Choir Music Streaming for Beginners
Times have changed. It used to be that you found your favorite album at the local music store—yes, vinyl—and took it home to play on your record player. You were careful not to scratch the LP. Then along came the tape deck with its 8 tracks and it worked in your car, then cassettes, handy, small and easily portable. The next innovations were CDs and CD players, and they became your favorite listening medium. Usually there were a handful of favorites on an album, and you listened through the others. And then came iPods, iPads, and iPhones and the world really changed.
Today, music is streamed on services from Spotify to Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and YouTube. The Choir has a presence on all these major channels. You can make your own playlists of your favorites or you can choose a playlist from your favorite artists or from your streaming service. Music is more accessible than ever no matter how far back you go to find your artists of choice. (And don’t look now, but vinyl is staging a comeback—even for the Choir. Stay tuned!)
But for some, figuring out streaming services sounds complicated and even intimidating. How do you do it? Where do you sign up? How much does it cost? What equipment do you need? And how do you make your own playlist? Somewhere you probably have your record player, tape deck, boom box—really!—and a CD player. Now, what fancy equipment do you need?
Today all you need is just your cell phone. These services also work on tablets and computers. And you need a couple of minutes to download an app and set up an account for streaming. Some charge and some don’t. Just follow the links listed below for the service that suits your needs. Some have ads, some don’t and some allow you to choose which service you pay for.
All of them include albums and playlists by The Tabernacle Choir. You can make your own playlist or you can use one created by others. The Tabernacle Choir has made it easy with playlists already prepared for your use. Start there in selecting your music. And in 2022, look for many new playlist for the Choir on each of the major streaming platforms.
You can search for music based on artist, album, or genre, and then you can create, edit, and enjoy your playlists and even share your playlists with others.
Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming service provider, with over 381 million monthly active users. A Swedish-based audio streaming and media services provider founded in 2006 it launched in the US in 2011. Its active users include 172 million paying subscribers, as of late 2021.
Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded music and podcasts including The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and more than 70 million songs from numerous record labels and media companies. As a “freemium” service, basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features such as offline listening and commercial-free listening are offered via paid subscriptions.
Spotify’s premium subscription rate is $9.99/month and you can find out more here: https://www.spotify.com/us/premium/.
Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. You can select music to stream to your device on-demand, or you can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country, which broadcast live to over 200 countries 24 hours a day. The service, launched in 2015, currently has 72 million monthly active users.
Originally strictly a music service, Apple Music began expanding into video in 2016. The company is actively investing heavily in the production and purchasing of video content, both in terms of music videos and concert footage that support music releases, as well as web series and feature films.
Apple Music’s subscription rate is $9.99/month and new subscribers get a three-month free trial period before the service requires a monthly subscription. You can find out more here: https://www.apple.com/apple-music/.
Amazon Music (formerly Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in 2008, it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management (DRM) from the four major music labels, as well as many independents.
In 2016, Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Music HD and Amazon Music Unlimited, a full-catalog streaming service platform with more than 75 million songs. In 2020, Amazon Music had 55 million subscribers.
Amazon Music’s subscription rate is $7.99/month for Prime members and $9.99/month for non-Prime customers. New subscribers get a three-month free trial period before the service requires a monthly subscription. You can find out more here: https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited.
Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by SiriusXM Holdings and founded in 2000. The service’s recommendations are based on the “Music Genome Project”— a means of classifying individual songs by musical traits. The service originally launched in the consumer market as an internet radio service, which would generate personalized channels based on these traits and songs liked by the user. This service is available in a free advertising-supported tier and a subscription-based version. In 2017, it launched Pandora Premium, an on-demand version more in line with its streaming competitors.
With Pandora’s “freemium” service, basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality, music downloads, and offline channels are offered via paid subscriptions. In 2021, Pandora had about 55.9 million active monthly users, and 6.4 million subscribers.
Pandora’s subscription rates are $4.99/month for Pandora Plus and $9.99/month for Pandora Premium. You can find out more here: https://www.pandora.com/account/sign-in.
YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. It replaced Google Play Music as Google’s main brand for music streaming in 2020. YouTube Music provides a tailored interface for the service, oriented towards music streaming, allowing you to browse through songs and music videos on YouTube based on genres, playlists, and recommendations. In 2021, Google announced it had 50 million users subscribed to or trying YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
YouTube Music’s subscription rate is $9.99/month and new subscribers get a one-month free trial period before the service requires a monthly subscription. You can find out more here: https://www.youtube.com/musicpremium.