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AI music

Deezer Says AI-Generated Tracks Now Make Up 44% of Uploads

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Deezer says the flood of AI-generated music is accelerating at a pace that’s reshaping its platform, even as listeners remain largely disengaged.

On Monday, the streaming service revealed that nearly half of all tracks uploaded each day are now created using artificial intelligence. According to the company, about 44% of daily uploads fall into that category, amounting to roughly 75,000 AI-generated songs per day, or more than 2 million per month.

Deezer described itself as “the only streaming platform in the world transparently tagging AI-generated music,” positioning its approach as a potential industry standard amid growing concerns over disclosure and authenticity.

Despite that surge in supply, demand has not kept up. Deezer said AI-generated tracks account for just 1–3% of total streams on the platform. Of those listens, the streaming platform estimates that 85% are fraudulent and subsequently demonetized, underscoring concerns that much of the activity around AI music is being driven by manipulation rather than genuine audience interest.

The announcement reflects a steady climb in AI music uploads over recent months. Deezer reported receiving approximately 60,000 AI-generated tracks per day in January, compared to 50,000 in November and 30,000 in September. The growth is even more stark when measured against early 2025, when the platform first introduced its AI-detection tool and logged about 10,000 such uploads per day.

That detection system, which Deezer says is “patent-pending,” has evolved to identify content from leading generative models such as Suno and Udio, while also expanding toward more generalized detection that does not rely on training data from specific tools.

In response, Deezer has been tightening its handling of this content across its ecosystem. Tracks identified as AI-generated are excluded from algorithmic recommendations and do not appear in editorial playlists. Deezer also said it will stop storing high-resolution versions of these files, signaling a broader effort to limit their prominence and potential value within the platform.

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Deezer framed these measures as an effort to prevent AI tracks from “diluting the royalty pool in any significant way,” suggesting that unchecked uploads could undermine how artists are paid across streaming platforms.

“AI-generated music is now far from a marginal phenomenon, and as daily deliveries keep increasing, we hope the whole music ecosystem will join us in taking action to help safeguard artists’ rights and promote transparency for fans,” said Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier in a press release.

“Thanks to our technology and the proactive measures we put in place more than a year ago, we have shown that it’s possible to reduce AI-related fraud and payment dilution in streaming to a minimum. Since January, we have made our detection technology available for licensing, and we’re looking forward to seeing industry peers of all kinds join us in the fight for fairness in the age of AI.”

The company’s latest data arrives at a moment when AI music is beginning to break through in more visible ways. Last week, an AI-generated track reached the top of the iTunes charts across multiple countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and New Zealand. This milestone highlights both the technology’s reach and the difficulty listeners may have in distinguishing it from human-made work.

That confusion is showcased in Deezer’s own research. In a November survey, 97% of participants were unable to reliably distinguish between fully AI-generated songs and those created by human artists. At the same time, listeners expressed clear preferences around how such music should be handled; 52% said entirely AI-generated tracks should not be included alongside human-made songs in main music charts, while 80% said AI content should be clearly labeled.

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The survey, conducted with Ipsos across 9,000 participants in eight countries, also found that 73% of users want to know when a streaming service recommends fully AI-generated music, pointing to broader demand for transparency beyond simple labeling.

Deezer has positioned itself as one of the more proactive players in the streaming industry when it comes to transparency. It began tagging AI-generated tracks at the platform level in June 2025, becoming the first major service to do so. Over the course of that year, Deezer said it labeled more than 13.4 million AI-generated songs.

In addition, Deezer said it has applied for two patents related to its detection technology, focused on identifying “unique signatures” that distinguish synthetic audio from human-created recordings.

Other platforms are moving more cautiously. In February, French streaming service Qobuz announced plans to introduce its own labeling system for AI-generated content. Meanwhile, companies like Spotify and Apple Music have taken a more fragmented approach, relying on a mix of detection tools, quality filters, and distributor-led disclosures rather than a unified, platform-wide tagging policy.

The stakes extend beyond platform governance. A recent industry study cited by Deezer estimates that nearly 25% of creators’ revenues could be at risk by 2028 due to AI, potentially amounting to as much as  $4.7 billion in losses, a figure that underscores how rapidly the economics of music creation could shift.

As the volume of AI-generated music continues to climb, Deezer’s latest figures suggest the industry is entering a new phase in which the challenge is no longer identifying a niche trend but managing a rapidly expanding category that is already testing the boundaries of streaming economics, authenticity, and trust.

spotify

Activist Group Says It Has Removed 86 Million Music Files From Spotify 

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An activist group called Anna’s Archive has claimed to have scraped millions of tracks from Spotify with the intention of releasing them online. Outside experts are stating that these leaks could boost AI companies looking for material to develop their technology. 

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Anna’s Archive said that they scraped 86 million music files from Spotify along with 256 million rows of metadata like artist and album names. Spotify confirmed that this leak doesn’t represent their entire inventory. The music streaming platform hosts over 100 million tracks. 

Spotify has more than 700 million users globally, and stated that they had “identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping.”

“An investigation into unauthorized access identified that a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent DRM [digital rights management] to access some of the platform’s audio files.”

Spotify also doesn’t believe that the music taken from Anna’s Archive has been released. The group is known for providing links to pirated books, and they stated in a blog that they want to create a “preservation archive for music.”

They also stated that the audio files represent 99.6% of all music listened to on Spotify by its users, and will be shared through “torrents,” which are a way of sharing large digital files online. 

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“Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start,” said Anna’s Archive, who describe their mission as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and culture.”

“With your help, humanity’s musical heritage will be forever protected from destruction by natural disasters, wars, budget cuts and other catastrophes,” said the group.

Ed Newton-Rex is a composer and campaigner for protecting artists’ copyright through the rise of AI. He recently stated that he believes these music leaks will likely be used to develop AI models. 

“Training on pirated material is sadly common in the AI industry, so this stolen music is almost certain to end up training AI models. This is why governments must insist AI companies reveal the training data they use,” he said.

Spotify has stated that they have put new safeguards in place “for these types of anti-copyright attacks” following the Anna’s Archive announcement so that they could be “actively monitoring for suspicious behavior.”

ai band

Popular Band Admits That They’re AI-Generated After Two Albums And 1 Million Plays 

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Hot new band The Velvet Sundown has risen in popularity throughout the past few weeks. They’ve earned over one million streams on Spotify with the release of two albums. Now, the band is making headlines after admitting that all of the music, promotional images, backstory, and artistry that’s been consumed by the public was generated by artificial intelligence. 

Music industry insiders are now having a very public debate, and warning listeners, over the authenticity of the work itself. According to reports, insiders believe that streaming platforms and the individuals responsible for creating music with AI should be required to disclose the use of the technology in relation to the work. 

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Insiders are upset that the “band” was also denying the use of AI to create their work. The “band” described their work as “a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction,” which industry heads are pointing out to be obviously misleading. 

The discovery of the use of AI came about when an individual who described themselves as an “adjunct member” of the group told reporters with Fader that the band utilized Suno, a generative AI platform, to create their songs, and even said the entire project was an “art hoax.” 

In response, the band posted on their social media that the claims from the adjunct member weren’t true and the identity of the band had been “hijacked.” 

Shortly after, however, the band released a statement confirming that they were created using AI and were “Not quite human. Not quite machine, [but] somewhere in between.”

 Listeners would never be able to tell by simply consuming the music due to the fact that streaming sites like Spotify don’t have any legal obligation to point out AI-generated music. Roberto Neri, the chief executive of the Ivors Academy, one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe, spoke to the Guardian about this new issue within the industry. 

“AI-generated bands like Velvet Sundown that are reaching big audiences without involving human creators raise serious concerns around transparency, authorship and consent.”

Neri continued to say that there is room for AI within the music industry, claiming that the technology has the potential to “enhance songwriting,” however, the newness and lack of regulation regarding AI, especially in the multitude of art industries, makes it difficult. 

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Sophie Jones, chief strategy officer at the British Phonographic Industry, echoed the sentiment that artists who use AI should at the very least be open and honest about it. 

“We believe that AI should be used to serve human creativity, not supplant it.”

“That’s why we’re calling on the UK government to protect copyright and introduce new transparency obligations for AI companies so that music rights can be licensed and enforced, as well as calling for the clear labelling of content solely generated by AI.”

Liz Pelly, an expert and author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, pointed out that the use of AI in the music industry is especially exploitative towards independent artists that people behind AI bands might be using to help train the technology and create tracks. 

“We need to make sure that it’s not just pop stars whose interests are being looked after, all artists should have the ability to know if their work has been exploited in this way,” Pelly said, referring to the recent uptick in AI-generated music in the style of famous performers such as Drake, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, and more. 

Jones added: “The rise of AI-generated bands and music entering the market points to the fact that tech companies have been training AI models using creative works – largely without authorization or payment to creators and rights-holders – in order to directly compete with human artistry.”

Currently, popular streaming platform Spotify doesn’t label music as AI-generated. This has led to criticism regarding the curation of artists, songs, and playlists by “ghost artists.”

A spokesperson for Spotify said: “All music on Spotify, including AI-generated music, is created, owned, and uploaded by licensed third parties.”

ai

Scientists Utilizing Artificial Intelligence To Find New Hit Songs And Musicians

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According to new research from scientists in California, a robot utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) could be the next step in identifying hit pop songs and artists in the music industry. The scientists said that by utilizing the technology, they’ve been able to identify hit songs with 97% accuracy.  

“By applying machine learning to neurophysiologic data, we could almost perfectly identify hit songs. That the neural activity of 33 people can predict if millions of others listened to new songs is quite amazing. Nothing close to this accuracy has ever been shown before,” says Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University and senior author, in a media release. 

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The AI itself uses a neural network, which is apparently so straightforward that it can also be utilized for streaming service efficiency, TV shows, and movies in general. 

The music industry today is dominated by streaming services. With billions of songs to choose from, it can become challenging for popular apps such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. to choose which ones their users will listen to, especially among newer artists. 

Professor Zak claims that his colleagues and himself believe that their method is twice as effective as previous models which only showed a 50% success rate. 

In the study itself, participants listened to a set of 24 songs while wearing a skull-cap brain scanner. Throughout the process, they were asked about their preferences while the scientists measured their neurophysiological responses. 

“The brain signals we’ve collected reflect activity of a brain network associated with mood and energy levels,” Zak stated.

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Based on the responses, the team of scientists were able to use their technology to predict market outcomes for certain songs, including the number of streams a song may receive. This process is referred to as “neuroforecasting,” which essentially means using the brain activity of a select group of people to predict how a larger population will react.

According to reports from Study Finds, who reported on the study, “a statistical model identified potential chart hits 69 percent of the time, but this jumped to 97 percent when machine learning was applied to the data. The team found that even by analyzing neural responses to only the first minute of songs, they achieved a success rate of 82 percent.”

“This means that streaming services can readily identify new songs that are likely to be hits for people’s playlists more efficiently, making the streaming services’ jobs easier and delighting listeners,” Zak explains.

“If in the future wearable neuroscience technologies, like the ones we used for this study, become commonplace, the right entertainment could be sent to audiences based on their neurophysiology. Instead of being offered hundreds of choices, they might be given just two or three, making it easier and faster for them to choose music that they will enjoy.

“Our key contribution is the methodology. It is likely that this approach can be used to predict hits for many other kinds of entertainment too, including movies and TV shows,” Zak stated.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Makes History by Taking Over Entire Top 10 US Singles Chart

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Taylor Swift became the first artist in history to claim every slot in the top 10 US singles chart after releasing her album “Midnights.” She overtakes rapper Drake, who held the previous record of taking over 9 of the top 10 singles in September 2021.

Before Drake, the Beatles scored 8 of the top 10 singles back  in 1964. Midnights also became the fastest-selling album of 2022, and all 13 songs on the album made it to the top 15 chart.

Billboard tweeted about Swift’s historic achievement on Monday.

“@taylorswift13 scores one of the most historic weeks in @billboardcharts history, as she becomes the first artist to claim the # Hot100’s entire top 10 in a single week.”

Taylor Swift shared her excitement over the news, retweeting Billboard.

“10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES”

The song “Anti-Hero” sits at the top of the list, taking over the number one spot. The track has also become a TikTok trend, with colorful lyrics like “I’m the problem, it’s me.”  

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In August, Swift announced the new album during her acceptance speech at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards after winning video of the year for her short film “All Too Well.”

“You guys. I’m just so proud of what we made. I know with every second of this moment that we wouldn’t have been able to make this short film if it weren’t for you– the fans – because I wouldn’t be able to re-record my albums if it weren’t for you. You embolden me to do that. So, I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand-new album comes out Oct. 21.”

After revealing the record’s release date onstage, she took to Instagram to describe the upcoming tracks in more depth.

“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.”

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Midnights is Swift’s tenth studio album and fifth release in just over two years. 

Part of its success is due to its release in multiple formats, such as “moonstone blue marble” vinyl, CD, cassette and digital download. The four vinyl editions can be combined to make a functioning clock using a unique mount available for purchase on Swift’s website. 

Midnights also topped the US album chart, selling 1.58 million copies. More than half a million of those were on vinyl, which is uncommon in the streaming era. Midnights sold 62,000 copies on vinyl in the UK, becoming the highest weekly sale for a vinyl album in the 21st century. 

The rest of the top 10 singles chart includes album tracks like Lavender Haze, Maroon, Snow On The Beach, Bejeweled and Karma.

According to Billboard, streams of the album alone would have taken over the chart, before even counting sales and radio plays, helping Swift break several records. 

Midnights also became the most streamed single album on Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music in one day. Swift now holds the most top 10 hits among female artists with 40 songs in total, surpassing Madonna’s 38. 

Spotify on Phone

Spotify Announces New ‘Car Thing’ Device To Bring Music Streaming To Your Vehicle 

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Spotify has announced that the “Car Thing experiment,” which it’s been working on for the past year, will become an official product that will ship to selected Spotify Premium customers who sign up!

Yes that’s right, Car Thing is the official name of this device, and it works by “syncing up with your car’s stereo system, either via Bluetooth or with an included 3.5mm aux cable. The idea is that Car Thing will work with all older cars that don’t use CarPlay or Android Auto, and still rely on older head units for their audio,” according to Tech Radar Magazine. 

Car Thing essentially looks like a smart phone that attaches to your car vent. Once synced to your car, the screen will display your favorite music, podcasts, playlists, and trending content on Spotify; essentially it shows you what appears on your “Home” screen when you log onto the Spotify app on your phone. 

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All of your music library can be selected using touch controls, or a dial which is appropriately located in the upper right corner of the screen. There are also four quick select buttons on the top of the device to easily assist with skipping songs, pausing, or stopping music all together. 

Additionally, Spotify included a built-in voice assistant that can be used to control your music hands-free while your driving. You simply say “Hey Spotify” and you can change your playlist, pause your music, and so much more. 

“The player is expected to cost $79.99 (around £60, AU$100) when it’s available to the public, but Spotify will make it available for just $6.99 (the shipping cost in the US) for Spotify Premium subscribers who sign up on Spotify’s website to get one during the limited window,” according to reports. 

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As of right now Spotify announced that Car Thing is only available for US customers, and the company has yet to reveal if it would become available internationally or not. Spotify made the official Car Thing announcement on their blog this month, in which they emphasized that the reasoning they created this product was to assist the Spotify users who complained that they couldn’t get Spotify in their older cars. 

“Our focus remains on becoming the world’s number one audio platform – not on creating hardware – but we developed Car Thing because we saw a need from our users, many of whom were missing out on a seamless and personalized in-car listening experience. 

“No matter the year or model of your vehicle, we feel everyone should have a superior listening experience.” 

If you have an older model car, there are also already a multitude of devices on the market that can either plug into your car’s auxiliary cable, cassette player, or car lighter, depending on how old your vehicle is. These devices sync up with your phone’s audio via Bluetooth or direct connection. 

Spotify on Phone

Spotify Announces Bad Bunny As Its Most Streamed Artist In 2020

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Spotify is releasing their annual yearly reports for all of its users that give them a breakdown of their most listened to artists, songs, albums, podcasts, and more for the past year. Before they do though, they release their own stats for the artists and music that has topped their charts for the year. For 2020, Bad Bunny was the world’s most streamed artist with more than 8.3 billion streams of his discography. 

Bad Bunny, also known as Benito Ocasio, is the 26-year-old who was also given the accolade of 2020’s most streamed album, with his sophomore record “YHLQMDLG”, which was released back in February. 

Last week he dropped a surprise album titled “El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo,” and the lead single from the album, “Dakiti,” is currently the most streamed song in the world. For 2020 in general, The Weeknd received the reward for most streamed song with his record-breaking hit “Blinding Lights.” 

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Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and fashion star who is no stranger to charting on some of the world’s most popular streaming services. Last year he was the fifth most streamed artist in the world, so his placement in the top ten this year, let alone as number one, isn’t that shocking. 

In general Bad Bunny has received massive commercial success and critical acclaims within the past year alone. He won the Latin Grammy for Best Reggaeton Performance in October, and is currently nominated for two awards at the 2021 Grammys.

Runners-up for the most-streamed male artists in 2020 are Drake, J Balvin, Juice WRLD, and the Weeknd; whose album “After Hours” broke records on the charts this year and came in as the second most streamed album of the year, despite being controversially snubbed from receiving any Grammy nominations this year. Post Malone, Harry Styles, and Dua Lipa take the other top 5 positions for most-streamed albums. 

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In terms of the artists with the most streamed songs of 2020, The Weeknd received the top spot with “Blinding Lights,” Tones & I followed with their popular TikTok song “Dance Monkey”, then its Roddy Ricch with “The Box”, Saint Jhn with “Roses”, and finally Dua Lipa with “Don’t Start Now.”

The most streamed female artists for 2020 in this order are Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, and Halsey. 

The most popular podcast for Spotify this year was the Joe Rogan Podcast, marking a massively successful first year for the production. Rogan is also thought to be the world’s highest-paid broadcaster, however, these claims are unconfirmed. 

Spotify started 2020 with 124 million paid subscribers and by the end of the year they had over 144 million; overall the platform has over 320 million users, the remaining amount of users accounts for those who use Spotify’s free package.

Podcast

Spotify’s Big Investment In Podcasts

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Streaming has become a staple in the world of entertainment. Not only are there now a ton of platforms to watch all sorts of original television shows and movies, but streaming has taken over the music industry as well. Between Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify there are plenty of ways for anyone to have unlimited access to some of their favorite artists/albums/songs. However, if we’re talking numbers, Spotify is the most popular service, with over 113 million paid monthly subscribers. 

In 2020 Spotify’s content chief, Dawn Ostroff, wants to focus on a newer form of entertainment that’s entering into the streaming world: podcasts. In fact, Spotify invested about half a billion dollars into purchasing podcast-related companies in 2019, and they’re just getting started. While podcasts are certainly on the rise in terms of popularity, making such a large investment in a newer market is risky in terms of profits, however, Spotify has acknowledged in their own financial statements that they understand there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to “generate sufficient revenue to offset the costs of acquiring” the podcast content itself, but they’re still confident in their investment. 

“I’ve always tried to go where people will eventually follow. It’s always more exciting to build something than to be sitting on top of a mountain after something is built, just trying to defend your place. Moving Spotify into the world of words means getting a jump start into a market that will pay off in ad revenue eventually,” Ostroff stated in an interview. 

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Spotify began implementing podcasts onto their platform back in October of 2018, with the launch of a program they called Spotify For Podcasters, giving users access to podcast episodes and all the stats behind it. Four months later the company bought both Gimlet and Anchor in what would become the half a billion dollar deal. Gimlet and Anchor were two of the largest podcast content producers in America before being absorbed into Spotify. 

“Gimlet will focus on creating new podcasts exclusively for Spotify subscribers, and Anchor’s tools will enable creation for the next generation of podcasters worldwide. Gimlet and Anchor will position us to become the leading platform for podcast creators around the world and the leading producer of podcasts,” the company wrote in a blog post after the deal was finalized.

Other adjustments Spotify has already implemented include an app redesign for premium users which gave podcasts a more prominent spot on the home screen. The company also finalized a deal that would allow them to exclusively produce podcasts for Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground.

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Spotify already began feeling the positive effects of their investment during their third quarter in 2019, in which users who listened to podcasts jumped by 40%. Now, more than 15% of Spotify premium users also actively listen to podcasts. This is significant because 90% of the revenue Spotify brings in is from its premium users monthly paid subscription. Spotify Premium typically costs $9.99 a month, however, there are specialty priced packages that combine your premium costs with a Hulu subscription as well. As a student at university, you can get the bundle for $5 a month, the company also offers a family plan for $14.99 a month. 

One of Spotify’s biggest claims to fame is their ability to recommend new music to its users and create a slew of playlists and radio stations filled with musical content that their algorithm thinks premium users will enjoy based on their daily listening habits. When it comes to their podcasts, Spotify has shifted their focus to ensure the same attention is being paid to that section of the app. 

Spotify currently has over half a million podcasts to choose from, and that number is only going to continue to rapidly grow as podcasts grow in popularity in general. However, it’s difficult for users to have access, or even know about, a majority of these podcasts because there’s no “radio stations” for different podcasts to be featured, at least not yet. Spotify wants to unify the data they have encoded for their music recommendations, and bring it over to the podcast side of things. One of the main ideas the company has is to implement advertisements on the podcast pages, and within the episodes themselves, that recommends content based on listening history. 

For now, Spotify doesn’t have to worry too much, as podcasts are only going to become more and more popular, to the point that the app will likely be known for both them and music in the coming months.

Headphones

The Best Free Music Streaming Subscriptions

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Music streaming has quickly become the main way that we all consume our favorite songs and albums. There are so many services available now that offer millions upon millions of different discographies for users listening pleasure. If you aren’t one of the many who already is paying for a music streaming platform monthly, don’t fret. Plenty of these platforms offer free subscription packages so users don’t have to add another monthly payment on top of all their other bills. These free packages are often limited in terms of song skipping, and contain some advertisements, however, that doesn’t mean they don’t still offer the same great quality music. 

Spotify has definitely become one of the most popular streaming services currently on the market. The company offers multiple payment packages that include other perks such as Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus as well. These packages allow for customers to pay one monthly fee for both either Spotify and Hulu, or Spotify and Disney/ESPN Plus. Additionally, if you’re a student, the monthly price for all the packages are cut in half. That would equate to about $5 a month for both music and video streaming service. However, some individuals don’t want the visual additions to these packages and want to remain completely cost-free when it comes to their music. The free package of Spotify has a lot of the perks similar to the premium packages, making it one of the most desirable free packages for music streaming. 

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With Spotify’s free package you still have access to the entirety of their music library and can access the service on any compatible device including Alexa and Google Hub speakers. When you’re listening to playlists, whether it be ones you made yourself or pre-made ones, you can select whichever song you want to listen to, however, you have a limited number of skips forward and can’t go backwards. Additionally, you are subject to advertisements, however, Spotify has a pretty standard algorithm in which they let users have thirty minutes of uninterrupted listening, and then commercials appear every fifteen minutes for every given streaming session. When on the mobile app, you can’t select songs to listen to in a given playlists library like previously mentioned, that feature is exclusive to desktop listening. You also are only able to listen to albums and custom made playlists on shuffle mode, and are given a total of six skips per hour, according to Gizmodo Magazine. 

Amazon Music is another music streaming service that has newly emerged for free users. Previously, you had to have an Amazon Prime account to have access to Amazon’s music streaming, however, now the company has two separate services. Amazon Music Unlimited is what’s included with Prime, and standard Amazon Music is available for users free on any compatible device, you do need to have a regular Amazon account though, but that’s also free.

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The free package is much more limiting compared to Spotify’s free package, but it still definitely has its perks. According to Gizmodo, the free package only includes a library of 2 million songs to stream, compared to the Unlimited Package which has a library of 50 million songs. Like Spotify, you can’t select songs within albums, you have a limited number of skips, and are subject to frequent advertisements. You also can’t create your own custom playlists either, and Amazon will pretty much be constantly harping you about upgrading to the Unlimited package, but if you’re the type of person who wants a streaming service that can deliver you a good radio mix based off a certain artist, album, mood, etc. than this service could definitely be for you. 

Finally, another relatively new streaming service that’s entered the market is YouTube Music. Like Amazon and Spotify, this service is available on any device that’s compatible with music streaming. Additionally, like Amazon, if you have a YouTube Premium membership, YouTube Music is included for free, however, you can have the music streaming without a premium account, just with some more obvious restrictions. Unlike the other streaming services, all that applies to desktop use, also applies to mobile use with the service. On the mobile app, however, you have to keep the app open in order for the music to continue to play, which could be a major drawback. Other than that, users are able to skip around inside given playlists, pick out specific songs they want to hear, listen to their music in any order they’d like and create their own playlists. Advertisements are a given, but users have reported that they’re relatively infrequent, and most of them can be skipped (Gizmodo). 

Regardless of what you choose, there are definitely plenty of free music listening services online today that can help you save some money every month. Just do your research and find one that can fulfill your specific streaming desires.