Nowadays, online music concerts have become the norm. But when people are on the go, they can’t watch concert videos all the time. So, they prefer plugging into their headphones or earphones and keep grooving throughout. This gives rise to the need for live audio streaming services.
Live audio streaming has its own fanbase. And it is not limited to music only. Many people prefer listening to news feeds rather than reading them or watching them on TV. While many people prefer listening to stories and even plays!
In today’s blog, we will be discussing the top 5 live audio streaming services in 2023, using which, you can live stream your audio concerts, audio news feeds, live audio conversations, and much more! But before that, let me give you some basic information about live audio streaming services.
What is a Live Audio Streaming Service?
A live audio streaming service is a platform that enables you to live stream any audio content on your own audio streaming platform. It can be anything, from music to news to plays to stories, live sports commentary, and sometimes even live audio fitness instructions!
Technically speaking, they are a platform using which you can develop your own audio streaming platform like Spotify, and then stream live audio through your own platform. Hence, they provide you the software, storage, server and hosting, DRM, and all the other technical infrastructure needed to develop a live audio streaming platform.
So, if you use a live audio streaming service, you can have your own live audio streaming platform ready in minutes, as you don’t need to write a single line of code or arrange any digital infrastructure. You get everything out of the box. You just need to prepare your live-streaming script, and start streaming!
Top 5 Live Audio Streaming Services in 2023
There are many live audio streaming services out there in the market, but only a few of them offer you the complete lot of features you will need. Our team has reviewed most of these live audio streaming services, and according to us, the top five services are:
- Muvi Live
- VPlayed
- Wowza
- Dacast
- Livestream
Let’s take a detailed look at their key features.
1. Muvi Live
Muvi Live is one of the most powerful live audio streaming services out there in the market. It allows you to stream any form of live audio content, from podcasts to talk shows, and from news feeds to music concerts.
Ultra-low latency and multi-DRM-protected live streaming are their unique selling points. But this is not all, Muvi Live is packed with multiple industry-leading features, such as:
- Built-in CDN: With Muvi Live, you get CDN out-of-the-box, which helps you deliver a buffer-free live audio feed to even the most remote parts of the world.
- Record Your Live Streams: Muvi Live lets you record your live streams. So, you can re-publish the recorded audio feed later.
- Powerful Analytics: Get detailed insights about your audience, and propel your business faster.
- Live Mobile App: Live stream from your mobile phone using the Muvi Live mobile app.
- Strictest Security Features: Multi-DRM protection, server-side security, firewall, screen-recording protection, SSL certification, dynamic watermarking, geo-blocking, and VPN detection keeps you protected from all types of cyber threats.
Major Pros of Muvi Live’s Live Audio Streaming Service
Muvi Live’s live audio streaming has many pros but some of the most unique ones are:
- You can live stream your audio content using separate microphones. You just need to select the source of audio in the encoder, and it will start streaming the audio from your preferred mic.
- Muvi Live lets you live stream third-party audio feeds. You can simply use the HLS outputs to stream any third-party audio on your audio streaming platform. You can even improve the quality of the audio feed while it is being streamed on your platform.
- Due to its multi-CDN architecture, the latency of your live audio feed will always be lower than 9 seconds.
- You can publish the live audio feed directly on your website or app.
- You can even monetize your live audio feeds and earn hefty revenue from them!
Muvi Live Cons
You need to pay infrastructure costs separately, but you can avail the pay-as-you-go facility for it, which will reduce the cost.
Muvi Live Pricing:
Muvi Live offers the following pricing plans:
- Muvi Live standard plan starts at US$ 79 per month
- Muvi Live professional plan starts at US$ 299 per month
- You can get their premium plan, which is called the enterprise plan, at US$ 799 per month
2. VPlayed
VPlayed allows you to live stream audio content like podcasts, music shows, and sports commentary shows. It offers an interactive user experience along with some very good features like advanced analytics and reports and creating lively playlists.
VPlayed Pros
- The users can enjoy unlimited skips over live audio.
- In the case of music streaming, the lyrics can be displayed on the player.
- It has an in-built sleep timer too.
VPlayed Cons
It doesn’t offer any free trial period, hence you need to pay straightaway without testing the software.
VPlayed Pricing
They have a one-time pricing structure. You need to contact their sales people to calculate the actual cost.
3. Wowza
Wowza is a well-known name in the streaming industry. It has launched its audio streaming service that supports audio-only and live audio streaming. Their Wowza Streaming Engine has been updated to support audio-only broadcasters, through which you can deliver high-quality audio feeds.
Wowza Pros
- Its streaming engine helps preserve the audio quality while streaming.
- They let you create on-demand playlists.
- Wowza offers good security features.
Wowza Cons
Sometimes, custom coding may be required to fulfill complicated live audio streaming use cases.
Wowza Pricing
For one month of streaming, you need to pay US$ 149, while for one year of streaming, you need to pay US$ 1,560.
4. Dacast
Dacast offers an enterprise-grade live audio streaming setup, through which you can live stream all forms of audio content. They use AAC codecs for encoding, which ensures high-quality audio streaming.
Dacast Pros
- You can get useful insights like audio listening time from their audio analytics section.
- They offer 24×7 audio support.
Dacast Cons
You might need some time to get familiar with the platform.
Dacast Pricing
Dacast offers the following pricing plans:
- Starter plan starts at US$ 39 per month.
- Event plan starts at US$ 63 per month.
- Scale plan starts at US$ 188 per month.
5. Livestream
Livestream is an exclusive streaming service offered by Vimeo. Though it lacks a few features which are specific for audio-only streaming, they offer a good alternative to those who want to cater to a large set of audiences.
Livestream Pros
- It offers an ad-free streaming experience to your users.
- It provides a very detailed analytics report.
- It is easy to use.
Livestream Cons
- A bit expensive.
- Audio streaming is not their prime focus, the platform is mainly built for video streaming.
Livestream Pricing
Their premium pricing plan starts at US$ 75 per month.
To Sum Up
A good audio live streaming service helps you deliver the best quality live audio feed effortlessly. Muvi Live, VPlayed, Wowza, Dacast, and Livestream offer very good live audio streaming features. However, as per our review, if you want a complete live audio streaming service that takes care of everything from latency to security, and from monetization to analytics, then you should choose Muvi Live. And you don’t need to pay anything beforehand.
You can try Muvi Live free of cost for 14 days, where you won’t have to submit any credit card or other payment details. If you are satisfied with the product, then only you will have to pay the subscription fee.
