Mobile technology changed the era of listening audio a lot. Now we have audio streaming apps which reduces the burden of buying albums from somewhere. Audio Streaming App helps users to listen music, podcasts, etc. anywhere and anytime. There is numerous app of this domain in the app store which tends to update with the latest technologies. These Apps are publishing music, podcasts, healing sessions, interviews and more which make them unique and brings together all the user’s need at one place.

Business Model

The audio streaming app is mainly based on two models: radio and on-demand. It’s up to you what type of streaming application you want to create. The description for both the models is below which can be helpful for you to decide whether you want to choose radio audio streaming app or on-demand audio streaming app.

Radio audio streaming app

The radio audio streaming app works on the user preferences that what user chosen as their preferences and on that basis music, podcasts, etc are being played. Pandora and iHeartRadio are the two leading in this market with features like create stations based on genres, music, album, artists, or bands. These apps have license which protect the business model to breach the radio feature and not playing any on-demand audio. This also folds them to build in lesser budget than on-demand streaming apps.

On-Demand audio streaming app

The on-demand audio streaming app works on the library feature where user gets the list of audios (music, podcast, healing session, interviews, etc.) or even browse the required audio from the library available in the streaming application. Like radio audio streaming models, this model also provides recommendation and discovery features based on what users prefer to listen.

Both the above business models are subscription based and this totally based on the business owner what type of subscription they are offering to their users. The subscriptions can be monthly based, music/audio based, yearly based, etc. To purchase the subscription, user need to pay the required amount and get benefits of the selected subscription.

Finding difficulty in deciding the platform for your business?

Nowadays, apps are published in both the platform (i.e., iOS and Android) to compete in the market. Apple and Google are both developed their apps in both the platforms to stay competitive and gain as much users as possible.

Must have features for an audio streaming app

Personalized Recommendations

After you acquire a sufficient music database and user base, you can start thinking about developing a more advanced recommendation and discovery system.

Large Audio Library

To attract user with your audio collection, a large audio library is required which should be integrated in your app. A large audio library for all genres is a must-have for an On-demand audio streaming application.

Browse and Explore

Your product must allow users to browse and search audio with the advance search feature enabled in your app. This feature should be helping user to search category, tracks, music, podcasts, artists so that they can easily find what they are looking for.

Audio Arrangements

This feature allows users to find audio in categorized manner and let them explore the categories in which they found interested.

User Reviews

This feature play important role in helping users to comment on the audio which they listen so that it can benefits the artists and other users to decide after checking reviews whether to listen the audio or not.

In-App Storage for Offline Access

Many users love to listen audio on the go, searching for a good network or wi-fi sometimes becomes difficult. So, to minimize the difficulty you can provide in-app storage and letting users download audio.

Social Media Integration

This feature helps user for easy login and provide business to grow rapidly. Its also a way to generate traffic by sharing more content.

Push Notifications

To engage your users and make them use the application, push notification is a must-have feature. It helps user to see what is happening in the app or also notifies user with latest audios and fresh arrivals.

For monetizing the app and major source of your revenue, you need to have

Subscriptions

Provide subscription-based feature or unlimited access to any audio, podcast, etc. This allows audio streaming apps to gain profit without any extra effort. In Google Play Music and Apple Music, if an unsubscribed user wants to listen to a particular song, or album, they should purchase it. In this way, these services get additional revenue by selling a particular songs and albums instead of selling unlimited access to all songs in the catalogue.

Ads (Advertisements)

Make user see or listen to ads for 4-5 secs after interval of 3-4 songs can help you gain profit. This feature should be exempted if any user is buying subscription for a month/year. As we know, digitalization has made promotions in apps and the web a profitable distribution channel.

Featured List

This feature can help business to give chance to the new artists to be become featured and appear on the top of the list when user is browsing or exploring. Through this feature, businesses can gain profit and help audios/artists to get noticed.

Looking to start developing an audio streaming app:

If you have decided to build an audio streaming app, it will require a team of people who will work collectively to develop this app. One of the first questions once you decide to create an app. Whether you are launching your start-up or would like to digitize your current company, you will need to hire an app developer to accomplish your business goals.

A list of required team members has been shared below

Business Analyst

A business analyst is a person who analyses an organization or business domain (real or hypothetical) and documents its business, processes, or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.

Project Manager

A project manager is accountable for the success or failure of a project. Typical responsibilities of a project manager include:

Planning, Executing, and Closing Projects — defining the project, building its comprehensive work plan, and managing to the budget

Managing Teams — facilitating commitment and productivity, removing obstacles, and motivating team members

Managing Expectations — aligning projects to business goals, managing stakeholders, and communicating project status, milestones, and unexpected difficulties effectively

UI/UX designer

A UI/UX designer works on user experience and interface both very closely. They encompass all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

2 or 3 Mobile App Developers

The front-end is the native mobile app an end-user will use. In most cases, mobile apps consist of interactive user experiences that use an API and a back-end for managing data. In some cases, when an app needs to allow users to work without internet access, the app may utilize local data storage.

Back-end developers

Back-end Developers create, code, and improve the server, server-side applications, and databases that, when combined with front-end codes, help create a functional, seamless experience for the end-user. They study industry trends, create, or improve back-end processes and codes, and work with others to design a better program.

QA engineer

Performing thorough quality assurance (QA) testing during the mobile app development process makes applications stable, usable, and secure. To ensure comprehensive QA testing of your app, you first need to prepare test cases that address all aspects of app testing.

For an audio streaming app, a bunch of programming language is highly required.

Tech stack for an audio streaming app

Programming Language: ROR

Frameworks: Native

Server: Ngnix

Cloud Storage: Amazon S3

CDN: Amazon CloudFront

Database: MySQL

Approximate cost with the listed feature in this guide

The cost of developing the audio streaming app may range between $25,000 and $40,000 depending on the features and business goals. It is obvious that the final price can vary depending on the location of the development team. Let us say for example if you hire a company situated in Australia or Western Europe, then the cost of development may rise to thrice of the above range.

Having an audio streaming app idea?

We have a team of developers having experience in audio and video streaming apps. Our team is developing scalable and prominent solution in iOS and Android of different complexities. Feel free to comment or write us in case of any queries.

TecOrb is a one of the reputed Mobile app Development Company prioritizing on developing intuitive mobile apps. Our few recommended application solutions are taxi application solution, grocery delivery app, food delivery application, and OTT video platform etc. Get in touch with our experts to know more about our application services. We have a tech qualified team of developers, who work around our customer’s need and requirements and serve them the best system solutions by testing applications on real devices emulators, and simulators.