Spotify has impressed the whole world by having converted free-of-charge music tracks into $10 bln in revenue. The platform has over 140 mln users, and around 50 mln of those are subscribers who pay. Not every solution can boast such achievements!
Wondering what it takes to develop a world-famous music-streaming service? The Spotify’s owners have some tricks to turn an app into a successful program to earn on. We’d like to share with you specific points to bear in mind on the way to your dreams.
Functionalities every music streaming solution shall have
# The registry
To show your users your care for them try to arrange the process in the simplest possible way. No unnecessary clicks shall be required. It’s critical to avoid any chances to annoy your audience.
# The account
Needless to say that every user will have a profile with his/her private data, for instance, name, birth date, preferences, and more. The account info is priceless since you learn your customers to offer them the desired.
# Personal proposals
Knowing more about your people will also serve to provide them with music novelty they most likely will enjoy. That approach helped Spotify enhance customers’ loyalty by offering the “Discovery” function. It provides new playlists that correspond to the audience’s preferences.
# Push notifications
The feature will do the job to create a demanded application. It will give users practical tips, inform on the latest updates or special offers. Push notifications represent a subtle and smart advertising tool.
# Music diversity
The audience of Spotify and other musical programs expects to savor various musical tracks. The possibility to build the very own playlist will be appreciated as well. Thus, why not give people what they’ll enjoy?
# Track searching
Don’t neglect that feature, since it paves the way to program success.
# Messaging
The mentioned parameter supports person-to-person communication inside apps, and music-streaming services aren’t an exception. It hardly belongs to the most critical real-time features, but still, it’s pretty important to get installed.
# Social media inclusions
It’s about making the most of the cooperation with, let’s say, Twitter and Instagram. In 2011 Spotify made a sound decision to become a Facebook’s partner. Consequently, Spotify managed to attract around 1 mln new customers within several days. That’s truly amazing!
By integrating social networks you help your clients log in fast and easy. Moreover, the audience will enjoy sharing the content with their Facebook friends. By the by, in such a way your customers also promote your service through FB.
# Few more great Spotify music platform parameters
Brainstorm on what else could make your people happy. To get some inspiration we’d like to mention other functions Spotify grants for pleasing users:
- the “Following” feature. That’s great news for those who’d like to participate more actively in the lives of their friends or favorite starts. It works so users get notifications on every activity performed by those people.
- the “Browse” feature. The given option provides the ability to discover the playlists of others. It’s implemented to let the audience explore different tracks and expand their own collections.
While developing a streaming solution similar to Spotify there might be various pitfalls to avoid. We’re to distinguish the essential factors to pay attention to for staying on the safe side.
Critical points to keep in mind
Uniqueness matters
It’s vital to recognize the importance of an exceptional and bright idea. Devote enough time to its generation making sure it’s truly one of a kind. You don’t need to come up with a mediocre product to get nothing out of it in the future.
UI/UX aspects
Don’t underestimate the importance of the interface. When applied wisely, it has the power to strengthen streaming solution effectiveness. To get that work done properly, your UI has to be intuitive, customer-oriented, concise and up-to-date.
Moreover, the app has to be easily navigated, so the audience doesn’t feel lost. And remember about clarity and appeal principles. Some cool features – say, a liquid effect – could be a nice touch as well.
Before hiring UI/UX designers, check their expertise to make sure they have the knowledge and skills required.
Copyright issues
We all appreciate it when our efforts and work are treated respectfully. It’s not fair when the results of our intellectual performance get arrogated by someone. Thus, when building a Spotify-similar service, make sure every detail is legal.
Speaking of the Spotify case, it holds around 30% of the overall revenue. The other 70% gets divided among other copyright holders. The distribution process is rather complicated, taking into consideration multiple aspects, for instance, musical tracks’ ratings.
# Monetizing strategies
While creating a streaming solution – and if you want to transform it into a sustainable source of revenue – you have to make a detailed study of monetization solutions you could apply. There exist multiple different approaches, thus, you’ll be able to choose the most optimal one for your specific application.
# Advertising techniques
Do you know what Spotify did?
Before launching its creation to the US market, the owners managed to generate some heat for the people. Actually, they resorted to the same approaches they used to increase their European users’ loyalty. They didn’t reinvent the wheel, but benefited from opinion leaders together with active mass campaigning. However, in case of the US audience, they didn’t want to take any risks.
To complement those activities mentioned earlier, the Spotify’s owners asked the greatest world-renowned brands – Coca-Cola, Reebok, Chevrolet, and more – to support them. Such a technique has yielded the desired results.
Of course, you cannot pursue the Spotify’s exact path. Those are simply some examples for you to generate your own ideas.
# Android and iOS platform support
We do realize that you might have a tight budget. If it’s your case, choose one platform – web, Android or iOS – to design a service for. Later on, after your app starts generating good money, you could create the other two platforms as well.
Once again let’s check the Spotify strategy. Originally, only the web platform was launched, but only in 2009, the creators presented their Android and iOS versions. Since 2013 every customer is happy to download the Spotify service from Google Play, as well as from App Store.
There’s one more point we’d like to cover this time.
Professionals you’ll need in the process
You will require specific experts’ assistance, cos one person can hardly have all necessary skills and the qualification to handle all development stages. The listed specialists will turn useful:
- A Project Manager to coordinate the overall music-streaming development process. The person will communicate with you all the issues.
- UI/UX designers to build a decent interface to meet all requirements to ensure your solution success.
- Developers to figure out the entire structure of a program. They’ll write clear and comprehensible code. In the best-case scenario, you’ll hire web, iOS and Android professionals.
- Quality Assurance engineers to perform all required test ensuring its smooth functioning.
- Marketers to manage wise marketing campaigns for your promotion purposes.
We wish you and your music-streaming platform every success!