Why should you invest in an online app-based business idea?
Other than availing your favorite product or food in a clap, the tech revolution has also offered us services that help us listen to our favorite tracks 24*7. Yes, you guessed it right! I am talking about Spotify music. A successful music app that proved that music can be something you can invest in and will earn you healthy ROIs.
An app that turned music streaming into a 10 billion USD company. Home to 140 million music fans and its 50 million premium subscribers. Looks like it surely would’ve taken a good amount of time to reach their current valuation. So, let’s go through the journey this music streaming service has lived to make this a living reality.
Yes, this blog offers you all the important information you need to know to make an app like Spotify. So, let’s get going…
What is Spotify?
To those who are unaware, Spotify started off as a music streaming service that has over the years proved to be the pioneer of online music streaming. Spotify connects its users with their platform and gives them the chance to listen to music in the most convenient ways.
In this era of piracy, Spotify is your way out to hear your favorite tracks inexpensively, legally, and comfortably. Spotify is available in the US, a few Asian nations, and in most European countries. It has also gained popularity in countries like New Zealand and Australia.
Spotify hasn’t covered the globe yet but is slowly and steadily moving towards that feat. Spotify is the perfect pothole for music lovers with more than 30 million and is adding fresh tunes every day.
Spotify’s Success Story
Spotify’s founders Martin Lorenzson and Daniel EK made each other’s acquaintance in the year 2005. Somewhere in Sweden, both the individuals were highly annoyed that despite such advancement in technology downloading original content was so difficult. Here’s where the duo got the idea to create a music streaming app.
It was the auspicious day of October 7, 2008, when Spotify was launched. The project got its investment from Horizon Ventures and Wellington Partners. The two groups invested a good 21.6 million USD in their project which proved to be successful.
It was just two years down the line in September 2010 that there were over 10 million tracks on Spotify. ‘Itunes’, fairly old music streaming app, had about 11 million tracks at the time. In a period of three years, Spotify’s revenue reached an eye-popping 746 million Euros. A 73.6 % increase from 2012’s 430.3 million Euros.
The year 2012 also gifted the company with its 20 million users out of which 5 million were paid subscribers of the music app. What is more astounding as a fact is that two years later the number of users rose exponentially to 20 million and the total number of subscriptions reached 12.5 million.
As the company is Swedish, the initial launch of Spotify was done in Scandinavia. The next to join the party were Spain, France, and Great Britain. The music wave then conquered the US in 2011 and numerous European countries in the following time. It was 2016 when it made its presence in Japan.
Now, that we’ve learned how Spotify spread its magic, let’s see what lies behind the success of this musical venture.
Spotify’s Approach to Selling Music
Our world has enjoyed music not for years or decades but for centuries. Even the tribal people had their own music. Music is the most intricate part of human evolution. It works differently for different people. Spotify managed to use our collective love for music in their favor.
It changed the process of how we listen to music and converted it into a refreshing experience. Their basic idea was to provide users with music on-demand. But by the end of 2011, the platform started offering some cool features not offered by any other music app in competition. One of the most remembered features is their radio named ‘Pandora’. After its introduction, it was possible to convert any song or album into a radio station.
As the years passed the platform meticulously collected data of their users, learned their music preferences, and continued to add new tracks. After collecting the data Spotify was able to make useful suggestions to the users based on their taste in music.
This hard work paid off. It helped Spotify earn a really wide spectrum of the fanbase. People from different languages and cultures had a new mutual friend who offered each and every type of music, shared playlists, and allowed to do so much more than just wasn’t possible before.
Do you wish to make an app like Spotify? Great! Then ask yourself this…What does your consumer need that Spotify doesn’t offer? What are the ways you can disrupt the current market and become a prominent player in the game? There are others who have tried and failed, all because they failed to inculcate some significant factors. Maybe you can learn from their mistakes and make use of what they omitted in your favor.
Spotify too did the same. It learned from its mistakes in the initial years and made the following changes as they moved forward.
1. They launched their browser version at the end of 2012 for users who cannot download their desktop apps.
2. They instantly created a mobile app in 2009.
3. If you’d have used Spotify in the initial years, you’d have been disappointed with the restrictions it placed. The platform removed all the streaming restrictions in the years following the launch.
4. They have also worked a great deal in their music quality and offer one of the best sound qualities in the online music streaming industry.
It’s the above factors that have made this music company so accessible. Having learned the idea behind Spotify’s success let’s learn how it functions internally.
How does a Music Streaming App like Spotify Work?
Spotify is compatible with any smart device that you use. Whether it’s Android, Linus, Windows, or macOS, the platform has customized apps for every operating system used widely. The app also allows the users to create collaborative or personalized playlists, edit and share them with their friends. The search bar is placed intuitively that allows users to browse through different albums, songs, artists, and labels.
1. Web-Version:
A user can register to the Spotify website via email or Facebook. There are 2 paid versions apart from the freemium version, hence it’s important to choose the format while using the app. The freemium version also comes with certain limitations. The user can then download the desktop version which would save him time and energy.
2. The App:
The Spotify app is available for both iOS and Android users. One can download the same from Apple Store or Play Store respectively. The app is intuitive and as you follow the instructions the app will do the rest of the work for you. The user won’t need an app if they have an active wi-fi connection, they can listen to their tunes directly from the website.
ROI: How to make Money by developing App like Spotify?
This is the most favorite section for the investors, as no matter how good your app idea is, it can only work if it can be monetized. Spotify like many other companies opted for the freemium model. A well-known strategy to generate revenue.
Users can use the freemium ad-based model with limited functionalities or pay for the premium features and get rid of all the ads forever. It pays well as opposed to the times when we paid a separate fee for each track or an album or a music cd. This process is simplified in the premium version. You can pay once and enjoy your favorite music for life.
So, Spotify has got two primary means of earning money, the first is through premium subscribers and the other through advertising in the free ones. Though Spotify has placed its bet on paid users, as it generates a good percentage of their current revenue. So, the company is trying to convince the users that premium versions are the options they should be opting for.
Features to consider while developing App like Spotify
Here’s the list of all the features that contribute to a fully functional music app like Spotify. You should make note of all the important features and how you can add or subtract certain features to make a better app.
You must use conventional methods for user registration. For example, providing social media or email options for registration is a known form for enrolling new users on your app. You can also offer a 2 step verification process to check the authenticity of the user.
A user profile should be a dedicated space for the user. Important information like name, gender, DOB, music preferences, and much more data can help you learn the user’s taste in music and provide valuable music suggestions.
This is the most important feature of a music app. It’s the recommendations that your music app provides based on what it learns about the user’s music preferences. Like the “Discovery” feature in Spotify helps a user explore completely new tracks based on what they’ve previously listened to.
An efficient algorithm that can automatically suggest tracks based on what it has already learned from the user is mandatory. The time and efforts you invest in creating a self-learning and intelligent algorithm will surely pay off as it did for Spotify.
Spotify also has this cool feature where a user can add devices that are compatible with the app and use Spotify as a remote to switch between tracks. This allows the user to use multiple devices at their convenience.
- Social Media Integration:
Sharing is deeply rooted in human psychology. Hence, when a user hears something that they like very much, there will be a natural tendency to share the same with their friends, family, or colleagues.
It’s important that you present your users with the option of sharing their favorite tracks on social media such as Facebook. This will promote your app to your user’s friends and family and give them a feel-good factor in their mind of sharing something priceless. You’ll notice that there will be an exponential increase in the number of users you have.
Spotify allows you to follow your favorite artists and enjoy their latest tracks as soon as they are released. Spotify would notify you of the same. The browse option on Spotify is also quite handy. It allows you to browse people as well as playlists shared by people. This gives you access to a myriad playlists. How cool is that?
Now that you know which basic features to include in an app. How’d you build one? Let’s catch a glimpse of which method an IT service provider like Technource uses to build their applications.
Product Roadmap
We at Technource follow the Agile-Scrum Methodology to build our web and mobile applications. Scrum allows us to develop iteratively where we can inculcate solutions with the active contributions from our different teams.
Scrum offers utmost transparency among us and the Stakeholders. This helps instill trust between us and our clients as they can suggest changes and examine the developed products at any given time. You can try this methodology to build applications or you can also get in touch with a professional IT service provider like Technource who can assist you in building one.
Let’s see how we can assist you in achieving your goal.
Where we can help you in Music Streaming App Development? (Technource and App Development)
Technource has been inviting challenges in
custom mobile app development since the beginning. We have worked on numerous apps and projects that have helped us to learn and innovate for our clients around the globe.
Our work speaks volumes for our services. We have created numerous apps that have strengthened our confidence in creating tailor-made software solutions. A series of On-Demand apps like ‘Hatch’ and ‘Just Errands’ are working examples of how efficient our development team is. A dedicated case study of the same is available on our website.
Our ability to create scalable projects, at budget-friendly rates, and continuous technical support after the project has earned ourselves a repute and our client’s unwavering trust.
We offer app development services in native technologies such as Java or Swift for Android and iOS users and hybrid app solutions using Flutter or React Native. Our experienced team of designers and developers is equipped with enthusiasm and sound knowledge to build any app you want.
So, what are you waiting for? Do you have the next great music app idea? Then, let’s dash!
