Why is spotify so popular? There are different solutions to listen to music. What does spotify do that almost no one else does? Is it the music library or something else?

I use youtube music, but I am looking for alternatives (but not spotify for various reasons).

Because as much as the app sucks the everything else is better than everyone else's music app, at least here in India where we have Apple Music as well. Recommendation, organisation, playlist - it feels like Apple Music is doing all that for a different species altogether. Now I already have said how bloated Spotify iOS app is and I still take it any day over Apple Music's native app. Hell, there are flows in Apple Music that has never gonna past a click at certain page whenever I've tried (that's quite a few in times in last few years). Esp. flows around which they try to play with iCloud and social aspects. Hell, I can't even decide what not to see on my Apple Music home screen. Sometimes I've to do few sipes to reach what I am looking for. Even with all the bloat Spotify never tires me like that.

I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, it just works. I’ve never had any of the issues people are mentioning in this thread. The app isn’t slow or buggy for me, I’ve never had artists I listen to disappear from my playlists, and I can find pretty much every song I want to listen to. Most people I know use Spotify too, so sharing stuff is just a little more convenient.

I use Youtube also, I subscribe to Premium so that includes music and is ad-free. Never not found a song or artist I was looking for.

I listen to music mainly in the car or maybe as background when I'm cooking or doing other chores. I am not someone who has earbuds in all day or who does focused listening or spends time making playlists or seeking out new artists in my favorite genres. So the playlist management, discovery, etc. features and whether they work well are not really relevant to me. I care that its main functions are easy to use and work, and YouTube music does that.

They have a big library of music from tiny bands and it works well enough. As long as you ignore the music they try to push it just works.

Spotify Connect has no real equivalent

I have been on Spotify from almost the beginning, and see zero reasons to switch. The app never bothered me at all - I find the reactions in this thread startling.

Music discovery on Spotify used to be great, but I left 5+ years ago so I’m unsure now.

Why I stay:

1. family plan that I run. my parents and siblings all use it.

2. social. Sharing playlists matters to me, and everyone else uses spotify. This is also important in my romantic pursuits.

3. It has 10+ years of my listening history; the recommendations are decent, and my playlists go that far back.

4. whatever UI issues it has (and I can name a few off the top of my head), I don't find it difficult to use at all, and I'm used to its quirks.

For me it's mostly the big library and Spotify Jam

$25/month for 5 users "all you can eat" music library every month is incredibly hard to beat, even if self hosting terabytes of your own music library.

I really like qobuz for music, great apps for iOS, Android, and web.

Another reason why they are so popular is that they were first to market. They’ve been good enough that they have not lost first mover advantage that other first movers often lose (MySpace for example)

> What does spotify do that almost no one else does? Is it the music library or something else?

music is tough business to negotiate all the contracts and figure out a business model