YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by the American video platform

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, a

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Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. The service is designed with an interface that allows users to simultaneously explore music audios and

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s from YouTube-based genres, playlists and recommendations. On December 1, 2020, YouTube Music replaced Google Play Music as Google's primary brand for music streaming. In April 2023, the service expanded its offerings to include support for podcasts shortly before Google Podcasts was shut down. YouTube Music also features a premium tier that provides several benefits to paying subscribers. These include ad-free playback, the ability to play audio in the background, and the option to download songs for offline listening. These benefits are also bundled with and available to subscribers of YouTube Premium.

History

The YouTube Music app was unveiled in October 2015 and released the following month; its release came alongside the unveiling of YouTube Premium (originally called ''YouTube Red''), a larger subscription service that covers the entirety of the YouTube platform, including the Music app. Although redundant to

's existing Google Play Music All Access subscription service, the app was designed for users who primarily consume music through YouTube. On May 17, 2018, YouTube announced a new version of the YouTube Music service, including a web-based desktop player and redesigned mobile app, more dynamic recommendations based on various factors, and Google artificial intelligence technology to search songs based on lyrics and descriptions. In addition, YouTube Music became a separate subscription service (positioned as a more direct competitor to

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

and Spotify), offering ad-free and background/audio-only streaming, and downloading for offline playback, for music content on YouTube. The service's benefits continued to be available as part of the existing YouTube Premium service and to Google Play Music All Access subscribers. The YouTube Music subscription was priced in line with its competitors at US$9.99 per month; the price of YouTube Premium was concurrently increased to $11.99 for new subscribers. In 2018, YouTube Music reached multiple sponsorship agreements with

Dick Clark Productions Dick Clark Productions, LLC (DCP, stylized in lowercase as dick clark productions or dcp) is an American multinational television production company founded by radio and TV host Dick Clark. The studio primarily produces Awards ceremony, award sh ...

to serve as a partner for its television specials '' Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' and the American Music Awards. YouTube Music became available on Google Assistant

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant (artificial intelligence), virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and Hands-free computing, hands-free activation with the help of o ...

s (including Google Nest smart speakers) on April 18, 2019, with feature-limited ad-supported playback available for non-subscribers in only a limited number of countries. On July 8, 2024, YouTube Music was updated in Canada to prevent background play unless the user subscribes to YouTube Music or YouTube Premium, bringing it to the same experience in most countries. In July 2024, YouTube Music became available on Tesla cars.

Features

The availability of music includes many releases from mainstream artists and extends to any video categorized as music on the YouTube service. YouTube Music initially operated parallel with Google Play Music, but the latter was shut down in December 2020. Product manager Elias Roman stated in 2018 that they aimed to reach feature parity with Google Play Music before migrating users to it, but as of 2024 this has not been achieved. In September 2019, YouTube Music replaced Google Play Music in the core Google Mobile Services bundle distributed on new Android devices. In May 2020, an update was released to allow imports from Google Play Music, including purchased music,

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

s, cloud libraries, and recommendations. A " pre-save" feature for upcoming releases was added in May 2020. In 2021, YouTube Music introduced a seasonal recap feature, which serves as a culmination of a user's top artists, songs, albums and playlists, in a similar style to Spotify Wrapped. In February 2023, YouTube Music launched Radio Builder, a free and from anywhere accessible web service for both paying subscribers and free users with iOS or Android devices. It allows users to create a custom radio station, selecting up to 30 artists with an option to hear only their songs or from comparable musicians. In April 2023, podcasts were added to the service, initially for users in the US only with a worldwide rollout planned at a later date. Google Podcasts was shut down worldwide in June 2024 with YouTube Music replacing it.

Subscriptions

The free tier plays songs in its

version where applicable. The premium tier plays official tracks of the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

unless the user searches for the music video version. YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium subscribers can switch to an audio-only mode that can play in the background while the application is not in use. The free tier does not allow audio-only mode with background playback as it displays video advertisements. The free tier's audio quality supports up to 128 kbit/s, in AAC and Opus audio formats. In July 2024, YouTube rolled out an additional high quality option, 256 kbit/s Opus and AAC, to premium subscribers. YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium plans are available in individual and family variants. A family plan allows up to six family members from the same household to access plan features. Eligible students can obtain a discount on an individual plan.

Geographic availability

As of March 2024, YouTube Music is available in most of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, as well as parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, with a total availability in 119 markets. Following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Google indefinitely suspended all of its all payment and subscription-based services in the country, including YouTube Music. Availability of Youtube Music in the World

Availability of Youtube Music in the World

References

External links