You’ve been waiting for it, it’s back: our new Versus. Today, we look at two of the best-known platforms on the market: YouTube Music and Deezer. And we’re asking ourselves a simple question that raises many others. YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
The two platforms are different in many ways and should each meet specific needs. Luckily, Soundiiz is here to explain the differences point by point and guide you in your choice!
What’s the difference?
In 2006, from a Parisian apartment, Daniel Marhely envisioned a platform that would make all the world’s music accessible. This vision led to the creation of Blogmusik, the precursor to Deezer. Despite its closure due to piracy concerns, Daniel and his team persisted, and in 2007, they launched Deezer with the help of business school student Jonathan Benassaya. The platform’s success was rapid, and by 2009, it had introduced a Premium package and expanded its catalog with the inclusion of Universal Music and Warner Music references.
To keep up with increasingly fierce competitors, Deezer formed partnerships with major French companies, including a Deezer subscription with another subscription or purchasing a product. The strategy is innovative and generates a sizeable number of new customers. Between 2015 and 2016, Deezer entered the American market, investing in podcasts and offering an audiophile version of its services. Today, Deezer hopes to continue its international expansion. The company has big ambitions. In April 2023, Jeronimo Folgueira, Deezer’s new CEO, was included on Billboard’s famous list of International Power Players, recognizing the most influential personalities in the music world.
Deezer recently changed its logo and launched several communication campaigns to promote its evolution. This is a sign that the company is still expanding and should continue to make noise in the years after almost 20 years of existence and nearly 10 million subscribers.
YouTube emerged in 2014, first with the launch of Music Key, then evolving its formula with Google Play six years later. But that’s not all: after Google Play, YouTube officially launched YouTube Music, the version we’re looking at today. Three different names for a service that’s going from strength to strength, reaching over 80 million people worldwide. Initially, a relatively discreet player, YouTube Music is seeing its user numbers grow, even if its – for the moment – limited geographical coverage means it can’t reach the heights of Spotify and others.
Audio Quality – YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
This is undoubtedly the main point of difference between the two platforms. Many users and specialists believe that YouTube Music is one of the worst streaming services in the high-quality audio segment. Over the years, what started as little more than a gadget has become indispensable to most market players. So much so that most of them offer a high-quality HiFi version so that those who desire it can listen to music correctly, almost in studio conditions, except for YouTube Music, which lags in this area.
Surprisingly, YouTube Music needs to make more effort in this segment. With its considerable resources and Google’s power, it could invest to improve its offering.
Deezer, for its part, is positioning itself in the audiophile segment, trying to compete with Qobuz and TIDAL on this point. Deezer’s strategy is a clever one: its basic audio quality may satisfy most people, but its Hi-Fi option puts it in another category, that of fussy, demanding listeners. So they’re playing both sides of the fence, something YouTube cannot do.
Winner: Deezer
User Experience & Algorithms – YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
Deezer stands out with its unique Flow recommendation system, a feature that has long proven its worth and made it one of the best platforms for music discovery. Flow creates an endless playlist of songs based on Deezer users’ individual tastes and listening habits. The accuracy and relevance of these recommendations are truly impressive, making Deezer a platform worth exploring.
Another positive point for Deezer is the presence of editorial playlists created by Deezer, its teams, and partners. This takes us out of the realm of algorithms and gives us a feeling of closeness to the platform. At Soundiiz, even if we’re passionate about technology, having “human” contact is something we appreciate.
What’s more, there’s no doubt that Deezer is one of the most ergonomic platforms on the market. This is a point on which YouTube still has some work to do. Ergonomics has been at the heart of Deezer’s strategy for many years, and it works on this aspect regularly. Most recently, Deezer radically changed its operating mode and navigation system. This usually generates a lot of dissatisfaction, and on the part of Deezer users, this has once again been the case. At least initially. A few months after the changes were made, the new navigation system was a resounding success.
For example, the podcast section now has a separate entry. It may not seem like a big deal. But it’s a clever move and a way of highlighting a sector in which Deezer has invested.
With its strong ties to Google, YouTube Music offers a highly personalized experience. The platform can detect your location and time of use. Based on this, it suggests playlists that match your current mood and activity. For instance, it will suggest energetic playlists if you’re working out. You may see playlists with relaxing music if it’s late at night. This personalized approach may seem a bit overwhelming to some. But for many, it’s a unique and enjoyable experience that makes them feel understood and catered to.
Winner: Deezer
Which one pays artists better?
While not yet one of the best performers, Deezer is one of the platforms that pays artists the most. According to a study by MusicianWave.com in July 2023, Deezer pays $0.0067 per stream. It could be better, but Deezer makes up for it with several initiatives designed to support the careers of emerging artists. These include Deezer Next and numerous events intended to help create a new generation of artists. Physical events, mixtape creations, partnerships with brands and influencers: Deezer tries to be present on many fronts.
In France, the Deezer YouTube channel has launched Deezer Sessions, live formats inspired by the COLORS channel and feature emerging profiles. But despite all these efforts, according to MusicianWave.com, Deezer lags behind YouTube regarding artist remuneration. The difference isn’t huge: a stream earns $0.0080 on YouTube Music, or $0.0013 more than on Deezer. But all the same! This can make a big difference for artists who rack up millions of streams.
Please note: this information should be treated with caution. Pay-per-stream figures vary from one source to another. However, by comparing the statistics from several sites, we can confirm that the ones we have indicated are the closest to reality.
Winner: YouTube Music
Price & Subscription – YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
– (as of August 2024) –
As you’ll be aware, and as we discuss in this article, Deezer, like its competitors, has recently increased its monthly rates. A Premium package costs $11.99 a month. Deezer also offers Family, Duo, and Student packages. It provides flexible formulas to adapt your subscription to your needs.
If you live in France, the platform has formed partnerships with several companies, such as SFR, Orange, and Bouygues Telecom, that allow you to get a few months of free subscription and thus save over a year on the cost of your subscription.
YouTube Music Premium offers a consistent and balanced package. An individual subscription costs $10.99 monthly, and a subscription that allows six different people to use the same subscription costs $16.99 monthly.
If you take out a YouTube Music Premium subscription, you can enjoy YouTube Premium for an extra $2 a month. What’s in it for you? It removes the multiple ads you’re forced to watch for a few seconds before being able to skip them when viewing a YouTube video.
YouTube Music Premium is an extensive offer, which could be a perfect solution if you’re a big YouTube consumer!
Note that the free version of YouTube Music seems slightly more complicated to navigate than the free version of Deezer. The ads seem more numerous, which can mar your listening experience!
Winner: Deezer
Catalogs – YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
– (as of August 2024) –
Considering the number of references available, YouTube Music is ahead of Deezer, with over 10 million more songs. This may seem trivial, but it’s not, especially in the case of YouTube Music.
Google’s service stands out in several respects: including more references should enable anyone looking for obscure or little-known recordings to find everything they want. Indeed, YouTube Music users and other analysts agree that the platform is unrivaled when searching for songs that have slipped under the radar. Thanks to a highly efficient search system based on Google criteria. Having tested it, Soundiiz can confirm that YouTube Music’s search interface is indeed impressive.
YouTube Music is at the forefront of “search by lyrics.” You’ll be able to find that famous song you know the chorus to but don’t know the name of more quickly than anywhere else. And then add it to your playlist!
But that’s not all. Since YouTube Music is linked to YouTube, you can benefit from countless clips, live performances, and songs. It adds to the listening experience, creating bridges between audio and images and offering a global vision.
The same goes for podcasts: YouTube Music’s offering is more extensive than Deezer’s, at least for now. Deezer, on the other hand, is very efficient when it comes to radio stations. However, in a context where more and more listeners consume podcasts and audiobooks, YouTube is doing well.
We know that Deezer is investing heavily in improving its podcast offering. There’s little doubt that they will soon be able to assert themselves in this competitive sector.
Winner: YouTube Music
YouTube Music VS Deezer: which is better?
Having analyzed both services, Deezer offers a more solid overall experience than YouTube Music. Present in more countries, with an admittedly slightly smaller catalog that should be manageable, more refined recommendations, and above all, a Hi-Fi option, Deezer ticks all the boxes.
On the other hand, YouTube Music stands out for its price range, catalog of music and podcasts, and the feeling that the platform will grow stronger over the coming months and years.
Deezer seems more balanced and should suit most user profiles. With its efficient ergonomics and the promise of many more features resulting from substantial investment, Deezer seems more mainstream than YouTube Music.
Moreover, even if the price argument remains a priority for many people, the algorithms, recommendation systems, and catalogs are the most important. This impacts the day-to-day use of your services, and Deezer has a slight edge in this aspect.
Soundiiz: Transfer your playlists from one music service to another
When you sign up for a new phone subscription, your new company sometimes offers you a few free months with Deezer. The same goes for an internet subscription. Deezer has positioned itself in this niche more than any other streaming service, and that’s pretty smart of them.
Some users of other streaming services, like YouTube Music, might want to try Deezer. But how can you avoid losing all your data by migrating from one service to another? Soundiiz comes to save you.
One of the main things that could prevent you from changing your music streaming platform is losing all your music collection, including your playlists, favorite albums or tracks, and followed artists. Rebuilding this library with a new service could be time-consuming and even impossible, depending on the size of your collection.
Soundiiz solves this by doing an advanced matching process, allowing you to move quickly and with no effort from Deezer or YouTube Music to any other platform you choose. You can also migrate, for example, your data from YouTube Music to Deezer or Spotify with Soundiiz! Then, keep your playlists updated by using the playlist Synchronization feature.
When you unsubscribe from a streaming service, your data and playlists can be deleted. Using Soundiiz, you can create your Deezer or YouTube Music playlist backups as CSV—convenient!
To sum everything up, Soundiiz allows you to subscribe to Deezer and YouTube Music without losing your data. Interesting, isn’t it?
So go ahead, sign up for a thirty-day trial, once with Deezer and once with YouTube Music, and choose!
