Google’s new YouTube Music streaming service arrives today for some users, available either for free with ads, $9.99 per month without, or $11.99 per month for YouTube Premium (previously YouTube Red), which includes original video content. Anyone who already has a Google Play Music subscription gets YouTube Music as part of that membership. YouTube Music is Google’s most straightforward answer to Spotify to date, and comes with both a redesigned app and new desktop player, both designed specifically around playing music. Google argues that using YouTube for music needs has an advantage as it incorporates not just official versions of songs, but remixes, live versions, and covers. There’s also the promise that Google’s AI will make YouTube Music a “lean back” experience so those overwhelmed by the choices most streaming platforms offer can instead rely on YouTube to do most of the heavy lifting with discovery. There are other areas where YouTube Music does some heavy lifting on a user’s behalf, like a new feature called Your Mixtape. A collection automatically created from music compiled from favorite artists, songs frequently listened to, and new recommendations, Your Mixtape is automatically downloaded to a user’s phone, accessible for offline listening. YouTube Music recommendations will also take into account variables like the time of day and location. The early access is limited to a portion of users in the 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 in the coming weeks.<doc-sep>On Tuesday, YouTube began rolling out early access to its revamped music streaming platform, YouTube Music, which will cost users $9.99 a month for the premium tier. As an avid music consumer, the concept of streaming an infinite number of songs is basically a god-sent miracle – and one that I’d willingly pay for. The ability to listen on-demand wherever I am in the world is the sort of futuristic dream generations of music fans before me could only dream of, and YouTube, which is owned by Google, is perhaps best positioned to forge ahead and innovate the space. But in order for YouTube Music to claim a spot in streaming’s new world order, it needs to have something to set it apart, especially considering that Spotify is king and Apple Music, in second place, is closing in on the Swedish company. (If you’re wondering, I’m a subscriber to Apple Music’s paid tier and a user of Spotify’s free service.) I gave YouTube Music a test drive on my laptop and the first thing I noticed was how the user interface looked incredibly familiar. A quick scroll through YouTube Music’s main page reveals curated playlists pretty similar to what I can find on Spotify, and even the cover art designs YouTube Music presents seem derivative. However, YouTube has the power of Google’s search algorithm behind it, and Today’s Biggest Hits is a good playlist if anyone’s curious about what’s trending in the music world that day. If you’re not down for listening to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” or Portugal the Man’s “Feel It Still” for the umpteenth time, YouTube Music has a series of “Hotlists,” their version of Spotify’s playlist, for whatever genre suits your fancy. As an avid hip-hop fan, I immediately took note of YouTube’s Hip-Hop and R&B Hotlist, featuring four hours of “the hottest songs in hip-hop and R&B.” Of course, I was curious as to how it would stack up to Spotify’s massively influential RapCaviar playlist. The verdict: It’s a pretty solid playlist, but I can’t see myself discovering a hungry mixtape master on it, at least not while it’s stacking Drake, Migos and Nicki Minaj back-to-back and then sprinkling in R&B megastars like SZA, Khalid and The Weeknd. So what really sets YouTube Music apart? I expected the service to stick to its roots by providing more music video-based content, a sort of MTV for the 21st century (worth noting: Apple Music recently announced access to its own library of music videos, which also includes original content). With the Hotlist tab, the service took me to a list of the 20 top trending music videos on YouTube right now. After I clicked on Minaj’s “Chun-Li,” a video window opened and a track-list of songs popped up on the right of the screen. Dubbed “song radio,” this track-list utilizes YouTube’s curating algorithm to craft a music video playlist based on similar songs I might like. This is what I was looking for when I signed up for YouTube Music. With the Hotlist tab, I can set up my laptop on the coffee table and relax on my couch while I shut off my brain and enjoy some music videos for an hour or two. In fact, I did just that until my mellow got interrupted by Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” followed by Sam Smith’s “Pray.” Sporadically, the radio function would throw in Backstreet Boys’ “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and Camila Cabello’s “Sangria Wine” just to keep me up-to-date on songs that are currently popping. I really wish YouTube Music embraced the music video side of the service more, and I have to wonder how much more effort was spent on the platform’s “smart search.” This feature touts YouTube Music’s ability to find any song based on whatever lyrics you might have caught. With Google powering the tech, I wanted to test how strong the search engine was, and I’m happy to report it returned my “that one ninja turtles rap song” query with “Shell Shocked” by Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla $ign, just like I’d hoped. It’s a pretty fun tool to play around with, and it’s definitely quicker for me to use than asking Siri to listen to the nearest speaker at a crowded, noisy restaurant. YouTube Music is certainly a strong platform for streaming music, this I can’t dispute. However, the problem is that it’s just too late for the average listener. Most people have already carefully tailored their Spotify experience with curated playlists, that it makes the act of switching over to an entirely new platform for essentially the same experience a chore. Even its other feature, the Offline Mixtape, which downloads your favorite songs to your mobile device automatically, isn’t a unique feature, it’s the standard (even if “download” really means temporarily store the song on your device until you stop paying for our subscription fee and then we’ll take it back). Streaming is a hyper-competitive sector of the music business where, in an instant, the game could change completely. That means a long uphill battle for any upstart, even one owned by Google, and as far as YouTube Music is concerned, little truly sets it apart.<doc-sep>Feature King Spotify So much history YouTube Music As one of the longest-running music streaming services, Spotify's popularity has been earned. It has algorithms that do an excellent job building daily mixes and surfacing new content, multiple podcasts to listen to, and high-quality audio if that's what you're looking for. From $10/month at Spotify Pros Multiple personalized daily mixes Expansive podcast library Excellent student bundle Higher-quality audio option Cons Fewer benefits than YouTube Premium No music video integration Daily mixes don't auto-download YouTube Music is quickly improving and adding features that are found on other streaming services is helping to push YouTube Music closer to being a legit consideration against Spotify. Fixing the bugs that persist when casting audio would go a long way towards its case too. From $10/month at YouTube Music Pros More than just officially released music available Integrated music video option Auto-updated and downloaded offline mixtape Now has daily mixes YouTube Premium subscription gets multiple services Cons Free tier requires the screen on to work Usage gets mixed in with primary YouTube Sporadic bugs when casting audio While Spotify has become a household name, its place at the head of the table, is getting harder to maintain. In terms of brand recognition, YouTube Music may not be as well-known, but YouTube itself is ubiquitous amongst streamers. A couple of years ago, YouTube Music came back into existence and was barely worth being in the same conversation as Spotify. In the time since the relaunch, however, it has improved vastly and is now a worthy competitor. YouTube Music vs. Spotify: Plans, pricing, and device limits If there is a throne to be won in music streaming, Spotify won it years ago. It has a great selection, a great algorithm for recommendations, and even though YouTube Music added a student pricing option, Spotify still manages to hook them into staying long after they graduate. Not even Apple — the name synonymous with music players for the last 20 years — could make much of a dent. If you're going to try and fight Spotify and become one of the best music streaming apps, you need more than great value, superior selection, and fancy new features — all of which the all-new YouTube Music has. YouTube's brand power and history are far more storied than Spotify's, but can that help YouTube take Spotify's crown? Spotify YouTube Music Pricing $9.99 single, $12.99 duo, $14.99 family $9.99 single, $14.99 family Student Pricing $4.99 w/ad-supported Hulu included $4.99 Free Tier Yes, with ads Yes, with ads Podcasts ✔ ❌ Music Videos ❌ ✔ Max Streaming Rate 320 kpbs 256 kpbs Automated Playlists ✔ ✔ Offline Listening ✔ ✔ Radio Stations ✔ ✔ YouTube Music and Spotify both offer free versions and paid versions. Neither service's free version lets you download music for offline listening — and both break up the music with audio ads every few songs — but at least Spotify will let you play music with the screen off. YouTube Music pauses the music when free users turn off the screen or leave the Now Playing window, which means that YouTube Music Free will monopolize your screen and thus your battery while you're listening. Spotify Premium is $9.99/month for a single user or $14.99/month for a family plan of up to six users at the same billing address (all Spotify accounts must be billed to the same address for a family plan). A $4.99/month Spotify Student plan bundles in a basic (ad-support) Hulu subscription and is just about the best student subscription price in streaming media today. There's also a Duo plan that gets two people living under the same roof premium accounts at $12.99/month. Spotify has a device limit for downloads, which is five devices, each with a download limit of 10,000 songs. If you're going with YouTube Music, pay a little more to get a whole lot more bang for your buck with YouTube Premium. YouTube Music Premium is $9.99/month for a single user and $14.99/month for a family plan of up to six users over 13 years of age (you have to be at least 13 years old to have a Google account). It removes ads and unlocks background playback and offline playback. For an extra $2/month — $11.99 for a single user or $17.99 for a family plan — you get YouTube Premium, which gets rid of ads and enables background/offline playback in YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Kids, YouTube Gaming, YouTube VR, and access to YouTube Originals content. YouTube Music is available right now in 97 countries, whereas Spotify is available in 91 countries. YouTube Music vs. Spotify: Library and selection Spotify has over 50 million songs in its catalog. While YouTube Music doesn't give out a hard number for the songs in its catalog, it doesn't matter since that would only count the official songs YouTube Music hosts through its deals with record labels. And there is so much more to YouTube Music's selection than that. YouTube Music has official songs and albums from the record labels but it also offers official music videos, live concert videos — both official and fan-uploaded, fan covers, remixes, and mashups. There's also millions upon millions of songs that aren't in YouTube Music's official library, nor any official streaming library in many cases. Some of this fan-uploaded content is illegal. When copyright holders serve DMCA requests, YouTube pulls that content, but that's a constant game of whack-a-mole that most labels don't have the time or resources to play. Some labels have folded, songs that have partially or entirely lapsed/frozen rights, songs that labels have lost, and much of that music is only available via fan uploads. That means YouTube Music might be the only legitimate streaming service that has a lot of music. Both Spotify and YouTube Music have lyrics available for some songs. Not every tune on either service will show them, but the latter also has options for viewing the music video for the song. While a song is playing, if available, you can select video at the top of the screen to switch to the exact place in the music you are currently at within the video — then jump right back to the song only with a tap. In short: Spotify may have more official songs, but YouTube has far, far more music that's actually available to listen to. The one caveat to YouTube Music's awesome library right now is that library management is a bit different than most because YouTube Music ties so closely with the video service. Everything you do in YouTube Music shows up in YouTube's main app, from searches to added albums to every song you listen to can clutter up your watch history. However, this can be partially resolved if you set your YouTube history to watch history. You can also choose to hide your likes from YouTube. You'll still see all of your YouTube Music subscriptions in the YouTube primary app subscriptions. However, there's the news that Google Play Music is going to eventually give its best feature to YouTube Music: its music locker. Google Play Music's free, 50,000-song music locker was something that doesn't really have a rival on the market right now. If a user wasn't able to find a song in Google Play Music's subscription library, they could upload it to their library themselves. That's invaluable, and it's coming to YouTube Music, which will combine the biggest, baddest music subscription catalog on the planet with the ability to patch any conceivable hole in it a user finds. YouTube Music vs. Spotify: Podcasts - Who's got 'em These days it seems that almost everyone has a podcast or two, and though there are a lot of ways to get your podcasts, not all are created equal. On top of a long history in the music streaming game, Spotify got into offering podcasts within its app as well a few years ago. Spotify is also the exclusive service to listen to some creators and produces its own originals, too. Not to be left entirely out, Google does have an app for podcasts, but it doesn't integrate with YouTube Music.<doc-sep>
Google is breaking up its premium YouTube Red service into two new offerings: a YouTube Music streaming service, available either for free with ads or for $9.99 per month, and a YouTube Premium for original video content, costing $11.99 per month. YouTube Music is Google’s most direct competitor to Spotify yet, coming with “a reimagined mobile app” and a new desktop player, both of them designed specifically for music. The YouTube advantage, argues Google, is that it will combine all the official versions of songs with access to “thousands” of related playlists, remixes, covers, live versions, and of course, music videos. Google’s AI mastery is also being integrated into YouTube Music, with the promise that the app will discover songs either by lyrics or just a general description like “that hipster song with the whistling.” Music discovery is literally front and center in the new YouTube Music, with the app’s home screen dynamically recommending new listening based on your history, location, and activity. Air travellers might get Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, for example, while gym rats would get something a little more dynamic to keep their pump going. Google is emphasizing its diversity of playlists, too, which will also be used to suggest and surface new music for the user. In terms of pricing, YouTube Music will be a direct match to all the major music-streaming platforms already available, costing $9.99 for the premium version, which adds background listening, downloads, and an ad-free experience to the free option. Anyone who already has a Google Play Music subscription gets YouTube Music as part of that membership. Play Music isn’t going away yet, though it’s hard to see what future purpose there will be to Google sustaining two services and apps that overlap to quite such a degree. The $11.99 YouTube Premium gets you everything inside YouTube Music plus access to the YouTube Originals library of video content. Google promises it’ll expand the Originals selection with “more, bigger original series and movies,” including comedies, dramas, reality series, and action adventure shows from the UK, Germany, France, Mexico, and other countries. With YouTube Premium, you’ll be free of ads, able to play videos in the background, or download them for offline playback. YouTube Premium is the new name for YouTube Red, and Google is doing something nice for existing Red subscribers by not asking them to pay the new higher price. In countries where Red is already available, you can secure the $9.99 price by signing up now, before YouTube Premium has rolled out. That includes the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea, all of which are getting YouTube Premium “soon.” With the new service’s rollout, the following new countries will be added: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Google indicates that additional expansion will come later this year and beyond. YouTube Music starts rolling out on Tuesday, May 22nd, to the existing YouTube Red markets, with the small addendum that in South Korea Google will only be offering a $9.99 YouTube Premium service. The other countries named will also get YouTube Music “in the coming weeks.”