Music platforms battle for first place

Did you know, around 68% of the US population over the age of 12 years old listen to music on a monthly basis? Edison Intermediate School students are in a state of controversy and have been debating which music platform is superior. Based on data we collected from Edison intermediate School students, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube have been proven to be the most popular in our school community. Each streaming platform has over 50 million songs along with millions of podcasts. However, after conducting multiple interviews, it has become clear that Spotify is the most popular among our peers. But the question that keeps recurring is: which one is truly the best?

To begin, teachers at EIS have been listening to music for decades, but these modern platforms were not always available. Stephen Markowski, a vocal music teacher here at EIS has multiple options for streaming his music for various uses. Nevertheless, YouTube has been proven to be his go-to service. “The fact that I can’t download actual files to it is very frustrating. For example, the whole streaming thing is great that you can find everything, but I’ve got music stored up from years,” Mr. Markowski announced. 

However, most teachers around the school find that Spotify can fulfill their needs. Some reasons for this are because of the benefits of Spotify Premium. Owning a premium membership allows you to have unlimited skips in any time period along with no distracting ads. Zachary Crutcher, an eighth grade math teacher, revealed his thoughts on Premium. “I think that Spotify is the most accessible because you pay for all the songs, unlike Apple Music where you pay for just one song. However, I think the price range for Spotify Premium is ridiculous, especially because Spotify doesn’t pay their artists very well,” Mr. Crutcher stated.

Additionally, students and staff all have their own criticism on their platform of choice. There are multiple complaints about the disadvantages of not owning a membership to music services. Memberships cost five dollars for YouTube Music and Apple Music. On the other hand, Spotify charges twice as much for their monthly plan. Despite the price, not owning a premium can be very challenging for some users. For example, unnecessary ads can be inappropriate for younger listeners on the app. A sixth grade student, Jonathan Juric, stated his thoughts on the downside of Spotify. “Sometimes weird suspicious ads can pop up,” he revealed. 

Today, appearance seems to be a big factor for choosing your platform. Music platforms vary in different looks today. In general, many websites, users will only use certain ones depending on the difficulty of navigating through it. Multiple students and staff members all agreed that Spotify was the easiest and most visually pleasing. Alice Schaefer, an eighth grader at EIS, gave reasoning for her choice. “In my opinion, Spotify is more visually pleasing to the user compared to the others,” she described. 

Moreover, everyone has different reasons for their choice of music platform. Younger students tend to listen to  music based on their families preferences, while older kids make their own resolutions. As an example, a seventh grade student, Micheal Fen, explained his reasoning for choosing spotify. “I guess I found that more people in my family used spotify and so it was much easier just to get used to that,” Micheal divulged. 

All in all, deciding which streaming platform to use can be challenging. Whether it’s Spotify or Apple music, listeners are guaranteed high quality music. So, which one will you choose?