Apple Music vs. Spotify
Which is the superior music streaming platform?
the quick answer:
spotify.com
Debuted in 2015, Apple Music™ ($9.99/month) was released by Apple as “a single, intuitive app that combines the best ways to enjoy music — all in one place”. Along with 30 million songs, the music streaming service focuses on human curation through a 24/7 radio, a platform for users to connect with artists through exclusive releases, photos, and videos, as well as music experts that have programmed personalized playlists for all your Apple devices in the “For You” section. Just like every other Apple product, Apple Music’s design is sleek, clean, and intuitive.
In our opinion, Apple Music is simply neutral when it comes to Gender Equality — it doesn’t promote (a problem in itself) nor blocks Gender Equality within their platform. Although this doesn’t make Apple Music a bad choice, there are other music streaming platforms out there that do have a focus towards empowering women.
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Spotify, Apple Music’s greatest competitor, has reached 113 million paying subscribers and its growing twice as fast compared to Apple Music. We can’t be sure of the exact causes of Spotify’s immense popularity in comparison to Apple Music, but we’re biased and think that it’s because Spotify promotes Gender Equality more. But first, a short dive into Spotify’s history.
Stunned that 100% of Spotify’s ten top-streamed tracks in 2017 were all performed by male artists (even with the tremendous successes of 2017’s many female artists), Spotify collaborated with Smirnoff (yes, the vodka company) on a tool that analyzes users’ music listening data by studying all the tracks you’ve listened to in the past six months and tallying female vs. male musicians. This attempt to level the playing field for male and female singers has had tremendous success.
If the percentages indicate that you listen to more males than females, which is (sadly) the majority conclusions for users who test out the Equalizer, Spotify creates a more female-male (and non-binary!) balanced playlist based on the songs and genres you like and personal listening habits. A slider bar also allows you to adjust your playlists’ percentages, giving you the option to set it at, for example, 70% female musicians and 30% male musicians.
“The Smirnoff Equalizer not only drives awareness, but also allows Spotify users to take direct action by increasing the number of tracks from women artists in their playlists,” says Neil Shah, Smirnoff’s Global Senior Brand Manager.
The kickoff event for the Equalizer, which was held exactly one week before International Women’s Day, also celebrated women. Revolving around the theme of ‘Phenomenal You’, the campaign encouraged women to celebrate the inherent power of women across the world, starting with themselves. A panel of women across different industries spoke about their personal experiences, and bottles of special edition Phenomenal You bottles for Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka was gifted to 100 phenomenal women around the world, along with a donation made in each of their names to She Runs It, a non-profit organization that paves the way for more women to lead at each stage of their career.
The Equalizer ensures that women in the industry are being given a chance to be seen and heard. In a promotional video, Honey Dijon, an African-American transgender woman and DJ featured in the Equalizer campaign, says that the “most important [part] about this is to have the visibility to allow people to feel that they can do this, and that their gender won’t restrict them from being a part of it. Music is better when everyone is involved.” The goal behind the Equalizer is to ultimately get more people listening to female artists — the bigger their fanbases become, the more opportunities they have to perform and succeed.
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Sources:
https://www.elle.com/culture/a19057364/smirnoff-equalizer-spotify/
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/03/07/smirnoff-spotify-equalizer-playlist/