How to Make a Music App Like Spotify?

This year’s Spotify Wrapped has arrived, and we bet you’re excited about it. The app automatically creates a playlist of your favorite, most-streamed songs, a feature that plays a major role in retaining Spotify’s premium users. If you want to make a music app that has such unique features, we’ll be breaking down the intricacies of this process in detail.

Spotify is the biggest player in the music streaming business. It started out as a regular music app. But now, it has turned into a platform that represents everyone – from global superstars to aspiring artists.

But what makes Spotify so freakishly popular?

Well, as a music streaming platform, they understand major pain points and use them to their advantage. For instance, the free version of Spotify has the exact same content library.

What it doesn’t offer:

• Customization Features
• Downloads
• Audiobooks
• AI features
• Spotify Wrapped

What it offers instead:

• Ads, a lot of ads!

This is why most users prefer paying for Spotify Premium, and that’s where most of the revenue comes from for the music streaming giant. 

If you already have a music app that’s not making an impact in terms of revenue or popularity or want to create one that stands out in the rather saturated music streaming industry, Cubix can help you. 

In this write-up, we’ll explore how to make a music app like Spotify and the monetization models you can implement to ensure both users and dollars keep rolling in. 

The Music Streaming Industry – A Brief Overview

Music streaming has rapidly become the most common method of music consumption. As more consumers “cut the cable” on physical formats and digital downloads, streaming offers unlimited on-demand access to vast catalogs of songs, albums, playlists, and radio stations.

The leading music streamers are Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and Pandora. They continue to disrupt traditional music sales, driving strong growth in the sector.

Music App Market Size and Trajectory

Music streaming dominates the overall music industry in revenue, chipping in over 84% of the revenue US-based artists and labels get from recorded music.

Now that we know the immense potential the music steaming app industry has, let’s discuss how you can make one yourself.

6 Steps to Make a Music App

Music apps like Spotify and Pandora have popularized on-demand streaming. However, the market remains ripe for new players using technology to create unique music streaming experiences. If you want to make a music app that competes with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, here are 6 steps to consider:

1. Identify Your Niche

The music ecosystem is diverse, spanning many genres and fan interests like discovery, collecting, sharing, concerts, and more. Pinpoint an unmet or underserved consumer need your app can uniquely address.

• Research successful music apps to see what works and where market gaps exist. 
• Surveying your target users directly can clarify pain points to focus on solving. 
• Establishing a tightly defined purpose early helps guide strategic product decisions later.

2. Map Out Features and Functionality

With your customer problem identified, map out exactly how your app will solve it. Here’s what you can do:

• Specify its core capability along with all supplemental features and functionality.
• Balance minimum viable product (MVP) simplicity with ambitious long-term plans while ensuring disciplined prioritization. 
• Focus first on delivering your app’s primary user value, then layer on extras later post-launch.

3. Build a Flexible Tech Stack

Carefully select technologies that can sustainably execute your product roadmap now and scale up in the future. Modern frameworks like React Native for cross-platform builds can streamline development. You can also:

• Implement secure backend infrastructure and connected services like payments, social sharing, analytics, and more. 
• Use well-designed APIs to make integrating third-party functionality easy without bloating your codebase.

4. Create an Intuitive UI/UX Design

Even the most feature-packed apps fail without an intuitive, enjoyable user experience (UX). App design goes beyond visual aesthetics – it directly enables and enhances functionality. You should:

• Simplify navigation and transactions
• Highlight unique selling propositions
• Utilize market gaps 
• Be consistent across screens
• Optimize visibility on various device sizes
• Use UX-centric design pattern tools to standardize elements

Read More: UI/UX Impact on Mobile App Success

5. Rigorously Quality Test Your Build

Subject your app build to extensive quality assurance (QA) testing before launch. Identify and eliminate bugs that impact performance and user flows. Refine confusing aspects of the interface and usability.

In addition to in-house testing, user testing should be conducted for fresh perspectives on flaws and points of friction. Address feedback systematically until your product delivers excellence.

Read More: How To Use AI in Software Quality Assurance?

6. Maintain, Update, Listen Post-Launch

Launching your app is not the finish line – it’s only the beginning of ongoing iteration using real-world data. Per your roadmap, continually release enhancements and new capabilities.

Obtain authentic user feedback via in-app surveys and app store reviews. 

Monitor usage metrics for behavioral insights on popular features. Allow evidence-based user input to guide the long-term evolution that retains an engaged audience.

10 Features Your Music App Must Have

The music app ecosystem grows more competitive by the day. To stand out, your app needs to satisfy user expectations with must-have functionality. These ten features represent music listener table stakes:

1. Robust Music Library

At its foundation, a music app must offer an extensive catalog spanning multiple genres, old and new. Licensing deals with major and indie labels and establishes a diverse range of content. Integrating emerging artists also shows commitment to music discovery.

2. Intuitive Search

Searching across catalogs of 100M+ songs demands an intuitive interface. Offer filters like playlists, albums, artists, recently played, and moods. Advanced semantic and contextual features improve accuracy. Autocomplete suggests likely matches.

3. Personalized Recommendations

Suggest songs, albums, and artists customized specifically to each listener’s taste using AI algorithms. The more your app “learns” preferences, the better recommendations become. This allows users to discover new favorites daily.

4. Playlists

Playlists represent more organized music curation around activities, moods, genres, etc. Enable playlist creation and sharing among friends. Highlight popular public playlists from influencers and media brands to drive engagement.

5. Lyrics Viewing

Songs often resonate through lyrics. Offer an immersive dual audio/lyrics view with real-time text highlighting synced to the vocals.

6. Audio Quality Controls

Stream high-fidelity FLAC quality by default for premium listening experiences. Such features also allow adjusting between high, medium, and low quality to accommodate bandwidth limits in real-time.

7. Offline Saving

For environments with limited connectivity, offline saving locally stores songs, albums, and playlists on users’ devices. The music stays accessible anywhere later without an internet connection required.

8. Cross-Device Syncing

Pick up playback precisely where users left off as they switch between devices, whether smartphone, tablet, desktop, or smart speakers. Cloud syncing converges the fragmented multi-device reality.

9. Social Sharing

Enabling social connections around music enhances engagement. Allow posting music tracks to Facebook and Instagram Stories. Also, use in-app connections for sharing playlists, songs, and audiobooks.

10. Artist Profiles & Merch

Offer dedicated profile pages showcasing artist histories, discographies, influences, and band member biographies. Integrate links to related merchandise for direct album purchases and ticket sales.

If you want to develop a music app that makes an impact, it should boast the winning combo of must-have functionality and unique features.

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Music App?

A custom music app offers huge monetization potential. However, development costs vary widely based on features and complexity. Here’s a realistic breakdown:

• Building a music streaming app like Spotify with basic features starts at around $70,000. This includes user registration and accounts, search, curated playlists, song playback, and offline mode.
• Enhancing your app with social sharing, lyrics display, and real-time syncing across devices raises app development costs closer to $100,000. Integrating a recommendation engine using advanced machine learning algorithms adds another $50k+.
• Robust backend infrastructure for hosting millions of tracks, managing rights clearances, handling streaming volume, and analytics pushes the budget over $150,000. High-end apps approach $250,000.
• Ongoing costs are also considerable. Plan for a 10-20% annual budget for continuous enhancements responding to market and technical shifts.

Key Variables Impacting Music App Cost

• Platforms: Supporting both iOS and Android with React Native Optimization runs $100-150k. An iOS or Android-only app cuts costs by 30-50%, but limits audience reach.
• Features: More functionality equals more development and integration complexity. Prioritize must-haves first.
• Design: Crafting an intuitive, engaging, attractive UI/UX comprises up to $50k investment. It’s worth it, considering the huge impact of a good UI design on user experience.
• Developer Region: Going offshore to Eastern Europe or Pakistan saves 40% over U.S.-based teams costing $100+/hour. But consider time zone logistics.
• Backend: Building your own audio streaming infrastructure is extremely complex. Utilizing platforms like Spotify SDK simplifies significantly.

Calculating precise app development costs depends on exact specifications. However, with reasonable scoping, music apps provide solid user value and revenue potential. As streaming replaces downloads, it offers an increasingly compelling value proposition.

Read More: App Development Cost Breakdown

Common Monetization Models for Music Apps

The music app market keeps expanding, but standing out requires innovative revenue streams. While subscriptions and advertising remain dominant, opportunities exist to diversify beyond these core models.

Subscriptions

The subscription model involves charging a recurring monthly or annual fee to access premium content and features. This is the backbone monetization approach for top music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited.

Premium subscriptions remove ads, unlock higher bitrate streams, add downloads for offline listening, and access exclusive content. Additional revenue can come from offering discounted plans for families or students to broaden adoption.

Advertising

An ad-supported free tier can coexist with premium plans by serving occasional audio or display ads to non-paying users. Though subscriptions offer higher revenue per user, a free ad-backed option attracts more users into the top funnel.

Ads work best when targeted based on listening patterns and user data. Personalized audio ads read by the artist between songs also feel less intrusive. Offering a paid ad-free version incentivizes conversions while still monetizing free users.

Read More: The Future of App Monetization

Tipping

Direct artist tipping utilizes blockchain to let fans support musicians. Apps like Audius facilitate micro-payments to creators as a voluntary expression of appreciation. This enables artists to have a significant secondary income.

Apps take a small transaction fee while providing an income stream for music creators other than royalties.

Partnerships

Partnerships with brands, artists, and content publishers provide new monetization avenues. Shoppable apps sell artist merchandise and movie soundtracks, promote releases and branded playlists, market products, and sponsor creator content to get premium placement.

Revenue sharing from integrated third-party shopping and ticketing contributes to income. Offering an affiliate platform encourages external influencers to promote the app to their followers for a cut of subscriptions.

You can choose any one of the above-mentioned monetization strategies or create a unique model that combines these tactics intelligently for greater ROI.

Read More: Proven Strategies of App Monetization

Build Your Own Music Streaming App with Cubix

You seem all set to build a music app like Spotify. However, if you don’t have a team that has the skills and capabilities required to navigate such a project successfully, we recommend partnering with a trusted mobile app development company. We recommend partnering with Cubix.

As a trusted development partner for numerous brands, we have helped business owners realize their product vision and improve speed to market without compromising on quality.

Let’s build a music streaming platform that keeps your users grooving for hours.