On November 12th, YouTube announced the introduction of YouTube Music Key, a streaming music service for both mobile and desktop applications.
A new home just for music
Starting today, you’ll see a new home just for music on your YouTube app for Android, iOS and on YouTube.com that shows your favorite music videos, recommended music playlists based on what you’re into and playlists of trending music across YouTube. You can find a playlist to perfectly fit your mood, whether that’s a morning motivators playlist or Boyce Avenue YouTube Mix. Check out the newest songs from channels you subscribe to, like FKA twigs or Childish Gambino. Or quickly find the songs you’ve played over and over and over again.
You’ll be able to stream playlists even if you’re not connected to the internet, as well as if your lock screen is activated.
Introducing YouTube Music Key beta
You’ve asked us for ways to listen to music without ads, to keep playing music videos even if you lock the screen or start using another app, and to play music even if you’re not connected to the Internet. That’s why today we’re introducing YouTube Music Key beta, a monthly subscription service starting with the promotional price of $7.99/month (discounted from $9.99/month) that will give you all that—ads-free music, background play and offline viewing. It will also include a subscription to Google Play Music, with 30+ million songs, expert-curated playlists, and in the coming days, the ability to watch many YouTube official music videos right from the app.
Thanks to your music videos, remixes, covers, and more, you’ve made YouTube the biggest music service on the planet. To turn YouTube into your perfect music service, we’re launching YouTube Music Key as a beta with our biggest music fans first, and then we’ll bring YouTube Music Key to the whole world together. So, if you see an invite in your app or email, try it out for six months for free.
So what does this mean for the industry? With Taylor Swift recently pulling her new album from Spotify, and countless other musicians making the claim that streaming music services don’t fairly compensate them for their work, it’s likely Music Key will face the same criticism. YouTube’s backdoor deals with major labels doesn’t give it much separation from its competitors either. However, Music Key will offer its subscribers more dynamic content than Spotify, Pandora, and Beats Music which could ultimately make it a hit. Overall, this announcement serves as a huge blow to current streaming music services as they are already hurting to make a profit with business models that generate less revenue than what is being paid out in royalties.
What do you think about Music Key? Does it have potential? Who benefits, and who loses?
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