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Introducing YouTube Music – YouTube’s New Streaming Service

May 30, 2018

YouTube has long been the go-to platform for all things video – whether it’s series, news, music videos, viral user generated content or everything in between. Along the way, it also became a hugely popular destination for just general music streaming and discovery.

Meanwhile its parent, Google, established its own streaming and download service Google Play Music. Both entities offer expansive access to music new and old, and it appears that there is a desire to serve users all in one location.

Now, YouTube has announced that their new music streaming service will be launching on Tuesday, May 22 in five markets – U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea. YouTube Music will be offered both as a free, ad-supported app and a paid subscription service (YouTube Music Premium).

If you’ve been following TuneCore’s ‘Monthly Industry Wrap-Up’ series, you know that there’s been chatter of a new launch from YouTube, originally rumored to be titled ‘YouTube Remix’.

YouTube is referring to its new service as a “reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player that are designed for music”, featuring “thousands of playlists, the official versions of millions of songs, albums, artist radio and more, in addition to all the music videos people expect”.

YouTube Music Premium subscriptions will run a user $9.99/month, and any Google Play Music subscribers will receive this membership as a part of their subscription each month.

YouTube has assured Google Play Music users that nothing will be changing in terms of how they access all of their purchased music, uploads and playlists on the app.

What Does This Mean For TuneCore Artists?
All in all, TuneCore Artists who have their releases live on YouTube and Google Play do not need to take any action.

Moving forward, the option to release your music on YouTube Music will be offered alongside all of the store partners we currently distribute to – if you haven’t already, adding your previously distributed releases here will be free of charge. (This was formerly offered in the TuneCore distribution dashboard as “YouTube Art Tracks”.)

What stands to benefit independent artists using TuneCore to distribute their new releases is YouTube’s increased focus on music discovery. In addition to a user-friendly search function (such as using lyrics and descriptions of unknown songs they may have heard elsewhere), YouTube Music’s home screen will adapt to a user’s listening history, location and activities:

At the airport? We’ll recommend something relaxing before the flight. Entering the gym? We’ll suggest some beats to get the heart-rate going.

That means your music has a greater chance of being discovered by people who aren’t necessarily searching for songs by name yet.

On top of that, YouTube Music will offer thousands of playlists based on genre and mood, a method of discovery and music consumption that has more than proven to be effective in boosting the profile of up-and-coming or otherwise under-the-radar independent artists.

Elias Roman’s (Product Manager – YouTube Music) blog post also indicates that YouTube Music will launch soon in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and other territories, and also teases the soon-to-be-launched YouTube Premium app – head over there to learn more.

As always, TuneCore Artists can reach out to our world class Artist Support team with any further inquiries.

Tags: featured featuring youtube music