DC Kumawat is the CEO of Orion InfoSolutions, a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses of all sizes. He has over 14+ years of experience in the IT industry. He is a passionate advocate for the use of technology to improve business performance.
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Can anyone of us imagine our life without music? We can't. We can't imagine our life without music as it has been an inseparable part of our life.
Whether we are riding in the car headed to our destination or listening to music in an elevator, we are constantly surrounded by songs. Makeups, Breakups, hanging out with friends, parties, singing along with our children, or carolling a Christmas tune—music chases nearly every aspect of our life.
Music has evolved through the ages, so the way of listening has. Earlier, we used Big sized Cassettes, DVDs, and Radio to listen to the music. And now, in this digital world, we all have been shifted to a single multi-use device, and you all know what I am talking about. Yes, you got it right, it's our mobile phone.
If you ever need music to make you feel good or just want to go for a song, you will not prefer to wait until it gets downloaded. You will not waste your time downloading that. Rather, you will wish to listen to it at that moment only.
Now, that is where Music Apps like Spotify come into action. As our life is getting busier nowadays, no one has the time to download the tracks they want to listen to. But, it doesn't mean that people skip listening to their favourite tunes.
We should be grateful to music streaming apps like Spotify that fulfil our craving for music. The app has enabled easy access to the music. People enjoy and listen as much as they want in their homes, workplaces, or other areas where their mobiles can connect to the internet.
If you plan to develop a music streaming app like Spotify, let us help you with the Scope, features, and other characteristics of the music app.
The mobile app industry is thriving with over 6.3 billion smartphone users worldwide, and this penetration is still growing at a steady rate.
In 2021, live music streaming income hit 19.4 billion U.S. dollars worldwide, which was more than 28 times the figure recorded a decade ago.
Music streaming is a vital income stream for artists around the globe, with the number of music streaming subscribers worldwide reaching 487 million in 2021. In 2021, music streaming was far leading other forms of music sharing.
Since its inception, revenue from music streaming has increased every year. Since 2014, it has grown at an average rate of 43.9% and has become the primary revenue source for most music labels.
Now it's clear what the Music streaming application market is and what its future is likely to be.
Before moving towards the development of the App, you must be aware of your competitors and dominating music apps in the Market.
'Spotify has the highest music streaming audience ship with 31% of the market', according to Midia Research music streaming platform statistics.
The research also suggests that there's no risk of Spotify losing its leading position anytime soon.
Spotify is followed by Apple music (15%), Amazon music(13%), Tencent Music(13%) and Youtube music (8%).
Before developing the App, you must know the features to be included in the App. Here is the list of must-have basic features that should be a part of the Music streaming app for attracting users. Let us talk about the features of the Spotify app (music streaming) one by one.
This is the initial stage right after downloading the App, including registration, authentication, and user profile/ Account creation. Just downloading the App doesn't make it ready to access. It requires registration, authentication, and creation of the account to understand your music needs and your choices. Music streaming apps like Spotify are connected to social media handles like Facebook and other social media networks so that users can sign up with a single click. In the same way, you will also have to unite the same feature in your App.
Initially, during the trial period, Apps like Spotify app let the users access the content for free.
The user profile section of the App contains the essential information about the user, like his name, age, gender, date of birth, music preferences, etc. In this section, you should receive information from the user regarding preferences and choices to envision and provide the content based on his/her desires.
It requires 15-20 hours on the front end and approximately 20-25 Hrs on the Back-End to develop the onboarding feature.
A Music app is incomplete without the streaming feature. It is the most crucial characteristic of a Music app, which lets users access the 'N' number of songs. The streaming doesn't require downloading the songs completely. Instead, it delivers the Music in short packets with the help of the network. Thus, you should ensure that the stream is consistent and continuous to hear the clear sound with no pauses.
What if your network is not stable and worse if you don't have that? You will not let this interrupt your mood for Music. The solution is here for your problem. Not only live streaming, apps like Spotify also offer you to download your favourite songs.
The main idea behind developing the music app was to provide users with the songs they desire to listen to with a single tap. Spotify provides you with the search option to allow the listeners to search for the type of Music they want to listen to as per their mood.
You should also add this feature to your Music app so that the users can have the option to search for their preferred albums, Music, picture tracks, and so on. Adding a Search option in the Music streaming app services can take around 110 – 140 hours.
Another best option is to avoid time consumption. Instead of repeatedly going and searching for your favourite tracks every day, you can listen to them all under one category by creating a playlist.
The Playlist feature allows the users to create a list of all their preferred tracks in a single spot, classified according to their mood. Just add the songs to your playlist, relax and enjoy your favourite tracks. Now you don't need to search for your songs one after one.
Now it's time to connect with people through songs. But we all are not good at singing, so instead of singing the song for your close one, you can dedicate it by sharing that with the help of sharing option. You can share the song through any social media handles like Whatsapp, Instagram, etc.
The sharing option also acts as mouth publicity for your business model like Spotify. Doesn't it sound like Advertising and promoting your brand? Yes, it's the same. It will reach the audience through your audience and significantly help develop your band's value and market share.
It requires approximately 65 to 70 hours to develop the social sharing option in the mobile App.
Many of us love to listen to conversations, stories, dialogues, and motivational speeches. It's like the cherry on the top of the cake if you can't get these along with your favourite Music. The podcasts in the music apps offer a variety of choices from different artists, storytellers, and leaders.
This feature enables the users to get something different from Music and increase their knowledge and Vocabulary.
The responsive web is another feature of the Music apps, which means you can access the applications through the internet on multiple devices like Laptops, Tablets, and Computers. If you are not allowed to install software on your work computer, no problem. Head to online access, and you can listen without installing the Spotify desktop app (or relying on your phone).
Are you missing any of the artists not on the Music app? Well, your App should have the feature for this as well. Spotify, too offers the option to add artists absent from Spotify.
You can add them yourself by moving to 'Preferences' on the desktop app and clicking 'Add a Source'.
This feature relies upon your Spotify-like application's business model.
If your application is providing free services, it is important to incorporate this feature in your application so that users can pay hassle-free for all that they want. This feature enables the users to have a better user experience and enjoy the services without interruptions.
So far, we have looked into the present and future market trends and scope of the Music streaming industry and the features that should be available in your Spotify like application alongside the development hours that would go behind the making of each; let's find out the total cost of development of these must-have features:
Well, the answer to 'How much does it cost to make a music app' is dependent on the analysis of several factors like the features that are to be included in the music streaming applications, the platforms on which it is likely to be launched, and finally, the area where your Music streaming app development company belongs to.
Later, these factors are divided into hours allocated to the development of every individual app feature. These all are then used to give a cost estimate of the complete development of Music streaming app services.
The Music streaming App with basic features for a single platform, whether iOS or Android, would cost you around $15,000 to $20,000.
Above, we have answered all your queries like scope, Market, features and cost estimation of the Music app development.
After getting all the information about the Music streaming mobile app development, it is evident that you must do a lot of research before stepping into this industry.
You need to observe your targeted user base and develop an app within your budget that can glaze out among all the existing players in the same industry.
In the end, it will be all laudable of having a successful Spotify mobile app.