Cost Of Developing App Like Spotify

Cost Of Developing App Like Spotify

For a company who was a startup in 2008 to more than 100 million active subscriber in 2018 – Spotify is one of the more popular apps for music streaming that we are using for . As the trend of the smartphones is increasing , demand for the apps like Spotify is also increasing . The most common question that is being asked in this app development of app like Spotify is what is the total cost of developing a music app like Spotify . With the apps like Spotify , it has been made possible to stream and listen songs even without downloading it . This article is restricted to the estimate cost of developing an app like Spotify so we will start with our discussion on the same .

How Does Spotify Work ?

Spotify is music streaming and social sharing app that let users to stream music online which is currently offering its services in more than 60 countries . It has been developed by mobile app developers keeping in mind the demand of the users. Currently Spotify has more than 30 billion songs stored on their server which can be streamed online . That’s not all , if you have buy their paid subscription you can even download the song in your phone and can play without an internet connection .

Benefits Of Providing Online Music Streaming Services

It is obvious that you will be in need of mobile app development company for creating a music streaming app . Some of the major benefits being :

  • Quick access to all songs library
  • Unlimited storage
  • Social engagement
  • Easy affordability by user
Since Spotify charges a very less fees per month by user , user can easily afford their paid services and can avail benefits of using the app as premium subscriber .

Factors That Helps Deciding Cost In Developing Music Streaming App Like Spotify ?

  • Planning for the desired features in the app
  • Finding the right mobile app development company
  • Technology you want to develop your app
  • Developing features

Planning

Before starting the developmental process of your app , market analysis about your competitor apps , proper planning of the project is what needs to be fixed at the initial stages before processing further . The main aim of any app owner is to attract more and more users . So deeply understanding your user requirement and cooking the app as per the requirement of the user is important factors . So always keep an eye on the interest of your targeted user in respect to their interest , age , location and customise the features as per their taste and needs .

Finding Mobile App Developers :

After freezing with the features of music app , you have to move ahead with the next step of choosing an mobile app developer or mobile app development company . Their rates depends on the location , type of companies they are , location of the company and so on . Searching developers as per your pockets is best option .
Its always beneficial to pre check their portfolios and past experience in creating suck kind of apps before and the most important being is the company is reputed one by quickly checking the user response .

Deciding Platform On Which App Needs To Be Launched

The 2 most used platform in the world being Android and iOS . The costing factor also depends on these factors to the large scale specially when you are willing to launch a native mobile application . Alternatively Spotify SDK is also available for both the platforms that can make easier for the developer to make fully features app like music streaming .

Technology Factors

This factors helps in deciding the cost of the app to large extent . When you have chosen Hybrid platform then the cost will be obvious half in comparison with the native mobile app development as in native  app development company needs to employ more resources for your app .

Developing Features

Authentication

Spotify offers a freemium feature to its user in which user can sign up by email or even by social media like Facebook and can play streaming of songs online . But if user want to download the songs in their phones and get advertisement free app then Spotify offers a paid monthly subscription to its user . This feature will take 20 hours for front end and 16 hours for backend development .

Music Streaming

In streaming  developers usually develops the platform is a way that audio is delivered in small packets of the data which is buffered into device and played instantly . So the whole file will not get downloaded instantly in one go . Developers have to still work in a way that user can stream songs without any interruption . Time require for simple MVP :
Frontend : 70-80 hours
Backend : 60 hours

Search & Share

In Spotify user even search for the desired songs he wanted to listen . The MVP needs about 60 hours for front end and 50 hours for backend .
The share of songs link with app is also a great features will be require additional 5 hours for each platform to develop and 60 hours in backend .

Playlist

Playlist offers personalisation services in respect to any special occasion or while partying with friends or family .User can set up their own music collection with their friends with social sharing features .
Front end : 50 hours
Back end : 80 hours

Offline Mode

This is the most liked feature by user relying on which they can be converted into a paid customer .Offline features facilitates user with streaming of the songs even when you are not connected with the internet . Songs are stored in local storage of the device which can be accessed from the app only.
Front end : 50 hours
Back end : 30 hours

Approximate Cost

As per the above discussion to develop an app with MVP it will take approximately 600+ hours in relation to which the cost may start from $ 20000 . It may increase or may even get doubled depending on the add on features as required from time to time .

Still have some question ? Consult us to expert free expert advice .

Consideration To Keep In Mind While Writing Your Mobile App PRD

mobile app development

A mobile app development requirement document (PRD) will help you guide the basis working of the mobile app even before starting the developmental process . The main purpose of this document is to describe you the purpose , objectives as well as goals of your would be mobile applications . As this document servers you with almost all the clear outline of your functionality in the application , it helps solving the communication gaps and any further delay which arrises later on during the developmental process , and thereby you can focus on the main goals of your mobile app .

For a mobile app development company , its really being a challenging task to include all the information in PRD , but once it is made with care it will avoid any further confusions during developmental process . Let’s look at few of the points below which aids you in writing effective mobile app requirement documents .

1. Keep It High Level

The main purpose of product requirement document is to make sure everything is in proper place . It should be made with highest level of care and it must include even a minor information which is likely to be preset in the product developmental cycle . You must include things like what it is , why you want to build it , who it is for , when do you need it by .

Make sure of using a layman language in product requirement document in order to minimise any confusion later on .

2. Allow Flexibility

It is important to not to include to much details in your document , while it may sounds contradictory statement , but this will aids you to gain flexibility . It is a human nature that if you include to many details at the initial stage it is more likely to be changed during project progress which will unfortunately leads to wasted time and resources . Allowing flexibility to change will benefit you in number of ways .

3.Be Specified

Avoiding minor details inclusion in PRD and specifying the important things which needs to be taken into consideration will help you cover all . Passing the PRD to development team to make sure nothing is overlooked is a good tip . So the requirement  need to be specific with as crystal clear as possible .

4. Include The Team

Drawing a PRD without taking any input from the development team does not make sense . Your team has a vast experience of undergoing with variety of projects and it’s better to take advantage of it . So taking out of idea from different prospective is also proven beneficial for an effective mobile app development documents .

So in case you are looking for mobile app development company to make a good PRD to get a brief overview of what your product will look like , contact us today .

Fixed Cost Vs Hourly Cost : Which One To Consider For App Development ?

Fixed Cost Vs Hourly Cost : Which One To Consider For App Development ?

Whenever anyone takes a decision of moving ahead with mobile app development , the very first factors that strikes people mind is the cost of developing the app . But even before going ahead with the app development , have you ever thought of the full defined features that will be present in your would be Mobile application ?

Especially when you are budget constraint , you have to predefine the features to get the exact cost estimate of developing a product .

But inspite of taking into consideration various factors , an app development company or app developers will unfortunately not be able to provide you with exact exact figure of app development cost . As the pricing of the app development depends on various variable elements such as man-hours to be spent , whether a company or freelancer has been choose by you for an app development , on which platform you want your app , ie Android or iOS , do you want the app on Hybrid or Native , technical’s aspects , the location of the development team and so on .

In addition to it , in case you are planning to key in some more features in your app ( which is the usual case with most of us ) which is beyond your predefined scope of work , you have to pay more for the add on features .

We are all aware that when talking about the app development industry , most of the companies follow dual pricing model :

  1. Fixed price model
  2. Hourly price model

Fixed Price Model

The fixed price model is best suitable if you have a pre defined scope of work . App development company will give you a fixed cost with predefined timeline with almost no scope in alternation of the project .

In this model , app idea , implementation of features and functionalities , platform on which app needs to be developed on are all well defined in advance . This is specially the case with the project which are small and have low budget . So it is not the touch task , even a small team will be able to accomplish it easily .

But you have to always keep in mind that in fixed price contract do not expect a single , I repeat ” not a single ” change in terms and condition of the contract under any circumstances .

However the biggest cons of this model is you are more concerned about your budget in comparison to what you are getting as a product in terms of quality , which may also results in failure  .

Essential Features Of Fixed Cost Agreement

  • The budget and timeline to complete the app is predefined in advance with mutual agreement between developer and client .
  • The development team knows in advance how to mould the app to give it a highly polished shape and they will focus on app UI designing accordingly .
  • You are not allowed to change the features later on , probably not in any case .

Situation When Fixed Price Cost Work Best

  • When you are planning to launch a simple app without any complexity .
  • You have a limited budget and no other alternatives can be chosen .
  • You are planning a Minimum Viable Product or App Prototype to test your app idea

Hourly Pricing Model

A hourly pricing module as the name denotes is based on the manta of hourly pricing . The hourly cost varies from region to region and from one company to another .
For instance say you have hired a single resource in some app development company for 600 hours , and their hourly rate of what they are charging is $ 25 per hour , then you have to pay $ 15000 to them which is multiplication of $ 25 and 600 hours .
The hourly rate or we can say Time and Material Model is preferable for clients who have a vision to make the app with demand on the go , rather than predefining everything in advance . As you have hired freelancer or company on hourly basis . As you have hired as per your flexibility , you are most welcome to share your suggestions together with using their expertise knowledge on improving the overall quality of product .
The best thing being you can always add on more features as per your convenience .

Essential Features Of Hourly Pricing Model

  • The pricing depends on working hours and rates they charge as per their skills .
  • The price is not fixed in advance , so it can be higher or lower as per your requirement .
  • Not only cost , but timeline of the project is also flexible .
  • Client and developer both can give their valuable inputs from time to time for addition as well as removal of any unnecessary features .

Situation When Hourly Price Cost Work Best

  • The hourly rate approach works best when you have a clear app idea and you are not sure about validating it .
  • When you have a really complicated project with not pre defined requirement .
  • When you directly want to get involved with project and desire to know how developers are proceeding with given task .

Fixed Cost VS Hourly Rates : The Conclusion

We have discussed in details about the two popular pricing models that almost all app development companies follows in present scenario . Every model has their own pros and cons . If you are choosing a fixed price model , you might get a quality comprimisement and not any further scope of changes . Alternatively choosing hourly basis model will always be on higher side in terms of pricing but you can get your product as desired .