Music has been streaming for nearly fifteen years now. While UK users have been familiar with Spotify or Deezer since 2010 and 2011, other services have emerged since then, from web giants such as Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music to audiophile-oriented platforms such as Tidal and Qobuz.
Financial insecurity is changing the way users consume music online
Nowadays, buying a music CD has become obsolete: while some purists and nostalgics still treat themselves to vinyl from time to time, it’s a safe bet that even they have a subscription to a streaming music service.
However, because of the recent cost of living crisis and ever-increasing inflation, many UK users have ended up cutting back on their entertainment budget, including streaming services. More than ever before, users are looking for the option of free trial subscriptions, favouring streaming platforms that regularly offer discount coupons with promo codes to negotiate better deals on services. Experts from promocodius.co.uk confirm this trend, “We’ve seen an increased growth in demand for promo codes for music streaming on our discount platform in the last 12 months. Users of our platform used mainly Spotify, Deezer, Amazon and Apple Music discount code to be able to immerse themselves in your favourite music for a better price.
How much do music streaming platform subscriptions cost?
When it comes to prices, paid subscriptions can be doubled from one platform to another. It’s not always clear either what the advantages of each platform’s premium subscriptions are, or what the advantages of the paid model are compared with the free model. That’s often the reason why users are at the end opting for the cheapest plan.
Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, Tidal or YouTube Music – they all offer a trial period of between one and three months. This is a handy way of getting a clear idea of what each platform has to offer and its features before spending a single penny.
In addition to these time-limited trial offers, some services also offer unlimited free trials. These include Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal and YouTube Music, but not Apple Music or Qobuz. In all cases, these free offers are financed by advertising. They generally do not allow users to download tracks offline and may be restricted in use, such as YouTube Music, which does not allow users to listen to tracks in the background on your smartphone.
On the whole, when it comes to free or trial use, Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal and YouTube Music stand out. The latter thanks to the four-month trial, the other two because they allow you to enjoy music on your smartphone, even when it’s playing in the background.
Loyalty marketing: Promo codes and discount coupons are just one part of a complex strategy
The scale of competition is very high in the industry of music streaming. Apart from personalized offers of promo codes, free trials and competitive subscription prices, there are other strategies, enabling to win over more users. The most commonly used are:
- Catalog of music with millions of tracks
- Social functions and collaborative playlists
- Automatic or edited recommendations and playlists
- Compatibility with other devices
By combining all of the above, all parties win: users get great deals, and providers get a loyal audience and demand.
