributed to the company’s growth.

The company went public in April 2018 on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of some $27 Bn and is now valued at $44 Bn.

In 2019 Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, outlined the company’s audio first strategy where he forecast that over time more than 20% all Spotify listening will be non-music content. Over the past couple of years it has in invested heavily in podcast creating businesses and enhanced the podcast experience with features such as interactive podcasts. It has also partnered with audiobook producers such as Storytel Audibooks to make audiobooks available to a wider audience.

In February 2021 the company announced that it would launch a CD Quality Lossless HiFi plan by the end of the year.

Services

Standard Plans

Spotify Free Free

Ad supported (No Offline Mode)

Spotify Premium Individual £9.99/month 30 day free trial

Spotify Premium Duo £13.99/month 30 day free trial

2 Premium accounts for a couple under one roof

Family Plans – includes up to 6 family members

Spotify Premium Family £16.99/month

Student Plans

Spotify Premium £5.99/month for 12 months (via SheerID in the UK)

Availability

Spotify is available in 184 countries. A complete list is available here.

Audio Quality

Music

Web player:

• Spotify Free AAC128kbps
• Spotify Premium AAC 256kbps

Desktop, mobile and tablet:

• Spotify Free ≡ Low 24kbps, Normal 96kbps, High 160kbps
• Spotify Premium ≡ Low 24kbps, Normal 96kbps, High 160kbps, Very High 320kbps

Podcasts

Podcast quality is equivalent to approximately 96kbps on all devices except the web player where it is 128kbps.

On mobile/tablet, if you change the audio quality to low, the podcast quality will lower to approximately 24kbps.

Content

70 million tracks (Pop, Rock, Classical, Jazz, World, Soundtracks etc)

3.2 million podcast titles

Music Discovery

Spotify has produced a number of features to help users discover music.

Under the banner of Discover Music it offers:

• Discover – suggested tracks based on your listening history
• Discover Weekly – a weekly roundup of songs based on your listening history and that of other Spotify users with similar tastes,
• Release Radar – updated playlist every Friday with music released over the past few weeks, it contains artists you listen to the most, those you follow, and some discoveries based on your recent listening
• Fresh Finds – a selection of independent and emerging tracks

Plus there is the usual browse, search, favourite and playlist functionality.

Spotify also produce a range of shareable playlists generated by both the community and by the company such as the Daily Mix. There are also Spotify ‘radios’ which is a feature that creates a playlist based on any song, album, playlist or artist you select. The Radio feature will create a playlist of roughly 50 tracks although this can be switched to play endlessly using an Autoplay option in the Spotify app settings.

Features

Spotify has near ubiquitous availability with apps for mobile (iOS and Android), tablet, desktop, browsers, smart TVs and speakers (Alexa and Google Assistant) and Games Consoles.

In Car Entertainment is well supported by Spotify Connect, Spotify in the car, Bluetooth, Android Auto, CarPlay and manufacturer specific integrations – Ford, Mini, BMW, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, Tesla etc). Spotify have also produced a smart player for cars called Car Thing. Available only in the US at present its aim is to ‘bring our entire catalogue of music and podcasts to a wider range of users across an even wider range of vehicles.’

A complete list can be found here.

There is also support for wearables, AirPlay, Chromecast, Android TC and Amazon Fire TV.

Offline playback is available for Premium users in all subscription plans.

Spotify has partnered with Musixmatch to provide lyrics to its songs and this available globally and on all devices.

Spotify also produce an annual review of your and the platforms most streamed tracks and podcasts called Spotify Wrapped which has become something of a music industry event.

Podcasts are well supported and Spotify has extended the basic podcast format with interactive features and quizzes as part of further its audio first strategy.

For a complete list of all Spotify news and updates go here.