SoundCloud vs Spotify – What’s the Difference? (2024)

Spotify shines with its large database, handy features, and user-friendly interface. It mainly focuses on mainstream and popular music with superb sound quality. On the other hand, Soundcloud focuses more on independent music and offers a platform where everyone can upload and share their music. Soundcloud and Spotify are two of the most popular music streaming services today. As both services have their unique approaches to different needs, they have their advantages and disadvantages, making the comparison harder. Let’s compare both services’ features to find which one is better for you!

Price

Starting with the price, Spotify costs $9.99/month for a single membership, and a family of six plans for $14.99/month. There is a family plan available for $15.99/month and an individual studio plan for $4.99/month. On the other hand, Soundcloud’s premium services , Soundcloud GO and GO+, are $4.99/month and $9.99/month respectively, but they also offer a free plan to listen to the content and upload records for a given duration.

Spotify also has a free plan, but it limits most of the features that make the platform enjoyable and versatile. As they profit from subscriptions and pay artists their share according to the copyrights regulations and stream counts, they rely more on income than Soundcloud.

Soundcloud is more focused on building a free platform and following than on revenue. So, Soundcloud is a great platform even without a paid subscription. They allow you to listen to music and even upload some of yours for a limited duration without any payment.

Sound Quality

Sound quality is a crucial aspect for most music listeners, especially if you have high-quality monitors or headphones. Spotify offers up to 320 kbps streaming quality for premium users, while Soundcloud offers 128 kbps, and Soundcloud GO+ (high-quality streaming) offers 320 kbps.

For normal Spotify users, the streaming quality is pretty good, with 160 kilobits per second. Premium users can go to settings and turn on the high-quality streaming to have 320 kbps high-quality sound. So you will stream more data each second, giving you a richer and more detailed sound.

Soundcloud offers 256 Kbps AAC (320 kbps MP3) for Premium users and 128 kbps format for free users.

Popularity

Spotify is the biggest music streaming service today, with over 400 million monthly active users, including 180 million premium subscribers. Soundcloud is also pretty popular, with 76 million registered users and 175 million monthly listeners.

Spotify is more popular among casual music listeners who are after mainstream and popular artists and tracks. At the same time, Soundcloud offers a better platform for beginner musicians who want to share their work and listeners who are seeking independent hidden gems in the music world.

Spotify offers more handy tools, such as the option to browse lists of music from different record labels and share the playlists with other listeners, like friends, family, etc., as well as being able to see what friends on your account are listening to. These features put Spotify in a more social media realm, which is a big reason behind the popularity of the platform.

Music Catalog Size

As of 2022, Spotify has over 80 million songs in its music catalog. These songs are mainly from the mainstream music scenes, which are highly popular globally. On the other hand, Soundcloud has a more comprehensive catalog with over 200 million songs, but the songs are mainly from independent musicians.

So, if you want to listen to some popular music or labeled music, Spotify is the platform for you. But, if you are an explorer who wants to dive deep into the realm of new and independent musicians, Soundcloud has a lot more to offer than Spotify.

When it comes to podcasts and audiobooks, Spotify is the richest platform today. You won’t be able to find any podcasts or audiobooks on Soundcloud.

Artists Perspective

From the artists’ perspective, Soundcloud is a great platform to reach some listeners, create a fan base, and use the analytics data and comments sections as feedback. Spotify is better for making money with streaming counts, Merchbar, and Songkick integrations for selling merchandise and tickets.

Soundcloud is heaven for new musicians as you can upload your tracks to the platform, introduce your music to listeners, create a fan base and interact with them. Plus, Soundcloud offers great analytics data for making your marketing strategy, and there is a comment section where you can see the feedback of the audience on your tracks. These are all great tools for new musicians to grow and progress with their careers.

Spotify is not as friendly as Soundcloud to new musicians. Spotify is more suited for professional musicians as it allows you to make money with streaming counts of your songs and integrate Songkick and Merchbar to your artist profile for selling merchandise and concert tickets.

Song Discovery

When it comes to song discovery, Spotify offers excellent features such as creating radios based on an artist, album, or song, offering you new discoveries every week depending on what you listen to, and allowing you to choose any playlist created by different users.

Spotify provides a 30-track “Discover Weekly” playlist, depending on the music you listen to. Subscribers get 6 daily personalized playlists. You can also create radios to find similar songs to an album, artist, or song. You can see what friends are listening to.

Soundcloud also offers some nice touches for exploring music, like the explore tab that shows the trending music, which you can filter with genres and tags. You can also follow other users to see what they like and get notified when they add a song to their favorites list. You can also check the sidebar, where related music to what you are listening to is apparent.

Offline Listening

Both Spotify and Soundcloud allow the users to listen to the songs they downloaded offline without an internet connection. However, with Spotify, only premium members can use the offline mode, while with Soundcloud, free members can also download the songs and use them offline.

Lyrics

While Spotify has a great lyrics section that automatically scrolls the lyrics like a karaoke screen, Soundcloud does not offer any service for song lyrics. In addition to the lyrics, Spotify also has a Story section where you can see additional info about the particular songs.

Apps and User Experience

Overall, Spotify has a better app and user experience compared to Soundcloud. Spotify features an effective, user-friendly design, making the app easy to navigate through. You can easily get used to the interface, find and add friends and artists, easily create playlists with a button and discover new music.

The mobile app of Spotify is also pretty similar to the desktop app and offers great ease of use. Almost all features on the desktop app are available in the mobile app. Soundcloud also has a great mobile app, but you can also use it through the browser of your mobile device. For computers, there is no app, so you have to go to the website via the browser.

While Spotify is better for listeners, Soundcloud offers good features, such as the stream button, which gets you all the uploaded tracks of any artist. You can create a cover of all your favorite tracks, classify the songs with genres, and share cover songs. You can also discover music with the explore tab or listen to the songs offline.

Conclusion

In short, both music platforms, Spotify and Soundcloud, are fantastic services for music lovers. Spotify is better for music enthusiasts who are into the mainstream, popular, and labeled music pieces and who want a reliable and high-quality service to listen to and explore new songs, artists, and playlists.

On the other hand, Soundcloud is better for beginner musicians who want to share their works with millions of listeners and use some great features to reach new listeners, get feedback to make their music better, and listen to some other independent artists. Soundcloud is also an excellent platform for exploring new musicians and listening to independent music, sitting away from mainstream land.

Spotify vs Soundcloud 2024: The Better Music Stream Service?

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Choosing between Spotify and Soundcloud? The decision for listeners and creators alike isn’t just about access to music and which platform better serves your needs.

Spotify excels with its algorithm-driven personal playlists and expansive library, appealing to those who enjoy discovering new music seamlessly.

On the other hand, Soundcloud’s unique appeal lies in its vast collection of indie, DJ mixes, and unreleased tracks, making it a haven for those seeking the unconventional.

This article dives deep into the nuances of both platforms, offering insights to help you make an informed choice, whether you’re streaming your favorite tunes or sharing your own sounds.

What Is Spotify Streaming Platform?

Spotify is a popular music streaming service that combines music and podcasts. It has over 400 million active monthly users, and 180 million have a Spotify premium subscription. It allows music lovers to follow artists and keep track of tour dates and new music releases.

Once you have built a library of your favorite artists and songs, Spotify will give you tailored recommendations depending on your tastes. (Also see, ‘How To Hide A Podcast On Spotify‘)

What Is Soundcloud Music Streaming Service?

Soundcloud was established in 2007. Being an open platform, Soundcloud focuses on listeners and artists in the music industry from all skill and experience levels. It has 76 million registered users. As long as you own the rights to a track, say an independent music track, anyone can upload music to Soundcloud.

As a creator, you can monetize your uploads and connect with fans.

Price

Both Spotify and Soundcloud have a free version for users. Ads support the Spotify free version and have some limited features. You have access to all of the playlists and albums that Spotify has, but music can only be played in shuffle mode with only six skips per hour.

You can’t, however, download songs for offline listening, so you will need to be connected to the internet to listen.

The free version of Soundcloud gives you access to all of the songs on the platform but only allows creators to upload up to three hours of music and limits the statistics available. For listeners, there are ads and you can’t download songs for listening offline on the free version.

Spotify Premium costs $9.99 monthly for a single membership but also offers both Duo and Family accounts for $12.99 and $15.99, respectively. There is also a student option on Spotify Premium that costs $4.99 per month.

Soundcloud has two levels of premium membership. The first is Soundcloud Go, which costs $4.99, whereas Soundcloud Go+ costs $9.99.

Sound Quality

If you’re just listening to music on your phone with standard earphones, then the differences in sound quality between Spotify and Soundcloud are negligible and aren’t something you should be concerned about. (also see, ‘How To Listen To A Podcast On iPhone‘)

However, if you’re listening through high-quality equipment (see also ‘Windscreen Vs Pop Filter‘) and headphones, then sound quality is very important.

For free users, Soundcloud offers music with a streaming quality of 128 kilobits per second, whereas the free tier of Spotify streams at 160kbps. If you plan on sticking to the free services only, then Spotify has better sound quality.

The premium tiers of both services offer higher music-quality streaming. With Spotify, you can turn on high-quality music streaming to download songs or stream in up to 320 kbps. Soundcloud Go+ also offers streaming at 320kbps, so the premium tiers of both services match up well.

Size Of The Catalog

Spotify has more than 80 million songs available for users to listen to. In contrast, Soundcloud has more than 200 million songs available. (Also see, ‘How To Loop A Podcast On Spotify‘)

Although Soundcloud has over twice as many songs in its library as Spotify does, the best catalog for you will depend on the type of music you hope to listen to.

Spotify concentrates on mainstream music from established artists and has a wide range of songs from popular artists around the world. While Soundcloud has some tracks from these artists, it focuses more on new and independent artists.

Regarding audio other than songs, Spotify is the best option. Soundcloud only carries music but Spotify also has over three million podcasts.

For Musicians

As we just mentioned, Soundcloud has a large music library from new and independent artists. If you are a new creator who is looking to get your music out there, establish a fanbase, and get some useful statistics, then SoundCloud is a great place to start.

Even at the free tier, you can upload up to three hours of music, although you won’t have full access to the useful analytical tools that Soundcloud provides. If you upgrade to a premium tier, then you can get comments from listeners and interact with them, also.

Spotify has more options for earning money as it pays for streams and allows creators to add merchandise and ticket-selling options. However, it’s not a friendly platform for new artists and is best suited for professional musicians.

Apps And The User Experience

The Spotify app is very easy to use. It has a very user-friendly interface and even new users will quickly be able to navigate and find their favorite artists, build playlists, and get recommendations. The web version of Spotify is very similar and just as easy to use.

Spotify also has apps that are available for a wide variety of other platforms. You can download Spotify to games consoles, Smart TVs, and computers, and use it with appliances such as Amazon’s Alexa with ease.

Soundcloud has a good app and browser version also, but it isn’t available for download to your computer. Unlike Spotify, Soundcloud also can’t be downloaded to other devices such as game consoles.

If you’re looking for a streaming service to use on your phone or web browser, then both Spotify and Soundcloud offer good user experiences. However, Spotify is more integrated with other devices.