BY ROBERTO ROJAS
Asst. Perspectives Editor
Even going back to my childhood, I can’t really remember a time when music has never been in my life. With something like sports, I have always been a huge fan, but music is different, it is something that has been fundamental to my personality. I’ll never say that I’m picky when it comes to my music (I’m really open to anything), but I do have my favorite artists and genres.
When it comes to the way I listen to my music, it has historically been to download music from YouTube and put it on my phone, without depending on a music-streaming site. Beforehand, there was this site called Pandora Radio where I had a bunch of stations that played my favorite genres, such as hip-hop, rap, house music and reggaeton. It was amazing because the stations were like playlists (you could skip the songs you didn’t want to hear), but they had the format of actual radio stations, playing mixes of artists that were similar to the musicians I already enjoyed. I was hooked immediately.
Then, around high school, I discovered Spotify and I haven’t looked back since. The idea that you can listen to any song from any artist and make playlists for certain songs and moods was something that I enjoyed so much. I probably have a playlist for literally any mood I’m in or any genre that I’m into (although admittedly, I probably haven’t listened to some of them in a long time) and that’s something that has made me continue to fall in love within Spotify, even more than before.
Of course, there has been competition with Spotify since Apple Music became the new kid on the block, allowing people to pick sides. Some decided to stick with the Swedish-based company while others decided to jump ship and join the service they get on their iPhones. I will admit that I had Apple Music for a short amount of time, just to check out why a lot of my friends were enjoying it much more than Spotify. While there was the advantage of hearing new music releases before everyone else, there wasn’t anything that impressed me too much.
It has the same model as Spotify where you can listen to any artist or song you want and create your own playlists. With the inclusion of radios and different types of mood playlists, it just seemed weird that the iTunes app I grew up with has become a music streaming service as opposed to the music downloading service it once was.
With Spotify, you get all that and more for the same price (both services charge $9.99 per month, or $4.99 for college students). Spotify has podcasts; Apple Music does not. With Apple, you have to switch between Music and the podcasts app that is also included on the iPhone. Spotify gives you the best of both worlds in one app.
So I’m going to stay on the side of the original music streaming service. I have to thank Spotify for allowing me to get access to all the music I want, to organize it in a way that is relatable to certain situations, and to discover new artists that I have never heard before. With that, I’ll end this piece by saying this: Thank you Spotify; you’re better than Apple Music.
