If you think you'll miss out on good content by going the free route, think again—these streaming services offer a surprising amount of content. For example, LiveOne differentiates itself with Stories, a hosted program that features interesting tales, ranging from love to horror. iHeartRadio blends live, terrestrial radio with playlists. Spotify has many free playlists and podcasts. Amazon Music Unlimited offers the same. Though some of the listed services have price tags attached, rest assured that they all have no-cost tiers.

You may ask, "What about big names, such as Apple Music, SiriusXM Internet Radio, or Tidal?" Those excellent streaming music are definitely worth your time, but they are premium-only affairs with premium-only features. Those for-pay service levels are aimed at customers who really want to explore the depths of what a streaming music service offers. Not everyone needs those features, of course, so free music tiers are extremely valuable.

That's not an easy answer. Thanks to—you guessed it—money, some platforms have either gained or lost content. Taylor Swift, Prince, and other artists have seen their catalogs vanish from streaming platforms (and later reappear) due to low royalties. The issue of artist compensation has always dogged the recording industry, and it hasn't disappeared with the advent of streaming music—quite the contrary, in fact.

In some cases, you may be unable to play certain songs on demand; these tracks are only available within the scope of a themed channel. Content restrictions and missing artists and tracks are still a problem in the space, though—Swift notwithstanding—the situation has improved markedly in recent years.

Trying to figure out where things live and how you're able to access them can prove quite vexing to the uninitiated. It's one of the entertainment challenges that we face in the digital age.

Free music listening has its inconveniences, however. You may need to listen to audio ads. You may be limited to just six song skips per hour. You may not be able to listen to songs on demand or fire up particular playlists. You may not appreciate the rich sounds that high-resolution audio delivers. In many ways, free streaming music resembles classic, terrestrial radio. That's not too bad, considering you save roughly $9.99 per month you’d otherwise be paying for an individual music streaming plan.

Unfortunately, there are issues in the streaming music space that affect both free and paid accounts. Thanks to—you guessed it—money, some platforms gain and lose content over time. The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Prince, and other artists have seen their catalogs vanish from streaming platforms (and later reappear) due to low royalties. It’s not just big names that get stiffed by the record industry; the little guys catch a bad one, too.