The new streaming service and app will compete with Spotify and Apple Music
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| An illustration of the YouTube Music logo. The new streaming service will launch May 22. |
YouTube will launch a new music streaming service called YouTube Music to provide users with another option for people to stream their favorite tunes.
YouTube Music streaming service will offer users access to thousands of playlists, millions of songs, albums and artist radio stations. While many people may find this similar to other services such as Spotify of Apple Music, one of the key features of YouTube Music is its vast video library. In addition to streaming songs by your favorite artists, uers will also have access to all the music videos on the platform.
Although services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal offer users exclusive video content to its subscribers, there are many people who still find themselves heading over to YouTube to watch music videos on demand.
According to Omnicore, YouTube already has approximately 1.57 billion monthly active users. In comparison, Spotify has more than 140 million monthly active users and approximately 75 million paying subscribers. Apple Music has around 36 million subscribers, while Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, has approximately 1.5 million subscribers.
With the YouTube Music streaming service, users will be able to listen to new and classic music and also watch videos too. Many users find themselves listening to music on one app, and switching over to YouTube to watch the video.
“The days of jumping back and forth between multiple music apps and YouTube are over,” said Elias Roman, product manager of YouTube Music, in a recent blog post announcing the new streaming service.
YouTube’s goal appears to be to give users access to millions of songs as well as new and classic music videos to round out the music experience. According to the Google-owned platform, the new music streaming service will offer users new ways to discover music including a way to search for music by describing the song. If you’re someone who isn’t familiar with Cardi B’s megahit “Bodak Yellow” but only knows a few words, you could search by “I make money moves,” and it will find the song for you. We can all thank Google for its robust search engine technology.
Aside from access to millions of songs and music videos and improved ways to discover new music, YouTube Music will have its own app and desktop player designed for music.
When does YouTube Music streaming service launch?
According to YouTube, the company’s new music streaming service will launch on Tuesday, May 22. The company said they plan to roll out the new music platform in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. A few weeks after the initial launch it will become available in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy Norway, Russia Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.
So how much will YouTube Music cost?
According to the company, users can enjoy the new music streaming service for free but it will have ads, much like other popular streaming services.
The YouTube Music Premium service will cost $9.99 a month. The company notes that if you’re already a paid subscriber to Google Play Music, you will receive a YouTube Music Premium membership as part of your subscription.
In addition to YouTube Music Premium, YouTube announced that its YouTube Red paid service will be known as YouTube Premium and will cost users $11.99 per month and will include the brand new YouTube Music service.
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