World Music Day: 5 top streaming platforms to groove to your favourite tunes

Today happens to be World Music Day. Some like to crank up their speakers and drown the world out, while others like to plug in their earphones and disappear into their own world. One way or the other, music happens to be a big part of our lives. And services that allow us to discover new music have become our best friends.

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However, we understand some of you may still be new to the concept of streaming music. So, we thought we’d help things along a little, and put together a list of the top five music streaming platforms and plans one can opt for today, to discover, and re-discover their favourite tunes.

5 music streaming services one can consider using

1. Spotify

Spotify is one of the world’s largest in terms of active users. With a free account, one gets to stream their music, albeit with advertisements, limited controls and no provision for downloading/listening to music offline. Paid subscriptions, on the other hand, offer advertisement-free listening as well as a provision to download and listen to music offline.

Spotify offers a number of subscription plans – Mini for Rs 7 per day, with one account on a single mobile device only. Individual accounts (Rs 119 per month) can be used with one account on up to five devices, with a provision to download up to 10,000 songs on each device. Duo (Rs 149 per month) includes two accounts and allows for group listening sessions as well as other provisions included in the Individual plan. Lastly, the Family plan (Rs 179 per month) with up to six accounts, supports up to five accounts with all provisions provided for in the individual and duo plans.

2. YouTube Music

YouTube Music is priced at Rs 99 a month and allows for one to stream YouTube’s entire catalogue of music, as well as download and listen to them offline. It also allows users to keep the YouTube Music app open in the background and listen to music while performing other tasks on their device, or even when the device’s screen is turned off.

While one can purchase a YouTube Music account and continue to stream videos for free on the YouTube app, you should also consider purchasing YouTube Premium. Priced at Rs 129 per month, it includes access to YouTube Music Premium that allows users to play videos in the background and download them for offline use on the YouTube app.

3. Apple Music

Apple Music offers three subscription plans – Voice (Rs 49 per month) with access only to audio content and not videos. Individual (Rs 99 a month), and the Family plan (Rs 149 per month).

The Individual/Family plans allow one to access Apple Music on other supported devices, and also come with access to Apple Music Classical included. Furthermore, they also support Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, which is not available on the Voice plan. The Family plan allows up to six people access to the same account, with dedicated personal libraries and personalised recommendations for each family member.

4. Gaana

Gaana was launched in April 2010, and currently boasts of approximately 200 million active users. Its premium subscription (Rs 99 per month) offers ad-free listening and 320kbps audio streaming, with a provision for unlimited downloads. The free account, on the other hand, has advertisements, and restricts access to offline music, and provides only 128kbps audio.

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5. Prime Music

For Rs 1,499 a year, Prime Music offers access to a catalogue of over 100 million songs and 15 million podcast episodes. The premium subscription plan eliminates all advertisements, providing for an uninterrupted listening experience, and also allows for music to be downloaded and accessed offline. Furthermore, it also features Alexa support, making one’s experience all the more seamless.