Spotify recently hit 50 million paying subscribers, surpassing Apple Music's more than 20 million customers. The former has maintained their top standing due to its well-liked features, and Spotify is just starting when it comes to that aspect.
Spotify's loyal subscribers are there due to the streaming service's consistent upgrades. Among those is Discover Weekly, a personalized playlist that showcases 40 songs that fit a user's preferred genre. To "predict" music tastes, Spotify employs an algorithm based on users' play history and download.
Discover Weekly was a hit among the streaming service's followers and they only upped the ante by introducing Daily Mix or multiple, never-ending playlists. What sets Daily Mix apart from Discover Weekly is it also plays your favorite songs aside from new tracks that you might like. Daily Mixes contain 75 percent of music that you're already familiar with and 25 percent of new songs, USA Today's Las Cruces Sun-News pointed out.
Spotify also offers curated playlists for when you only want to listen to a specific music genre on. You can also check out the top hit songs in your country or even internationally. Of course, Apple Music, SoundCloud and Tidal also offer these types of features, but it may be hard for those streaming services to steal Spotify's loyal subscribers especially if the latter see no reason why they should shift.
Apple Music remains as Spotify's fiercest competitor. In August, Spotify reportedly punished artists who are exclusive to Apple Music by displaying or promoting their songs less. Spotify vehemently denied this, but the two companies' relationship continues to grow sour as they roll out new features to attract and keep their subscribers.
Apple is planning to showcase popular programs such as James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" on their streaming service. Spotify, on the other hand, is prepping a Hi-Fi music experience, which will feature lossless CD quality audio, The Verge reported.
Lossless audio formats are still compressed, but its special algorithms maintain audio data so it sounds exactly like the original source. WAV, WMA Lossless, FLAC and ALAC are some examples of lossless formats. Lossy formats (e.g. MPS, AAC and WMA) compress audio with algorithms that delete data, meaning it's not as high-quality as the lossless ones.
Lossless music, however, has disadvantages. It requires more storage and is usually unsupported on hardware gadgets like phones and tablets.
Spotify's Hi-Fi service was tested this week and adds $5 to $10 per week to Spotify Premium's $10 price. Users think that Hi-Fi will hurt Tidal due to its cheaper cost and free vinyl offer.
