Mobile apps have reshaped how we live. Listening to music is no exception.
Streaming app services like Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music are now more common than ever.
Moreover, music has existed for centuries and is still a leading form of entertainment.
However, how people consume music has changed over time. Today, most listening happens through music streaming apps.
According to statistics, the global market size of the music streaming app was $43.74 billion in 2024 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 17.3% from 2025 to 2030.
Thus, it’s evident that there is a significant business opportunity for startups, artists, and record labels who want to develop music streaming apps.
However, creating a music streaming app is a multi-step process that demands time and a budget.
So, let’s discuss if you should invest in a music streaming app and what the music streaming app development cost?
Market Overview of Music Streaming Applications
Music apps are becoming increasingly popular due to the ease of use and features they provide for users.
Let’s review some interesting data.
- Over 2 billion users streamed music on YouTube in 2024.
- Apple claims to have 60 million users who pay for subscriptions to Apple Music.
- Spotify’s user base is around 200 million subscribers and 109 million paying subscribers, which represents 40% of the world’s music streaming market.
Why Build a Music Streaming App?
There are strong reasons to build your own music streaming platform and understand music streaming app development cost.
For starters, you get full control over content, can shape the user experience, and create new revenue streams.
It also helps grow brand recognition and gives you freedom in developing features and design.
Moreover, for a record label or an artist, a streaming app is a direct way to reach more listeners.
1. Growing Audience & Revenue Potential
As streaming continues to dominate how music is consumed, you always have scope for monetization through subscriptions, ads, partnerships, licensing, and more.
2. Niche or Differentiated Value Propositions
Big platforms like Spotify target broad audiences and charge higher prices.
You can stand out by serving niches. Focus on genres, regional music, independent artists, high-fidelity sound, social features, instrumentals, or podcasts.
This helps attract dedicated listeners and build revenue.
3. Control over Content & Experience
Owning the platform allows you to have full control over design, user experience, content curation, recommendation algorithms, royalties, and licensing arrangements.
When you have control of the music streaming app, you can make crucial decisions independently.
4. Technological Innovation
Advances in streaming, data analytics, machine learning (recommendation engines), offline modes, audio quality, user engagement, etc., offer competitive edges.
Keeping music and technology on the same scale of development is essential for a successful music streaming app.
5. Brand & IP Building
A successful app can build brand equity, not just revenue.
This can lead to an overall ecosystem expansion (merch, live events, exclusive content) of your business.
You can sign artists and collaborate with record labels to further expand your music app across countries.
What’s the Cost to Build a Music Streaming App?
The cost of music streaming apps varies based on aspects like API integrations, UI/UX designs, backend development framework, and more.
Additionally, in understanding how to create a music app, there are licensing deals and artist contracts that are an additional expense, generally not included in building a music streaming app.
Although the time and budgets are approximate, it’s important to know that these prices can drastically reduce if you spend some time identifying the right partners for your music streaming app development.
For instance, once the app is created, GMTA Software Solutions offers up to 6 months of no-cost maintenance.
Let’s go in-depth and identify the key elements that influence these music streaming app development costs in the next section.
Key Elements That Influence Music Streaming App Development Cost
Music streaming has several elements that influence its cost.
While something like App complexity can be controlled by you, other aspects like maintenance and compliance are a necessity that you cannot ignore.
So, understanding the key elements of the cost of music streaming app is necessary for detailed budgeting.
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App Complexity
Not all streaming apps have to be developed with a barrage of features initially.
When talking about how to create a music app, as a startup, you can focus on building your music library while keeping your app simple and user-friendly.
| Complexity Level | Features Included | Cost Estimate |
| Low | Basic sign-up/login, music search, and playback | $20,000 – $30,000 |
| Medium | Adds social sharing and curated playlists | $30,000 – $50,000 |
| High | AI-based recommendations, advanced personalisation | $50,000+ |
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Platform Choice
Another significant expenditure criterion when you make a music app is deciding the location where your app will run: Android, iOS, or hybrid. Different platforms also have their coding languages, tools, and cost issues.
| Platform | Notes | Cost Estimate |
| Android | Built using Java/Kotlin | $20,000 – $65,000 |
| iOS | Uses Swift and Xcode | $25,000 – $60,000 |
| Hybrid | One codebase for both platforms | $20,000 – $30,000 |
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Features
A music app offers various features that enhance the way users listen, manage, and interact with music.
These features can range from basic playback to advanced options like live streaming and smart device integration.
| Feature Set | Description | Cost Estimate |
| Basic | Music playback, user logins, profile & playlist management | $20,000 – $30,000 |
| Enhanced | Offline mode, personalised playlists, lyrics integration | $30,000 – $50,000 |
| Advanced | Live event streaming, user-generated uploads, smart device integration | $50,000+ |
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Design
Design isn’t just about appearance; it drives user engagement and interaction.
When you make a music app, adding custom images, illustrations, or easier navigation can attract, engage and lead to conversions.
Since it is a more personal choice, the estimated UI/UX design cost can range between $20,000 – $50,000+.
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Development Team Size & Location
The location of your developers and group size can make a massive difference in the price.
Large teams acquire speed, but they also increase the cost.
Charges also vary based on the geographical region of the music streaming app developers.
Considering the US as your location, the cost for the development team, including managers, designers, and coders, can go beyond $200,000 for an advanced app.
You can also skip these hefty costs and go with third-party companies like GMTA Software Solutions that offer comprehensive music streaming app development strategies at competitive rates.
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Maintenance
Once you make a music app completely, continued maintenance of the app in terms of design, security, compliance, and user experience is necessary.
This comes with a cost that typically costs 20%–50% of the initial development budget.
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Backend Development
It’s necessary to develop a strong foundation of backend when you make a music app.
A strong backend can handle a large user base of data, identify bugs, and facilitate high-quality streaming.
The cost for backend development ranges from $10,000 to $60,000, depending on the feature and scale of the music streaming app.
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API & Third-Party Integrations
From cloud storage to social media integrations, payment gateways, and more, there are several third-party integrations that you need to consider when understanding how to create a music app.
Adding third-party integrations can also incur extra testing time, development work & API integrations, which increases your cost.
The price for API & third-party integration ranges from $5,000 to $50,000.
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Security Measures
Security features are a necessity to assure your music streaming app runs smoothly and securely.
From user data protection to secure payment options and implementing fraud detection, there are several security aspects that need to be considered when you talk about the cost of music streaming app.
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Testing and Quality Assurance
Continuous testing of the various features of the music streaming app is necessary.
Testing helps identify bugs and eliminate them before they are caught by the users.
A music streaming app is highly dependent on enhanced user experience, which makes testing and quality assurance an integral part of the cost of a music streaming app.
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Analytics and Reporting Tools
Analytics and reporting tools enable you to track key KPIs like user behaviors, performance monitoring, and revenue insights.
It’s important to consider these tools with integrated dashboards and advanced analytics when budgeting for a music streaming app.
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Time to Market
The longer it takes to build a music streaming app, the higher it’s time to market is going to be which is a factor that influences the development cost.
Longer timelines may reduce immediate expenses but can delay revenue generation. Thus, it’s necessary to stick to a timeline and have the right team of skilled professionals for the job.
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Localization and Internationalization
Whether it’s adapting your app in multiple languages or reaching out to local or international artists and signing them on your music app, these activities are necessary to scale your business.
That being said, adapting the app for multiple languages, currencies, and cultural formats raises costs.
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User Authentication and Authorization
Establishing a secure login system with features like two-factor authentication and role based access can influence the development cost.
This leads to an enhanced cost to build a music streaming app.
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Content Management System (CMS)
A CMS is easy to use, and doesn’t require extensive coding and web development language to use.
Thus, it is an expense that you have to incur if you are planning to upload, organize, and manage music content and metadata.
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Push Notifications and Alerts
Push notifications are a great way to keep your users involved.
From daily reminders to tune in, to notification of upcoming events and new drops, you can use alerts in a variety of ways.
That being said, advanced targeting, scheduling, and analytics features increase development time, server expenses, and maintenance needs.
Hidden Factors of Cost Estimation for Music App
You have already viewed the primary factors that influence the costs of music streaming app development, yet there is more to consider that can affect the overall budget:
1. App Store Fees and Licensing
Based on the app store you launch your app on, there is an App store fee that’s generally a recurring payment, added to your music app development and maintenance cost.
The more platforms, the higher the cost. Plus, you need to assure that you have the right licenses to run your app on those platforms.
These expenses, though small individually, accumulate over time and impact the total cost structure significantly.
2. Data Storage and Hosting Costs
As your music app scales it will require large libraries.
Here, reliable, scalable hosting and storage solutions add hidden ongoing costs to ensure smooth performance and uptime.
3. Localization Maintenance
Maintaining localized versions involves continuous updates, translation improvements, and region specific compliance.
These recurring costs often rise as new markets are added or app content evolves.
4. Unexpected Technical Challenges
There is always a chance that unforeseen issues like performance bottlenecks, integration failures, or scalability problems often arise.
Solving them is an added cost that you need to consider when allocating your budget for music streaming app development.
5. User Feedback and Iterative Improvements
During the development, new features or change requests can greatly prolong the project schedule and increase the music streaming app development cost.
Every addition entails additional coding, testing, and refinements, which can add to the cost.
6. Integration Complexity
Integrating APIs or payment gateways, social media, music libraries, and other third-party services can be complicated.
Integrations can have their own distinct technical, security, and maintenance requirements, which can increase the cost and time associated with an integration.
7. Licencing & IP
Getting music licenses is instrumental in creating a music streaming app.
There is an effort in identifying the music genres you want to add to your music app, finding the right artists or record labels, reaching out to them, and getting their approvals.
This approval generally comes with a fee or royalty deal.
8. Legal Consultation and Compliance Audits
Security and compliance with regards to user data is of utmost importance.
The use of robust encryption, a secure authentication process, and privacy standards can increase the cost of development, but keep the data of your users safe and help develop trust in your music application.
Here, onboarding a legal consultant can be an added cost as well.
9. User Acquisition and Retention Strategies
When the app is ready and deployed on the iOS or Android app store, it has to be marketed as well to acquire new users.
Marketing, basic or large-scale scale is a costly affair.
Whether it’s social media ads or banners and billboards, you need to develop a detailed marketing plan, get the right vendors on board, and execute it.
Popular Music Streaming Apps Worldwide
When evaluating the development cost of a music streaming app, it’s useful to look at well-known platforms and how much it typically costs to create apps of similar scale and complexity.
1. Spotify
Spotify stands as the most popular music streaming app with billions of streams annually.
It has by far the most market share in terms of both artists and users.
To build something similar, you need to create a smooth interface and a strong user experience.
The cost to create an app like Spotify is usually between $100,000 and $500,000 or more, depending on features and backend setup.
2. Amazon Music
Similar to Spotify, Amazon Music also features a large collection of music from varied artists across borders.
Thanks to the popularity of Amazon, the music streaming app has a strong reach in over 55 countries worldwide.
Its interface combines both frontend and backend complexity.
The overall music streaming app development cost estimate comes to $50,000 to $300,000
3. YouTube Music
A product of Google, YouTube Music enables users to easily explore, discover, and stream millions of songs.
Because of its advanced features and reliable infrastructure, development costs are higher.
An app like YouTube Music could cost anywhere from $70,000 to $500,000, depending on complexity and scale.
4. Apple Music
The tech giant Apple also has a music streaming app called Apple Music.
It has a catalog of over 100 million songs and gives new users who shop for Apple devices like iPhone, Mac, or iPad a free trial.
Building an app like Apple Music usually costs between $100,000 and $500,000 or more.
Cost Breakdown to Develop a Music Streaming App
Building a music streaming app involves multiple stages, from planning to deployment and ongoing maintenance.
Each stage has its own cost factors depending on complexity, design requirements, chosen tech stack, and marketing approach.
| Step | Budget Item | Estimated Cost | Notes | Timeframe |
| 1. Planning & Research | Market analysis & research | $200 – $1,000 | Find record labels, identify the target audience, and languages | ~3 weeks |
| Requirement gathering | $500 – $2,000 | Document app features, user flows, and stakeholder needs | ||
| Project roadmap | $300 – $1,000 | Define objectives, milestones, and resource allocation | ||
| 2. Design | UI/UX design | $500 – $8,000 | Design app screens, navigation, and user flow | ~4 weeks |
| Graphic design | $500 – $7,000 | Create custom icons, visuals, and branding elements | ||
| 3. Development | Front-End | $3,000 – $30,000 | Build UI, media playback, login & playlist features | ~12 weeks |
| Back-End | $5,000 – $40,000 | Server logic, database setup, and user management | ||
| API development | $2,000 – $15,000 | Enable secure data exchange between front-end and back-end | ||
| 4. Testing & QA | Manual testing | $1,500 – $7,000 | Test for bugs, usability, and cross-device performance | ~4 weeks |
| Automated testing | $1,500 – $8,000 | Set up scripts and frameworks for automated checks | ||
| 5. Launch & Deployment | App store publishing | $1,500 – $10,000 | Submit the app to Google Play and Apple App Store | ~2 weeks |
| Marketing & promotion | $5,000 – $16,000 | Run ads, social campaigns, and influencer outreach | ||
| 6. Maintenance | Updates & bug fixes | $2,000 – $5,000 / month | Release updates, fix bugs, and optimize performance | Continuous |
How to Minimise the Cost to Develop a Music Streaming App?
A good way to reduce costs is to start small and grow over time.
Instead of building a full streaming app at once, launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with only core features like music playback, user login, and playlists.
This helps you test the market, gather feedback, and refine the app before adding advanced options like AI recommendations or sharing.
You can also save money by using cross-platform tools like Flutter or React Native, which work for both iOS and Android with one codebase.
Other cost-cutting steps include outsourcing to skilled but affordable app developers, picking an efficient tech stack, and running on cloud infrastructure.
This keeps the app reliable without high upfront costs.
How to Monetize Your Music Streaming App
A music streaming application that your audience loves is not the end goal of developing it.
You need to be able to monetize your music app to make the most amount of money.
How do you do it? These are some methods of making your music app profitable.
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Freemium Model
Freemium gives basic features for free and advanced features on paid plans.
The free tier has limits. Freemium users get lower quality audio, limited skips, and frequent ads.
However, premium plans remove those limits. They include ad-free listening, the ability to skip tracks, high-quality audio, and offline playback.
The model is used to attract a wide range of users and monetize a section to become paying subscribers.
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Subscription Plans
Recurrent revenue can be achieved through subscriptions.
Here, users pay for a premium membership on a monthly or annual basis.
You can offer different levels of pricing based on the type of audience, like student, individual, or family plans.
Such a model stimulates loyalty and enables users to check out the plans that best suit their needs and budget.
YouTube Music is a prime example of such plans.
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Advertisements
One potential source of revenue could be in-app advertising.
The advertisements can take the form of audio by linking between songs, via a banner, or a short video clip at the start of playback.
You must be able to strike a balance such that advertisements do not exasperate customers.
Moreover, premium subscriptions, which offer an ad-free experience, also serve as motivation for users to upgrade.
Basically, you serve ads to non-premium members and go ad-free with premium subscribers; in both cases, you make money.
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In-App Purchases
When it comes to in-app purchases to increase revenue, a paid feature or content can help.
This could be in the form of products, first dibs on records, exclusive music experiences, or personalized playlists.
You can also encourage users to make additional purchases within the app with the help of virtual gifts, sound effects, and premium music-curation tools.
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Sponsored Content/Partnerships
With a substantial user base, you can use your music streaming app for partnerships and sponsored deals like sponsored playlists, branded shows, and exclusive releases.
Live content, such as live events with celebrities, live interviews, or show-behind-the-scenes footage, can also attract a larger user base and generate viable listenerships.
Connect with GMTA Software Solutions and Build Your Music Streaming App
Collaborate with GMTA Software Solutions to bring your idea of a music streaming application to life.
With multiple years of experience and a team of experts in the music app development segment, we can develop the best music streaming app based on your budget, vision, and goals.
Our team provides comprehensive music app development solutions, including planning and design, development, and deployment, ensuring your app meets modern standards and provides a seamless user experience.
Get access to professional developers, designers, and strategists who maximise costs, add more advanced features, and bring monetisation strategies specific to your business objectives. Reach a GMTA Software Solutions expert today.
Conclusion
Multiple factors affect the cost to build a music streaming app.
You must do your due diligence and explore each aspect of the development process to identify specific costs to have an accurate budget.
We hope that by reading through this blog, you were able to find every detail associated with the cost of music app development. You can consider this guide as a core on which you can build your music streaming app development journey.
FAQs
2. What factors impact the development cost of a music streaming app?
Key factors that influence music app development include music app complexity, platform choice (iOS, Android, or hybrid), core features, design, team size and location, technology stack, and ongoing maintenance requirements.
3. How long does it take to build a music streaming app?
Development time depends on complexity. A simple MVP may take 3–4 months, while a full-featured, complex app can require 6–12 months or more.
4. Can I reduce the cost of developing a music streaming app?
Yes. Start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), use cross-platform frameworks like Flutter or React Native, outsource to cost-efficient regions, and prioritise essential features before scaling.
5. What monetization strategies can I use for my music streaming app?
Popular approaches for music app monetization include freemium models, subscription plans, in-app advertisements, in-app purchases, and partnerships with artists or brands for sponsored content.
