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There have been many rumors in the past few months about a new YouTube Music service coming soon, and Google made it official today. The service is said to be a better option than what YouTube currently offers today, with a focus on music. That’s not all that Google announced today, however. It also announced that it is moving YouTube Red over to YouTube Premium, which does sound better and more descriptive of what the service actually is. There’s not much changing on that front, other than the branding here.
With YouTube Music, you’re going to get a “reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player that are designed for music” according to the YouTube blog post published today. There are thousands of playlists here as well as the official versions of millions of different songs. Of course, all of the music videos you expect from YouTube will also be available here. The new YouTube Music is going to make it easier for you find more of the music you’re looking for. And it’s also easier to discover new music. YouTube Music will have a personalized home screen that will dynamically adapt to provide recommendations based on your listening history. That’s a big feature that Google Play Music has been missing.
YouTube Premium on the other hand, is bringing everything that YouTube Red has, but under a new branding. So you still get background playback, the ability to store videos for offline viewing and an ad-free viewing experience as well. Of course, the YouTube Originals are also still here. The big difference, besides the rebranding here, is that YouTube Premium is going to cost a bit more. YouTube Premium will be $11.99 per month versus the $9.99 per month that YouTube Red currently costs. According to the blog post from YouTube, YouTube Premium will cost you $11.99 per month. Or if you just want the music streaming portion, you can get YouTube Music with Music Premium for $9.99 per month. Now, those that are currently YouTube Red subscribers will be moved over to YouTube Premium at their current price of $9.99. So if you haven’t signed up for YouTube Red already, now is the time. YouTube Premium will be rolling out in its existing markets starting on May 22. That includes the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. It’ll be coming soon to new markets including Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.