YouTube Music: the new music streaming platform from Google is finally here

Forget Spotify and Apple Music, there’s a new music streaming platform in town from YouTube.

Announced earlier this year, the new YouTube Music platform is combining music streaming with YouTube’s videos.

From today, you can access YouTube Music in 17 countries including the UK. Here’s what you need to know about the new platform.

What’s different about YouTube Music?

YouTube says the strength of its new platform is that instead of switching from listening to music to watching music videos or a live performance of a song, it is all contained in one handy app.

The video element is exciting. It isn’t just focused on music videos; the platform will host live performances from shows such as Live with Jools Holland and Saturday Night Live instantly after they have been broadcast.

In addition, YouTube Music will also feature a Video Hotlist, a selection of trending videos depending on your location. T.Jay Fowler, head of product at YouTube Music, said this feature would demonstrate “part of the lexicon of what’s going on right now on YouTube.”

Another interesting feature is the personalisation of the app. As YouTube is built using Google’s ecosystem, the artificial intelligent (AI) functionalities of the platform are spot on.

The home section of YouTube Music adapts to provide recommendations based on what you’re doing, whether that’s working out at the gym or on your way to work.

The smart search function comes through in other ways. If you can’t remember the name of a song, but you know the chorus, you can type this into the search bar and it will bring up the song. YouTube seems very proud of the fact you can type in “Starbucks lovers” and Taylor Swift’s Blank Space will be served up for you to listen to.

In addition, YouTube Music will work nicely alongside the Google Assistant. If you have a Google Home or Google Home Mini speaker, Google will play the tunes for you.

It looks like YouTube has been borrowing some elements from other platforms to create YouTube Music. To launch the new service, the YouTube Music and Google Play Music teams were combined. You can still use Google Play Music, but as YouTube Music starts to gain more of Google Play’s features, it’s likely this service will be gone in the future.

As well as borrowing Google Play Music features, design elements make the platform remarkably similar to Spotify such as the black background design, the round circles for artist images, and the familiar four album cover boxes which make up playlist logos.

Like other streaming services, there is a limit to what you can get as a freebie customer. YouTube Music is available to anyone with a Google account but it’s the Premium version you need to benefit from things such as offline streaming, no ads, and background music – the ability to still listen to music when your phone is on screen or you are on social media.

The question is whether the platform will have enough to set itself apart from its competitors.

Do we need another music streaming service?

There are already so many different music streaming services out there from Spotify to Tidal and Deezen to Apple Music.

In 2017, more than 30 million people were paying for a music streaming service in the US, whilst in the UK it’s likely the figures are around 8.3 million.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Spotify was the most popular service, with around 74 per cent of UK music fans using the Swedish platform (free and paid) to listen to music.

Yet, according to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) YouTube was responsible for 46 per cent of all on-demand music streaming time in 2017. By comparison, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and the other platforms made up 45 per cent combined.

If YouTube’s users decide that paying the £9.99 monthly subscription fee for Music Premium is worth it, £11.99 a month if you want to watch YouTube premium shows too, then YouTube Music could become the biggest streaming service out there.

You can download YouTube Music from the Google Play Store and App Store. For a limited time, you can try YouTube Music Premium for free for three months.