Credit: https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/22/17380914/youtube-music-service-streaming-premium-red-available-today
Only a couple of days ago we brought you a story that Google had perfected moves to roll out a music service on YouTube. The exact date for the roll out was actually mentioned in that report—and just as reported, the company has now rolled out YouTube Music streaming service.
YouTube Music is a streaming service that will swell the list of a market that is already heavily saturated by major players like Spotify and Amazon among others. The service is now available to users in select markets including United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. YouTube says Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom will be added to the list in the coming weeks.
YouTube Music just as the name suggests, will be dedicated solely for music—including songs, albums, playlists and artist radio. The service will also offer catalog of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos.
YouTube Music streaming service will offer free with ads, $9.99 per month without, or $11.99 per month for YouTube Premium. However, Google Play Music subscription members will get YouTube Music as part of that membership.
YouTube Music will offer:
- Remixes, covers, live versions as well as deep cuts—from the biggest artists in the world to freshest voices breaking through.
- New and iconic videos from “God’s Plan” and “Havana” to “Thriller,” “Sledgehammer,” and more.
- You will be able to find music even if you don’t know the name of the artist—all you need to do is to describe the song.
- Personalized home screen that dynamically adapts to provide recommendations based on your listening history, where you are and what you are doing.
Unlike the ad-supported version of the service, YouTube Music Premium is a paid membership that will give you background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience for $11.99 a month for all new members.
According to Google, current YouTube Red and Google Play Music subscribers in the US, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Mexico will continue to access the existing features they already enjoy at the same price they pay today. Google Play users in countries different from the aforementioned ones will automatically have access to YouTube Music Premium as soon as it becomes available there. What that means is that if use Google Play Music, all things remain the same – you will still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music just like always.
YouTube Music is not just an addition to a growing market, but one that is out to make a lot of difference. It, however, remains to be seen how the company is able to fight off stiff competition in a market that continues to attract more big players.
