Comparison of online music lockers

This is a comparison of online music storage services (Cloud Music Services), Internet services that allow uploads of personally owned or licensed music to the cloud for listening on multiple devices.^[1]

Previously, there were three large services—Amazon Music, Apple's iTunes Match, and YouTube Music^[2]—each incorporating an online music store (see comparison), with purchased songs from the associated music store not counting toward storage limits. Other than additional storage space, the main additional feature provided with an annual fee by Apple (and formerly Amazon.com) was "scan-and-match", which examined music files on a computer and added a copy of matched tracks to the user's music locker without having to upload the files. Google provided both a large amount of storage space and the scan-and-match feature at no cost.

Amazon was the first of the initially-significant players to launch their cloud music locker service, in late March 2011, and the first to discontinue it, on 30 April 2018.^[3] Amazon Music launched without obtaining any new music streaming licenses, which upset the major record labels.^[4] Amazon eventually negotiated licenses before launching scan-and-match.

Google launched their service less than a month and a half after Amazon, also without obtaining any new licenses.^[5] Like Amazon, Google eventually negotiated licenses before launching scan-and-match. In 2018, Google announced a transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music,^[6] and in May, 2020, Google had created a transfer tool to migrate added albums, uploads, history, and playlists.^[7] On October 22, 2020, Google Play Music was discontinued.^[8]

Apple was the last of the first three services to launch, which they did on October 12, 2011. However, Apple had negotiated ahead of time with the major record labels for new licenses. Apple's product is the only of the three to remain in operation today (see iTunes Match, below).

For streaming services where a person is unable to upload their own music, but is limited to music provided by the service, such as Pandora Radio and Spotify, see Comparison of on-demand streaming music services. See that article also for information on subscription streaming services provided by four of the companies below (Google Play Music All Access, Apple's Apple Music, Amazon's Prime Music, and Microsoft's Groove Music Pass).