What is Spotify? What You Should Know About The Streaming Giant

Spotify is a globally used, highly popular audio and music streaming platform. As of 2025, it provides 640M+ active users (252M+ of which are subscribers) with access to millions of tracks, podcast titles, audiobooks, playlists, and videos by creators from all over the world.

Spotify was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in response to music piracy and issues regarding compensation in the music industry. They launched the platform to offer a legal and convenient way for listeners to stream music and for artists to get paid. Although Spotify was not the first streaming platform to be developed, it quickly gained popularity, changing the industry and the way music is consumed forever.

In less than ten years, the Swedish company has grown into an indispensable service for millions of people. Today, Spotify leads the music streaming business and is way ahead of its competitors such as Apple Music, Tidal, or Deezer. In fact, it currently claims over 30% of the music streaming market share!

Due to its impact on the industry, it is also a highly controversial platform that regularly sparks debates about artist compensation, algorithm-driven curation, and the dominance of major labels. While Spotify has provided independent artists with new opportunities for exposure and promotion, many argue that its payment model is exploitative and only favors high-streaming acts, making it difficult for musicians to generate a sustainable income.

Despite these criticisms, the platform continues to shape music consumption and promotion by constantly introducing new features and innovations to maintain its position as the leading audio streaming service.

Spotify differs from its competitors in numerous ways, from its business model to its music algorithms for music discovery. Let’s take a closer look at how Spotify is different from Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, and Pandora.

With over 93 million subscribers, Apple Music remains Spotify’s number one competitor. Both platforms boast extensive music libraries, each offering over 100 million tracks. Yet, when it comes to podcasts, Spotify takes the lead, currently hosting over 6 million podcast titles. In contrast, Apple Music focuses more on exclusive, on-demand radio shows featuring renowned hosts as well as new live global music stations.

For music fans looking for content and discovery tools, both platforms have plenty to offer. Apple users may prefer Apple Music for its seamless integration with iOS devices. However, Spotify also supports synergistic usage across these devices, allowing you to play music on a MacBook while selecting songs from an iPhone.

Regarding sound quality, Apple Music supports up to 24-bit/192kHz lossless audio. Spotify's maximum streaming quality is 320kbps, with plans to introduce lossless audio through a dedicated plan called Spotify HiFi.

In contrast, Spotify is known for its personalized music discovery features, such as Discover Weekly, Spotify Daylist, and Release Radar, which are adapted to user preferences. Apple Music, too, offers personalized playlists but is often perceived as featuring less intuitive and personalized algorithms.

Spotify and Apple Music also differ in how they support artists, particularly in streaming payouts and promotional tools. While Apple Music generally pays higher per-stream royalties, Spotify offers extensive artist features like Spotify for Artists, playlist pitching, fan engagement tools such as Marquee and Showcase, and other useful functions, which we discuss in our article about 5 relevant Spotify features for artists.

Finally, Spotify integrates better with social media, allowing artists to share music via Instagram stories, create Canvas visuals, and set up in-app promos. While Apple Music can do this, too, Spotify is more advanced in its sharing capabilities.

Spotify and Deezer are both major streaming platforms, but they differ in features, pricing, and market reach. Spotify has a larger global presence, more curated playlists, and exclusive features like Spotify Wrapped. Deezer, on the other hand, offers HiFi lossless audio as a standard option and allows users to import their own MP3 files, making it appealing to those who place significant value on audio quality.

For artists, Spotify provides more promotional tools and fan engagement features. Deezer, however, offers a higher per-stream payout and integrates with platforms like Twitch for live performances, giving artists additional ways to connect with their audience.

Spotify and Tidal differ in sound quality and artist initiatives, among other things. Similar to Deezer, Tidal provides listeners with high-fidelity audio as well as HiFi and Master-quality streaming. However, Spotify once again dominates in the two areas playlist curation and discovery tools.

For artists, Tidal generally pays higher per-stream royalties and has programs like Tidal Rising to support emerging musicians, although Spotify remains the better platform for exposure and marketing.

Pandora, which has been around for over 20 years, is primarily a music discovery app. It functions as a modern alternative to traditional radio, giving users the ability to customize genre-based or artist-based stations, or even create their own stations based on personal taste. Spotify, on the other hand, offers ‘Radio’ channels for every artist, playlist, and song.

For musicians aiming to grow their audience and gain exposure, Spotify remains the best platform to start building a fanbase, potentially leading to visibility on Pandora as well.