YouTube Music was launched in 2015 to rival the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. The streaming platform is available as a free version, and a Premium version allows users to listen to must when offline and removes ads.
Is YouTube Music worth it?
If you enjoy watching music videos and live performances in addition to listening to songs, YouTube Music is a great streaming platform. It includes a vast selection of content not found on other platforms, including lyrics videos, remixes, live performances, and a mixture of unofficial and official music videos.
YouTube Music has enjoyed considerable popularity in recent years, but it hasn’t come close to achieving the same level of success as Spotify or Apple Music.
This is probably because those two streaming platforms have more intuitive user interfaces and are better for simply listening to music.
However, YouTube Music is arguably the best streaming platform for combining visuals with music, which explains why it has millions of users worldwide.
Is YouTube Music Worth It?
With so many music streaming platforms competing with one another, it can be difficult for users to decide which is best suited to their preferences and requirements.
YouTube Music Premium has over 30 million subscribers, indicating that many people feel the platform is a good choice.
The reality is, that YouTube is predominantly a video streaming platform. In this field, it is by far the most successful and popular website or app of its kind, but many people also choose to use it to listen to music.
Compared to the other most popular music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer, YouTube Music isn’t the best option if you’re looking for the best audio quality.
Its user interface also doesn’t meet the high standards set by the aforementioned platforms. So what can YouTubve Music offer that makes it worth using over these popular alternatives?
YouTube Music is a great platform for combining video content with music. It has by far the most extensive selection of music videos, lyric videos, covers, footage of artists performing their music live, and more.
This is the area in which YouTube Music excels and arguably even beats most of the other most popular audio and video streaming platforms in terms of the amount of content available.
Therefore, if you enjoy combining music with visual content, YouTube Music is most definitely worth it. If you prefer simply to listen to music, it might be a better idea to consider one of the other platforms that boast a better UI and audio quality than YouTube Music.
Take a look at this YouTube video that compares YouTube Music and Spotify.
Is Youtube Music or Spotify Better?
Spotify and YouTube Music are two of the most popular audio and video streaming platforms in the world. Both of these platforms offer a free plan and a paid subscription plan for users.
One of the most noticeable differences between YouTube Music and Spotify’s free plans is that the former allows users to select any song that they want to listen to, while Spotify’s free version only allows you to play songs that are featured in specific playlists, such as the user’s “Daily Mix”.
The free version of Spotify limits the user’s ability to search for music, and it also prevents the skipping of more than six songs on a mobile device. There’s also no option to download music for offline listening using free Spotify.
None of these limitations come with the free version of YouTube Music, which gives it an advantage over YouTube.
However, when it comes to audio quality, free Spotify edges YouTube music, offering 160kbps compared to 128kbps.
If you choose to pay for a subscription to Spotify or YouTube Music Premium, you’ll notice that Spotify is much better for music recommendations. Hailed as the king of playlists, Spotify includes thousands of music compilations that are great for discovering new artists.
YouTube Music Premium benefits from the vast selection of music videos and videos of live performances that the platform includes. Spotify also has a video playback feature, but it doesn’t run as smoothly as YouTube and lacks a comment section.
With all things considered, Spotify is still the best audio streaming platform available.
There’s a reason its user base is so much larger than any of its competitors – it offers a flawless user interface, an unrivaled selection of music and playlists, and is the home to many of the most popular podcasts and other exclusive content.
YouTube Music is a great choice for those who like to enjoy a combination of audio and video content, but as of yet, the Google-owned platform hasn’t reached the level set by Spotify.
Is YouTube Music Better Than Youtube (Quality)?
For audiophiles and avid music lovers, the audio quality of a streaming platform is likely to be of paramount importance. Some streaming platforms boat superior audio quality to others, which is noticeable when using high-end speakers or headphones.
YouTube Music’s highest sound quality option is 256kbps AAC. This is the same as Apple Music, and very similar to Spotify, which offers 320kbps OGG.
When we compare YouTube Music to general YouTube, it becomes obvious that YouTube Music has a superior sound quality. The standard version of YouTube compresses audio to around 125kbps AAC, which is significantly lower than YouTube Music’s highest audio quality.
When YouTube Music first launched, its maximum audio quality was 128kbps AAC, but the platform has improved to rival the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer, as you can see from the comparison below.
| Platform | Maximum Audio Quality |
| Apple Music | 256kbps |
| Amazon Music | 320kbps |
| Deezer | 320kbps |
| Spotify | 320kbps |
| Tidal | 320kbps |
| YouTube Music | 256kbps |
| YouTube | 125kbps |
YouTube is a great free platform and website for watching videos and other content, but YouTube Music is better when it comes to audio-related content such as songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts.
The audio quality is also significantly better on YouTube Music, so if you’re listening through good speakers or headphones, it’s worth using that version over the standard version of YouTube.
Is YouTube Music Cheaper Than Spotify?
Another key area that determines which streaming platform is right for you is the cost. Figuring out whether YouTube Music, Spotify, or some other streaming platform provides the best value for money is important.
It’s easy to dismiss the price differences of streaming platforms, but over a year, or five years, or even a decade, the additional costs will be noticeable. Most people tend to stick with a specific streaming platform for a considerable amount of time once they make their initial choice.
YouTube Music and Spotify offer multiple subscription packages which vary in price. For the default Premium subscription, both of these platforms cost $9.99 per month, which is the standard rate for most music streaming services.
You can also pay $99.99 for a whole year of YouTube Music or Spotify, which is a significant discount on the monthly cost. Furthermore, students can enjoy a discounted rate of just $4.99 per month for both streaming platforms.
There is a slight difference in the price of the Spotify and YouTube Music family plans, which both allow you to add up to six members of a single household to an account. For Spotify, this subscription costs $15.99 per month, while for YouTube Music it costs $14.99 per month.
Another key difference between the cost of these two streaming platforms is that Spotify offers a unique subscription option for couples who live in the same home. This is called “Duo” and costs $12.99 per month.
“Duo” gives the two people access to Spotify Premium accounts and also allows them to enjoy a shared playlist that is automatically generated based on each person’s most played songs.
YouTube Music allows users to add YouTube Premium to their plan by paying an additional $2 per month. This gets rid of any adverts on standard YouTube videos and allows you to enjoy content from YouTube Originals.
Overall, YouTube Music and Spotify are very evenly matched when it comes to cost. Each platform offers several unique subscription plans that can get you a significant discount on the standard $9.99 single account monthly cost.
Related Questions
How much does YouTube Music pay artists?
YouTube Music pays around $0.008 for each stream that an artist gets. This may seem like a small amount, but it is actually more than most other streaming platforms pay their artists.
Does YouTube Music have ads?
The free version of YouTube Music has adverts that play in between the songs you listen to. There’s also the paid version of YouTube Music, which will remove the adverts and allow you to enjoy music uninterrupted.
Does YouTube Music support Dolby Atmos?
Despite many major streaming platforms like Apple Music and Tidal supporting Dolby Atmos, YouTube Music is unfortunately not compatible with the immersive audio technology.
