In order to compete with the booming music streaming business, YouTube is to start competing with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music by launching YouTube Music. It will work very similarly to Spotify and Apple offering a free version that contains advertisements or a “premium” service for the monthly fee of £9.99 per month which allows to user download and stream music offline without ads. The new subscription won’t replace Google Play Music however as they will coexist and anyone who already has a subscription to them is entitled to YouTube music as part of that membership.
To try and stay in the competition, YouTube Music will be bringing some new things to the table. “Your Mixtape” will be a personalised playlist created by YouTube containing song recommendations, songs by similar artists and songs you listen most frequently. This playlist will be automatically downloaded onto your phone therefore making it so you can listen to it “on the go”. It will also offer cover songs, live performances and parodies of songs which is something Spotify and Apple are lacking highly. One of the most interesting features will be its advanced search engine. It will be able to find songs based on lyrics, even misheard lyrics, as well as even describing what the songs are like e.g. the song from “Top Gun” (Take my breath Away). This will be a very interesting feature (providing it lives up to expectations) as it will make it easier for users to find songs they have previously heard and has the high potential to attract new customers.
Another thing that is important to know is that YouTube Music premium is NOT YouTube’s new service YouTube premium. YouTube premium will be a new ad-free service replacing YouTube Red which was a service allowing users to download videos as well as accessing exclusive content.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, it could mean that YouTube will rise to the top in the ever-growing popularity of music streaming or it could be a complete disaster if users don’t deem the differences “enough” to switch over from their current music provider.
