Mobile apps have significantly changed the way we listen to music. Spotify is one of the most popular solutions all over the world. However, music application development can be a struggle since you need to get a license and find a reliable development team.
In this post, you can find the required steps to develop an app like Spotify.
Step #1. Get a License
Spotify, as a music streaming service, offers users to listen to music without purchasing. However, as the owner, you have to get a license for using music content. You should follow the Public Performance Rights.
In the United States, you can get a license from these agencies:
Considering European countries, it’s better to apply to the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC).
It’s required to get the license for your music streaming app since the fines are pretty high — from a minimum of $750 up to $150,000 per one song played.
Step #2. Make a List of Required Features
Starting Spotify app development, you need to create a feature list. It’s better not to develop a Spotify clone but add some exciting features.
It’s common to divide the required features into two categories — MVP and advanced. MVP or must-have features stand for important functionality to satisfy the basics needs of your customers. As for advanced features, they tend to bring users new experience.
Must-have features:
- Account registration
- Music streaming
- Music arrangement
- Social sharing
- Push notifications
- Offline mode
Advanced features:
- Recommendations
- Top trending artists/songs
- Preferences
Step #4. Hire a Development Team
There are three options to hire app developers — hire freelancers, create an in-house team, or cooperate with an outsourcing company.
It’s better to pick either an in-house team or outsourcing company since freelance developers tend to fail deadlines.
Outsourcing becomes more widespread due to affordable hourly rates, qualified developers, and high quality. Choosing an outsourcing software development company, you can use Clutch or GoodFirms. These platforms have reviews from previous clients.
Step #5. Create a User-Friendly UI/UX Design
Customers tend to close and delete applications with unattractive and unclear design. That’s why it’s better to consider all the design aspects beforehand.
Cooperating with a qualified design team, you can create a user-friendly design. It’s common to divide design creation into several stages — wireframing, mockuping, and prototyping.
- Wireframes mean a schematic representation of the app interface, showing the required buttons, links, and more.
- Mockup is a static but colorful picture of the app screen that shows icons, buttons’ shapes, spaces, and so on.
- Prototype means an interactive model that shows how the application works and looks. The users can tap, swap, and drag.
The design team follows the principles of design like contrast and emphasis to bring the best user experience.
Step #6. Develop Your App Like Spotify
Now, it’s time to start the development process.
Your development team helps you pick the required tech stack. The chosen technologies always depend on your project requirements and business needs.
To give you a hint, there’s a Spotify tech stack.
Spotify has mobile apps for iOS and Android. But developing native apps for these two platforms can cost you a fortune. To save money and reduce development time, you can choose Flutter app development. Flutter allows creating a cross-platform solution. Simply saying, you have one app that works on Android and iOS like native ones.
How Does Spotify Make Money?
Every business should bring profit. You should define your revenue streams before developing an app like Spotify.
Spotify’s business model is quite simple, but it allows the company to get a stable revenue. There are two monetization strategies — advertisements and subscriptions.
The Bottom Line
Spotify-like app development requires preparations and a qualified development team. First of all, you should consider getting a license to avoid fines or other legal problems.
Having released the MVP version of your application, you can add more advanced and exciting features to gain more users.
Yuliya Melnik is a technical writer at Cleveroad. It’s a mobile and web development company in Ukraine. Yuliya’s passionate about innovative technologies that make the world a better place and loves creating content that evokes vivid emotions.