1. Related Artists Spotify App Downloads
2. Spotify My Artists

Deezer is an Internet-based music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music.

Spotify is arguably the most popular streaming service in the world. It has a massive library of music as well as a sizable library of podcasts. In this Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium breakdown, we’re going to see if the paid version is worth the monthly fee, or if you’re better off bearing through the ads to save money. You may even discover some features of Spotify along the way.

Editor’s note: This Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium article was updated on October 1, 2020, to include links to relevant information and to address an FAQ about Spotify promotions.

Their are certain band that have no related artists topic appearing on certain bands pages. How many plays does a band need before the related artist tab appear on their so artist radio? I tried two bands elctrikchair 's artist radio doesnt work due to not have the related artist tab yet At the Skylines does even though their related artist tab. Amplifying artists’ fundraising with Spotify’s global reach and a $1M artist relief effort from Cash App. Pointers for Livestream Shows From Home Orville Peck and Sarah Harmer offer their tips on how to adapt to the new normal of performance. All Together Now: Spotify for Artists. Both in terms of personalized music listening experience and versatility, iHeartRadio can make a match with Spotify. Just like Spotify, it’s also a great platform for music, radio, and podcasts. With built-in Related Artist suggestions, Spotify will help you discover your new favorite artists, albums, and tracks. Follow your favorite artists, share musical recommendations with friends, and more.

Related: Best music streaming services

The listening experience with Free Spotify is unpleasant

Spotify Free and Premium Spotify may look similar at first, but extended functionality varies greatly.

There are some key functional differences between Free Spotify and Spotify Premium, particularly with the mobile interface. With the free mobile version, you can only skip six tracks per hour, whereas with Premium, you can skip as many as you’d like. Skip limits can put a damper on things when you repeatedly aren’t in the mood for certain randomized songs, but sure it’s a forgivable inconvenience.

Spotify Premium let’s you skip tracks endlessly, the free version does not

Another drawback to Free Spotify on mobile: you can’t select specific songs for playback. Rather, you can select an album or a playlist and shuffle the songs in it. This can get annoying when you have an earworm and just need to listen to that particular song. With Premium, you can listen to that song over and over to your little heart’s content.

There is a caveat with Free Spotify, however; you can select songs for playback with unlimited skips, so long as you are listening to them from one of Spotify’s 15 curated playlists under “Made for You” on the “Home” page. These include popular editorial playlists, such as “RapCaviar” and “Alternative R&B,” and playlists algorithmically tailored to your listening preferences such as “Discover Weekly,” “Daily Mix,” and “Release Radar.” The songs on these playlists change frequently. If there’s a blue shuffle icon next to the playlist title, you may only shuffle songs.

Get ready for annoying ads with Free Spotify

The absolute worst thing about Free Spotify is how frequently ads interrupt playback. The advertisements are incredibly annoying, are surely designed to be that way. Many of them feature the most irritating noises you could imagine, such as traffic horns overlaid with a voice saying things like, “Is this annoying? If you buy Premium, you won’t have to listen to this anymore.” I’ll give them credit, because this tactic of being obnoxious works pretty well: paying for Spotify Premium is almost worth it for the sole purpose of removing these ads.

Listen offline with Spotify Premium

Depending on how much you pay for data, it might be a good idea to save your favorite tunes for offline listening.

With Spotify Premium, you can download an unlimited number of tracks for offline listening. This is great for long flights or if you want to turn off your data while away from home. With Free Spotify, you aren’t able to download any music, so you may be spending money in the form of data usage rather than a Premium subscription.

On the desktop Spotify app, there are fewer discrepancies between Free Spotify and Spotify Premium. For example, on the desktop app you can select any specific song you want with unlimited skips regardless of if you have Spotify Premium or not. However, you are still subjected to ads on Free Spotify with the desktop app, and you cannot download music for offline listening on your computer unless you have Spotify Premium.

A glitch to Spotify Free affords Premium features

In August 2020, there was a glitch with Free Spotify that allowed for unlimited skips, specific song selection, and ad-free listening on both the mobile and desktop versions of the streaming service. This glitch made it almost identical to Spotify Premium, minus the ability to download music for offline listening. I reached out to a Spotify customer service rep, who told me, “To my knowledge we have ads and limited skips on the Free version.” This glitch surely will not last forever, though, so I’m going to have to crown the winner of best listening experience to Spotify Premium.

Winner: Spotify Premium

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium: Discovery features are identical

Spotify Discover and Release Radar update every Monday to introduce new songs to its users.

One of the best things about Spotify is the way it promotes discovery of new music. This is apparent in its algorithmically produced playlists, designed to suggest styles of music that align with your listening history. The “Discover Weekly” and “Daily Mix” playlists are updated frequently with new suggestions. Perhaps you really dislike a recommended song or artist, you can press a button telling it to avoid a certain type of music or to blacklist that artist from your profile. The “Release Radar” playlist churns out new releases from artists you follow and updates weekly.

One of Spotify’s best features is available to Free and Premium users.

Spotify has a large variety of genres, moods, and other categories under the Browse tab, and here you can listen to its editorial playlists to discover new music. It will also recommend editorial playlists based on your listening activity, and it will algorithmically create “Radio” playlists for every song, artist, album, and playlist.

When you create a new playlist, the Spotify algorithm suggests songs for you based on the title of your playlist as well as the songs you’ve already put into it. Regardless of if you’ve paid for Spotify Premium, these discovery features are available and very helpful.

Winner: Draw

Free or paid, enjoy the same social features

Spotify for desktop looks the same no matter what version you subscribe to.

Music has always been a social art form, but things have changed quite a bit since the days my dad would buy the latest Neil Young record on vinyl and sit around the turntable with his friends. Of course, people still get together to listen to music nowadays—though, perhaps not so much in 2020. There’s something exciting about sharing the social benefits of music with others, even when you’re trapped at home. Spotify uses several different tools on its platform to encourage music sharing, and you don’t need to buy Premium to access any of them.

Enjoy collaborative playlists on Spotify

To create collaborative playlists, press the three-dot symbol at the top-right of your screen (mobile), or next to the playlist title (desktop), and select “Collaborative Playlist.” Then, by share the playlist link with your friends. This will let them add and remove songs to and from it. Anybody with the link may do so, and it’s private unless someone holds the link. Collaborative playlists are great for when you and your roommates are throwing a party, or you’re planning a road trip with friends. Heck, they’re even good for when you just want to share some songs with someone regularly.

In a similar vein, if you have a Premium Family subscription or a Premium Duo subscription, Spotify will algorithmically create either a “Family Mix” or “Duo Mix” of songs based on the listening history of all the subscribed members. This isn’t technically a social feature because these playlists are created by Spotify and not the users themselves, so I’m not going to count its absence against Free Spotify.

Peek at what your friends are rocking out to

If you use Facebook, you can link your Spotify account to your Facebook account, making it easy for your Facebook friends to find your profile on Spotify by name or through the Find Friends button on the desktop app. You can search for your friends’ Spotify usernames; browse and add their playlists to your library; view their recent listening history; and, on the desktop Spotify app, view their active listening history.

This is a great way to discover new music and gain an idea of what types of music your friends are listening to. If it creeps you out that people can look through your playlists or see what you’re actively listening to, you can make your playlists private and disable the active listening feed. All of these features are available whether or not you pay for Premium.

Winner: Draw

Some music may be unavailable if you don’t pay for Premium

Free Spotify pays artists less per steam than Spotify Premium does. In response to this discrepancy, Spotify allows artists to set up a paywall for the first two weeks after a release. If an artist chooses this option, their release will only be available to Premium users until the two weeks have gone by. If it’s important to you to have access to all the latest releases, this may be a feature that sways you to pay for Spotify Premium. Additionally, if you value the amount of money your favorite artists are getting paid, Premium is superior in that department. The following chart depicts the average amount Spotify pays artists per stream.

Winner: Premium

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium: Sound quality is higher with Premium

While there is no high-resolution option for Spotify users, and Spotify only supports AAC and Ogg Vorbis, lossy file formats, there are still key differences in sound quality between Free Spotify and Spotify Premium. With Free Spotify, the maximum bitrate you can stream at is 128kbps on the desktop app and 160kbps on the mobile app, whereas Spotify Premium affords you 320kbps streaming on both desktop and mobile. In essence, this means that Spotify Premium’s music contains more data points and therefore more detail to its sound.

Spotify Premium has higher quality than Free Spotify, but it doesn’t have a HiFi setting. If you’re looking for a high fidelity streaming service, try Tidal HiFi.

Winner: Spotify Premium

Related: Tidal vs Spotify

There are different priced memberships for Premium, but Free is free

Spotify offers four different types of Premium subscriptions, and some of them are really great deals. First, there is the Spotify Premium Individual subscription, which is $9.99/month. This allows access to all the Premium features such as no ad interruptions, on-demand playback, and downloading tracks for offline listening. If you’re a full-time student at a university or college, you should be eligible for the Premium Student subscription, which is $4.99/month. Not only does this afford you all the same abilities of Spotify Premium, but, if you are a student in the United States, it also includes a subscription to SHOWTIME and the ad-supported version of Hulu.

If you want to share a Premium account with your live-in partner, you can get Premium Duo. It costs $12.99/month and both you and your partner will have your own separate accounts. Along with all the regular Premium features, you have the option to join “Duo Mix.” You and your partner can both go to the “Duo Mix” on your “Made for You” page on the mobile app, click the three dots, and select “Join Duo Mix.” Spotify will algorithmically design a playlist to be appealing to both you and your partner. You can change the mix to be chill or upbeat, depending on the mood, and you can choose to remove any explicit songs from the mix. Each song has the profile picture of either you or your partner next to it, so you can see whose listening activity the song was generated from.

Spotify offers a family plan, a plan for couples, and a student rate.

Spotify Premium Family is very similar to Premium Duo, as all members must live at the same address. Premium Family, though, can support up to six separate accounts, and costs $14.99/month. Parents can choose to block explicit music for specific members, and children can use their Premium Family account on the Spotify Kids app. In addition to these features and all the regular Premium features, your family can listen to a generated “Family Mix” which works just like the “Duo Mix.”

All of these subscription options are very cool, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, free is free. If the absence of needing to fork over a portion of your paycheck every month is enough motivation to deal with the ads, lack of features, and inconvenience of Free Spotify, then Free Spotify is going to be the option for you.

Related Artists Spotify App Downloads

Winner: Spotify Free

What are some lesser known Spotify features?

Spotify constantly and consistently comes out with new features. For example, in 2017, it created a “Time Capsule” playlist for all of its 16-years-old-and-up users, Premium or not. These playlists were personalized based on their extensive listening history. It was created to be the kind of playlist users would have listened to in their teenage years. Pretty cool, huh? Another recent creation of Spotify’s was the “Pet Playlist,” which users could personalize by inputting the species of their pet as well as ranking their pet’s behaviors across a few different spectra. This data was then mixed with the genres and styles of music the user enjoys to create a playlist for users and their furry best friends.

Express yourself on Tinder and Instagram

Spotify has partnerships with many other apps, including Instagram and Tinder. You can share the name, artist, and album artwork of a song to your Instagram story with the click of a button on Spotify. If you link your Spotify account to Tinder, you can publish your frequently played songs on your Tinder profile, you know, to make sure you attract people with as impeccable music taste as yourself. And, of course, you can connect your account with Facebook to find friends more easily.

Spotify plays nicely with Android Auto and has its own Carplay mode

Carplay simplifies the interface, so distractions are lessened.

When you connect your smartphone to your car by Bluetooth, Spotify will automatically go into Carplay mode or Android Auto mode, depending on your OS and if your car is compatible with these features. These features reduce the amount of information displayed on the screen, making it safer to navigate the app while in the car. (We don’t recommend using the app while actively driving, though. Have your passenger do it.) They also make for easy integration with the navigation apps Google Maps and Waze. Similarly, many music-listening devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus, offer Spotify integration for easy access.

Spotify My Artists

That’s a wrap: End-of-year statistics

My personal favorite Spotify feature is “Spotify Wrapped.” In December of every year, Spotify creates an animation of statistics for each user, including but not limited to the song they listened to most over the past year, how many total minutes they spent listening to music over the past year, the podcast the user listened to most often, and the countries all the artists they listened to are based out of. In addition to this, Wrapped shows users the statistics generalized by region and in the world as a whole.

In December of 2019, Spotify even had “Wrapped” stats for the whole decade. “Wrapped” is available for both Free and Premium users, but Premium users get additional personalized data including the number of artists they discovered that year as well as their top new artist from that year. Because of this one small detail, Spotify Premium wins this section, but, all Spotify users get a lot of really cool features.

Winner: Spotify Premium

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium: Which one is better?

And the winner is Spotify Premium! It’s pretty clear that Premium has more features than Free Spotify, but whether or not you’re willing to pay for a subscription depends on you, of course. If you can get a student, family, or duo membership, Spotify Premium isn’t too pricey, but if you’re still on the fence, Spotify has free month-long trials of Premium. Until next time, happy listening.

Next: Apple Music review

Not anymore! In September, Spotify teamed up with Google to give away free Google Nest Minis to all Spotify Premium subscribers, new and old. This promotion has since ended, but keep an eye on Spotify's website because it does promotions like this fairly frequently.

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Jul 16,2019 • Filed to: Streaming Music Services & Sites Tips • Proven solutions

Want a Spotify alternative to stream music on your computer or mobile devices? As we know, Spotify is the most popular music streaming service. However, not everyone think Spotify is the best and some might consider that the monthly fee for Spotify music is expensive. So is there any other streaming music program similar to Spotify available? Of course. Read on and find the top 7 best Spotify alternatives below.

Part 1. Download Music from Spotify and Other Streaming Music Programs

If you want to enjoy your favorite music from Spotify or other streaming music sites anytime without Internet connection, you can download or record the music with the help of iMusic. You can use this Spotify alternative to download music from Spotify, Dailymotion, Vimeo, YouTube and other over 3000 music sites by copying and pasting the URL of the songs. As for some music you can't download, for example, music played in radio stations, you can use the Record feature to save the songs on your computer. Besides, iMusic offers you a music library, letting you search and download music for free.

iMusic - Alternatives to Spotify to Download Music from Over 3000 Music Sites

• Download music from more than 300 music sites by copying and pasting the URL.
• Record unlimited music from any website for playback in your computer with just one click.
• Built-in music library let you browse and preview the lattest and hottest music.
• Automatically save downloaded/recorded music to library for management and easy transfer.
• Identify and tag music with artist, title, album, genre, and more with the latest technology.
• Transfer music/playlist between iPhone/iPad/iPod/Android to iTunes/Windows/Mac easily.
• 1 click to transfer downloaded music and playlist to USB drive to enjoy in car.

How to Use iMusic-Best Alternative to Spotify to Get Music from Spotify

To use iMusic Spotify alternative to get music from Spotify, here are two methods by iMusic, one is to record music from Spotify, another is directly download the music from Spotify by Pasting music's URL. Here we will show this two methods one by one.

Method 1. Use iMusic-Best Spotify Alternative to Download Music from Spotify

Step 1. Download and install iMusic at: https://www.aimersoft.com/imusic.html

Download and install iMusic on your computer. You can immediately install it after it has been downloaded. Click the 'download' under the 'Get Music' option.

Note: Note that the program is running two versions, so make sure you select the appropriate choice for your computer(Windows & Mac). Both are similar, so we will demonstrate a sample using the version that is specifically for Windows.

Step 2. Download Spotify music Directly

Open the Spotify software or Spotify website, copy the playlist link or song link which you want to download.

Step 3. Paste the URL

Paste the link to the iMusic downloaded window: Get Music > Download , and then press the 'Download' button.

Step 4. Download Music from Spotify

Press the Download button after you select the format.

Method 2. Use iMusic-Best Spotify Alternative to Record Music from Spotify

Step 1. Open iMusic

As a first step, open the iMusic software present on your PC by double clicking its icon.

Step 2. Select Record

Select the option of 'Record' which on the top of the interface as below screenshot.

Step 3. Play music on Spotify

Now you need to play or stream the music on Spotify which you wish to record. In order to record from Spotify, open your Spotify account and then play the desired track.

Step 4. Click the record icon

As the music is played on Spotify, click on the button on the bottom of the interface as the below screenshot and the track will automatically get recorded.

Step 5. Find the recorded songs in the 'iTunes Library'

As you complete the recording of the songs, you can find the songs in the 'iTunes Library'.

Why Choose iMusic Spotify Downloader

Download Unlimited Free Music

Download music from Spotify, BBC Radio, Pandora, Grooveshark, Deezer, Napster, and 3000+ more.

Filter Ads and Split Tracks

Detect Ads and audtomatically filter Ads when recording. Split tracks to separate music files.

Identify Music and Get Info

Identify recorded music and automatically get music information like Title, Artist, Album and Genre.

Easy to Share Music

The downloaded music can be transferred to iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android devices, and burn to CDs.

Deezer is a music streaming website that gives you access to millions of songs and is available on a variety of platforms and devices. Like many music streaming programs, Deezer has paid and free membership levels. Deezer actually has two paid membership levels, $4.99 and $6.99 a month, respectively. The $4.99 version is ad-free and comes with a limited mobile app, while the $6.99 version has full mobile abilities. The paid version of Deezer advertise an increased sound quality of up to 320 kbps. Deezer is one of the few music streaming programs available in Canada and in fact, it is in available in more than 100 countries worldwide and it is very similar to spotify.

Pros: Three levels of membership option. Available in 100+ countries. Good sound quality. Available on a variety of platforms.

Cons: Interface can be hard to navigate. Music library can feel limited. Have to pay extra to be able to use on mobile devices.

Google Play All Access is Google's entry into the streaming market. This is available through your mobile device or through the browser on your computer. Google Play has a music of almost 20 million library and boasts high sound quality. Unlike many of the other streaming options, Google Play does not have a free option. To access Google Play you have to pay $9.99 a month. Google Play allows you to search for songs and build customized playlists and there is also a feature to build playlists based on your listening history. Some listeners find the interface can be a bit confusing at times.

Pros: Large music catalogue. Good sound quality. Easy customization. One of the good Spotify alternative free.

Cons: No desktop version. No free version.

Grooveshark is a music streaming site that uses user-uploaded content, instead of making deals with record companies to access their content. You can find millions of songs on Grooveshark, all uploaded by users. There are two options, a free option with ads and a $5 month subscription fee that gives you ad-free music, the ability to take your account anywhere in the world, and other features. Grooveshark is facing lawsuits from several record companies because of rights infringement, so if legal access of music is important to you, then Grooveshark is not the service for you. Apple and Android have removed the Grooveshark App from their store, though it is still available on devices like Blackberry. Grooveshark's sound quality also varies wildly, due to the nature of the content.

Pros: Good Spotify alternative.Extremely extensive catalogue of songs. Very user-friendly. Blackberry supported.

Cons: Violates music copyright. Inferior sound quality. No app support for iPhone or Android.

Last.fm is a streaming radio station. It allows you to play music online and provide services like spotify, but you can't create custom playlists. Instead you can enter likes and dislikes, choosing artists you want to listen to and ones you want to avoid and it builds you a set list based on your preferences. For straight music listening, Last.fm has good sound quality and a good selection of music, though many may find the lack of customization frustrating. Like many radio stations, Last.fm features commercials, you can pay $3 a month to get an ad-free version.

Pros: Good sound quality. Good music catalogue.

Cons: Limited features. Limited customization.

Pandora is an online streaming radio site. It consists of themed stations, but does give you the option to create your own playlists. You can skip certain songs, but you are limited to a certain amount of skips per hour. Pandora's created playlists do become more personalized in time, as your listening history becomes more apparent. Pandora has a music library of around 1 million songs. You can access Pandora with ads for free or you can pay $4 a month for ad-free service. With Pandora you can listen via mobile app and it is available on a large selection of devices or through the web browser on your computer, there is no desktop version.

Pros: It is an almost free spotify alterntive with low cost. Available on most mobile systems.

Cons: No customization. Small music catalogue.

Rdio allows both personalized streaming, but also has themed radio stations for your listening pleasure. It has an incredibly easy to use interface and a large catalogue of songs, however the sound quality suffers at times. Rdio does not release their sound rate, unlike services like Spotify. Unlike a lot of streaming services, Rdio offers a free service, but limits the amount you can stream. There are two price levels for Rdio, $4.99 a month gets you unlimited, ad-free content from your web browser. While $9.99 a month gives you mobile access as well an offline access mode.

Pros: Interface is easy to use with service like Spotify. Good variety of songs. Mix of playlists and radio mode.

Cons: Sound quality. Streaming limit with the free option.

Stereomood works a little differently than other streaming music sites. Stereomood suggests music for you based on your mood. So you say 'I feel sad', then you'll get a playlist of designated sad songs. Stereomood isn't as good for customization as some of the other streaming sites, as it is all pre-set playlists, but you can tag songs that you think fits certain moods. The program keeps track of the moods that you enter and every week, you can look at your mood tally. Stereomood's iOS app is also linked to iTunes and gives you an option to buy the songs that you like on iTunes. Stereomood is free to listen to and has no ads.

Pros: Spotify alternative free. Fun mood options.

Cons: No customization. Limited song catalogue.

Choose the Spotify Alternative that is Best for You

For more comparison info about Spotify and other popular Spotify alernatives, click the corresponding link below >>>