Apple Music vs Spotify for Broadway

[makeanomelette]

I have Apple Music currently using the $5 student rate. I found out Spotify has the exact same deal for college students. My question is, which has a better collection of Broadway albums, and which gets the most current albums.

[MinnieFay]

And on a related question, has anyone signed up for the new Amazon Music service --- and if so how does that compare to the other services? 

Spotify seems to have really good selection on older Broadway albums (and the current "hits" - but they don't seem to get much from the Ghostlight or Broadway Records labels.  I've never used Apple Music.

[whatdoesntkillme]

My current gripe is Spotify not having the Color Purple revival cast album. 

[LesWickedly]

Apple Music also does not have The Color Purple revival. I had Spotify first and then 3 months free with Apple Music and they have pretty much the same selection, but I like Apple Music more because it's all in the same app on the phone and just a better layout for me.

[Valentina3]

I personally like Amazon Prime's collection the best - almost all new albums appear there in under a month (re: TCP, She Loves Me revivals) if not on the first day. Their collection of OBC albums is insane. Was very happy to discover it :)

[IlanaKeller]

I'm also pretty happy with the Amazon Prime selection. I also like the ease of buying physical CDs of the cast recordings and more times than not, they come with an auto-rip MP3 version that works seamlessly with Prime music, too.

[MichelleCraig]

I currently have paid subscriptions to Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. To me, Spotify is the worst user interface for mobile and I'm about to let it go...

[MichelleCraig]

All three services have more Broadway content than I ever would have expected.

[sng]

I hate Spotify layout and everything. Minus a few but apple music musical catalogue is huge even includes some regional cast recording.

[TheSassySam]

Why does it seem that Ghostlight and Broadway Records are a bit stingy with their albums being on streaming services?

[trpguyy]

TheSassySam said: "Why does it seem that Ghostlight and Broadway Records are a bit stingy with their albums being on streaming services?"

Because they make virtually no money at all from streaming services. Cast recordings are expensive to make and don't always (usually?) cover their own costs in sales. Can't really blame the labels for trying to make a couple dollars back instead of giving it away for free.

Having said all that, I am pleasantly surprised by the breadth of Amazon's Prime Music catalog. 

[broadwayguy91]

ditto to Spotify's awful layout . whoever designed it should be flayed.

[Whateverjsays]

trpguyy said: "TheSassySam said: "Why does it seem that Ghostlight and Broadway Records are a bit stingy with their albums being on streaming services?"

Because they make virtually no money at all from streaming services. Cast recordings are expensive to make and don't always (usually?) cover their own costs in sales. Can't really blame the labels for trying to make a couple dollars back instead of giving it away for free.

Having said all that, I am pleasantly surprised by the breadth of Amazon's Prime Music catalog. 

 

"

I've always strongly opposed streaming mainly because of this. We've heard how expensive it is to produce the albums, and if nobody is buying them why bother making them? Very little money is made from streaming. I still go to the store or order physical copies of CDs. 

[uncageg]

I  have google Play unlimited. I am amazed at the stuff I find there. I have found a lot of older and obscure cast recordings. There are also a lot of theatre related recordings to be found. It can be a bit weird how you find them but there is a lot there. Mostly all you can stream and download to your library. I also like this service because they added YouTube Red this past year.

[Mildred Plotka]

I love  to use Spotify  to preview  things since I'm 800 and still need physical copies of all my musical Theatre recordings.  I think I'm still in denial that my collection is actually worth  little these days.  

[VintageSnarker]

Spotify makes things easy for me. I still buy albums but generally I listen to what's available on Spotify because it's always there on my phone and I can use it on any computer/laptop. Thankfully at some point it began registering the local files on my desktop but it is a little annoying that I can have a physical album or a digital download and not be able to listen to it everywhere I can access Spotify. 

I gave up on Apple years ago after the nth time my iTunes crashed and my iPod stopped responding.

[bwayobsessed]

I don’t actually pay for any of them myself but one other service I’d throw in is YouTube music. I did the free trial and they have pretty much all music that’s on YouTube which often includes video recordings of concerts/performances that have not been released in music streaming form (ie tony awards performances, 54 below, etc)

[HogansHero]

fillysun said: "I will go for Spotify. But like Apple Music, users won't allow to use Spotify music on other devices with ease. If you want to do that in the future, you need to seek tools like online audio converter, etc. to help you."

I have used Spotify for years and it works seamlessly across all devices. I have never needed a "tool" so not sure what this is all about. 

[Alex Kulak2]

I used Spotify in school because in included Hulu. Now I use Apple Music. If I ran out of data (which I do a lot), I can’t pull up my downloaded albums on Spotify. You have to be connected to the internet to see the tracklist.

[HogansHero]

Alex Kulak2 said: "I used Spotify in school because in included Hulu. Now I use Apple Music. If I ran out of data (which I do a lot), I can’t pull up my downloaded albums on Spotify. You have to be connected to the internet to see the tracklist."

That is not correct. I have always used it for downloaded tracks on airplanes, with neither cellular data or wifi. You must be doing something wrong. 

[Alex Kulak2]

I have an older phone, so it might be that. Playlists would come up fine, but not albums.

[SouthernCakes]

I have Spotify and love it! You can search playlists and find stuff like “best belted songs” or “Best tenor broadway solos” which is fun.

Side note: really want to listen to The Wrong Man but can’t seem to find the Joshua Henry version. Is it just not available on Spotify,

[Jordan Levinson]

I am a Spotify user through and through, and I am mighty proud. What a great, simple system.

[gypsy101]

i use apple music and it’s pretty good though it’s missing a lot of stuff i already own so that’s not much of a problem

[HogansHero]

re The Wrong Man, does that recording exist anywhere? Spotify has the concept album.