Best paid streaming music services in Malaysia

Best is subjective. But if I were to write, "Best music streaming service in Malaysia according to my opinion and may differ to you", would sound a bit too long. Plus it’s less click-baity. 

The best to me currently, is Youtube Music/Premium. This is in comparison to Apple Music and Spotify. This review is based on usage of the past 2 years plus (2017-2020). 

A bit background to my usage. 

1. I listen to music while doing work at my office. 3 -4 hours a day, 2 - 5 days a week.
2. I commute by public transport and sometimes listen to music/audio for 1-2 hours. 
3. iOS user - iPhone, Apple Watch, Airpods

In summary, here's a table comparison of these three services. These are correct as far as I know of.

Criteria	Apple Music	Spotify	Youtube Music
Free version	No	Yes, got adds	Yes, normal youtube
Trial for Premium	Yes	Yes, 1 month	Yes, 1 month
Price1 Single -	RM 14.90	RM14.90	RM 17.90
Family -	RM 22.90	RM 22.40	RM 26.90
per person -	6 people, pax ~RM 4	6 people, pax ~RM4	5 people, pax ~RM 6

Apple Music

+ built in into iOS. integration is almost everywhere. If you ask Siri to play a song, most likely it'll play in Apple Music. (I don't use Siri)

+ rarely has streaming problem. My phone network is normally not reliable, yet while using Apple Music, I noticed that you can still listen to music for a long time without network. The other two apps have background downloads too, but Apple Music manages this seamlessly

+ Most songs have lyrics. And can be shown on Apple Watch ²

+ If you share a song in iMessage, it can be played directly in the message itself

+ The albums are `complete', in the sense that songs are either singles, or a complete album 

- Search function - Apple Music has weak search function. For example if you typo Arinna instead of Arianna, then there will be no result. Also the search function has only list of history searches. I don't have list and normally directly search for a song, hence a short search list is very annoying

- the recommendations ("For You" tab and "Radio" tab) are not interesting. Most are, I would say, Americanized songs. They are local lists which are mainstream Malaysian songs or Kpop.

- Sharing  - Apple Music can be shared within a 'Family'. You just add another apple-ID (usually email used for an Iphone). It's simple and easy. Problem is, it gives a whole lot of access to your 'Family' members, such as they can see your location. Unless you don't mind this, it's impossible to share your Apple Music with a friend/colleague.

Spotify

+ a very clean interface

+ Recommendation is in the form of "Mood". I find it quite useful.

+ Most (?) famous music app in Malaysia, so there's a lot of local playlist

- Songs are repetitive. I personally find that the same song will be found in multiple recommendation list, especially the trending ones

- Sharing - is even worse than Apple Music. Not only you have to build a 'family' too, but you have to have the same address with them. I've created two 'familys' of Spotify, sharing with friend and colleagues, and it was troublesome. One colleague didn't manage to join at all.

- This persistence of Spotify in limiting its sharing to 'real' family member is ridiculous

Youtube Music/Premium

Youtube Premium essentially upgrades your youtube account which brings certain benefits. More on that later. 

However to make it easy to listen to music, Google gives you another app, called Youtube Music which allows you to listen to only music/music videos. This avoid your cooking subscription video playing while you are on your morning run.

+ The whole lot of Youtube is available for you, this includes TED videos, Quran recitations or even Maharaja Lawak (if that is your thing. I won't judge).

+ Great search function.The algorithm is, Google. You can just type the chorus of any songs, and most likely the right song will return from your search. Good luck doing that on Apple Music,.

+ Removes ads, in Youtube and music. No more advertisement before you watch a cooking show, or in the middle of a gadget review

+ Allows music and Youtube videos to be in background, for iOS. Yay!

+ Youtube kids, ads-free

- Slightly more expensive for family plan, per person(pax)

- The sounds are sometimes of variable quality. Some songs are a bit louder while some are not, in the sense of volume

- similar to above, sometimes the songs that you searched returns cover version. Sometimes. This depend on you, but I hate covers.

- Offline play is available, but you have to set which playlist or songs to be available offline.

As can be seen, I highly recommend Youtube, since I believe it offers the most for a similar price. Also some of my pros and cons are very subjective, and as I don't believe you will agree to all, it would be best if you use the trials offered.

Notes

1 - Price differs, according to current promotion, student price or even third-party tie-in such as with Boost(Apple Music) and yearly discount(Spotify). Look around for the best promos, you luck is needed

2 - For iOS, all apps can be controlled through Lockscreen Interface, Airpods (taps and double/triple taps) and Apple watch.