YouTube Launches New Music Key Streaming Service
Ad-free music, background listening and offline playback.
If you want to know everything about YouTube’s new streaming service, Music Key, that’s it in a nutshell. The service launched an invite-only beta version on Tuesday, and you can sign up here to be among the next batch of invitees. Beta access runs $7.99 a month, with the regular service costing $9.99 a month (it also includes access to Google’s existing streaming service, Google Play Music).
Music Key can be accessed through the YouTube app, which now has a separate “Music” tab consisting of music videos, playlists and songs. The music selection offering will be expanded to include songs with both official music videos and those without (the same for both paid subscribers and non-paid subscribers). It also includes an “endless playlist” feature which will create a Pandora-like playlist based on the user’s song or artist choice.
Music Key has two main assets going for it. The first is YouTube’s vast audience: 1 billion unique visitors a month who spend over a third of their time watching music videos. The second is the fact that the service has access to music competitors don’t, such as Taylor Swift’s catalog, the entirety of which was taken off Spotify. While some say YouTube’s sheer numbers almost guarantee that Music Play will be a success, others are saying it’s joined the streaming race too late and will not be able to switch people over from using platforms like Spotify. Sign up for the service, give it a try, and judge for yourself which side wins.
Source: Billboard
