The music streaming sector is hugely profitable and popular among users. According to a recent survey, a popular music streaming application Pandora has reached an income of $13.1 million. The music app development process is quite tricky. We suggest you get acquainted with the primary streaming services and useful tips for creating a music app.
Main Kinds Of Music Streaming Apps
Two main types of streaming applications can be distinguished: radio apps and on-demand apps. Radio stations play the role of a DJ. They just play one song after another in any order. On-demand services have a different user approach. They offer to make personal playlists according to the user’s taste that can be shared with others. Let’s have a closer look at each kind.
Radio Streaming Apps
The most well-known radio streaming app is Pandora. Its main feature is playing songs that users might like, not songs they want to listen to. You can’t change Pandora's playlists, but you may create radio stations based on different songs, albums, and artists. Radio streaming apps have signed licensing contracts, not permitting them to stream songs on request. Such agreements also help reduce app costs compared to the second type of application.
On-Demand Applications
There are many successful companies in this sphere, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. Besides playing songs selected by users, they also offer suggestions and discovery features founded on the user's individual preferences. There is usually a monthly or yearly premium subscription included in this app type. The subscription involves many useful features and unrestricted access to music libraries. Such apps sign licensing agreements with official record labels, which enable them to stream the music legally.
Many companies offer to build music streaming apps, such as keyua.org. But before hiring a developer, you’ll first need to define the type of music streaming app you will develop and think about its main features.
7 Must-Have Features For Making A Music Streaming App
Lots of companies offer music streaming services, so the situation in the market is tense. Therefore, your app needs to include several necessary features to remain competitive and provide an excellent user experience. We suggest the following list of must-have features to ensure a great music app that will be popular. Consider them when creating music streaming software, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
1. Registration
Suggest several registration options to your potential users and make sure the signup process is smooth and convenient. Integrating social media accounts is a must-have. This way, users can easily incorporate their personal data into your application. Don’t forget to add the forgot password option.
2. Searching
To make application users satisfied, allow them to look for their favorite audios. Develop the search filters; for instance, sort songs by artist, album, and year. You can also create your own playlists of popular music in different genres as promotional tools and suggest them to users according to their preferences.
3. Music Player
Your app needs to have a convenient player to become more user-oriented. After you develop it, make sure it works well with as many device models as possible. Test it thoroughly to avoid any bugs.
4. Favorite Music
This is a crucial feature. Users can mark music they like as a favorite and download it. They can look through their favorite playlist at any time and share songs and playlists via their social media accounts. This will make your application even more popular.
5. Categorization
Don’t just sort the music added to your application into general categories. Our recommendation is also to develop categories according to such characteristics as mood (excited, sad, romantic), tone (meditative, joyful, gloomy), pace (fast, slow), etc.
6. Official Licenses
Although it is quite expensive for a small company, sign licensing agreements with authorized music providers to gain a good reputation. These expenses can be covered by subscriptions or other forms of monetization. However, the high quality of the music will be beneficial for your application.
7. Music Upload
If you want to build a music app like SoundCloud, this function is necessary. Enable users to upload and share their own pieces of music externally. Develop a special category for such songs.
What Are The Main Ways To Monetize A Music Streaming App?
There are a few monetizing models you can apply during development. Each of them has its peculiarities for developers. It is crucial to define how you will make your application profitable and stick to that model.
Subscription
There are two kinds of subscription models:
Premium - make basic features free, then to gain access to all features, users can buy a premium account.
Free Trial - allow the use of your application for free for a limited time, then offer a monthly or yearly subscription.
Commercials / Ads
This is a traditional way of monetizing in the market. There are several variants to gain profit by using commercials or ads:
• Cost per mile: paying for showing advertisements for a thousand people.
• Cost per view: companies are paying for each view of a commercial or ad.
• Cost per action: paying if users perform target actions.
Wrapping Up
The app development process requires much attention. Before moving on to the development stage, define the features you would like to include and monetizing strategies. The competition between different providers in the sphere is severe, so involving the must-have features suggested by us will help you gain more popularity among users. Hopefully, this article was helpful for you, and good luck while developing your music streaming app.
