music.youtube.com
So obviously YouTube is a streaming service that has a lot of users. It is the largest video streaming platform in the world and there are billions of active users. YouTube just keeps growing by the day and it has been doing this for a long time. In some ways, you could say that YouTube is the original video streaming site.
YouTube opened the doors for other video streaming sites by capitalizing on it in a major way.
Since video streaming technology became more accessible to the public, YouTube has been able to create something new with their platform. They've continued to expand their reach into other digital spaces, such as music streaming and cord-cutting. It seems as if YouTube is not slowing down anytime soon.
If you're anything like me, then you've been turning to YouTube for years now in order to access tons of musical content. YouTube has, essentially, grown into something of the modern-day equivalent of MTV. In other words, when an artist drops a new music video, YouTube is the site that, more often than not, people tune into in order to watch it.
Today, music videos are not as well-known as they were in the past, but they are still used to promote an artist's album release and other promotional activities. YouTube has been a central part of this, allowing people to see these videos easily.
I have been navigating my browser to YouTube for over a decade now when I want to hear music that I cannot find on any of the other standard music streaming services. This is because people (read: YouTube users) often rip and upload audio content as YouTube videos, making it possible for anyone to access it - be it a leak, an exclusive release, or anything else.
Many lesser-known artists have their own YouTube channels from which you can access their music when Spotify or Apple Music may fail you. YouTube is a reliable source of listening to music from lesser-known artists.
I guess what all of this amounts to is that it makes sense for YouTube to capitalize on their longstanding relationship with music fans and make their own official music streaming service, YouTube Music. But how does it stacks up against Spotify or Tidal? Well, let's take a look and see, okay?
History
The newly announced YouTube Music app was officially launched in October of 2015 along with its streaming service, YouTube Red. Many people have been critical of the app because it is very similar to Google Play Music, but I am happy to say that it was meant for people like me who have been using YouTube specifically for their music needs. Imagine Google Play but with the branding and iconic layout of YouTube!
YouTube announced on May 17th, 2018 that they would be expanding their YouTube Music service to include a desktop site as well as the already established YouTube Music app. This expansion resulted in a total redesign of the app with a new and improved algorithm that is based on users' listening habits.
With the rebranding of YouTube Music, the new algorithm takes advantage of Google's artificial intelligence to suggest songs to listeners. This revitalized way of searching music based on lyrics and descriptions is a totally new experience and is a direct competition to services like Spotify and Apple Music. YouTube Music, with this change, is still available as a portion of YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) as well as a part of Google Play All-Access.
Design
Of all of the various services that YouTube offers today, I think YouTube Music might be the best example of site and app design that YouTube has put together. It is sleek, user-friendly, easy to use, and easy on the eyes. Many people have gripes, for contrast, with the way that the traditional YouTube site is designed. Complaints range from the site being too cluttered to a lack of intuitive app layout.
YouTube Music doesn't seem to have any of the common streaming problems, such as slow loading times or confusing menus. Searching and browsing songs is simple, and the site looks great. In fact, it looks like YouTube Music borrowed a lot of their design from Spotify. So if you're familiar with Spotify (or Tidal, even), you'll be able to use YouTube Music like a pro almost immediately. Thanks to the streamlined and intuitive design
Content
This is one of the reasons I believe that YouTube Music is better than its competitors. Not only do you get to choose from about the same number of songs that can be found on Spotify (30 million and counting), but YouTube Music is also fed right into your YouTube views, so it gets smarter at a much faster rate. Plus, in addition to 30 million+ songs, YouTube Music provides quick access to all of the official music videos on YouTube - a level of content that no other music streaming app can really boast.
YouTube Music is a great music streaming service that has many playlists put together by experts and algorithms. Plus, depending on your subscription package, you can also download and listen to music offline and fully integrate YouTube Music with Google Play and Google Home devices.
This is truly the next level in my opinion. The ability to search songs by lyric and even description of the music is so exciting.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
I really like how YouTube Music is designed- it looks great, the whole experience is streamlined with your Google Play and traditional YouTube usage, and the desktop player is perfect. So you can be assured that the desktop (and mobile web browser) version of the site is excellent.
The YouTube Music app is just as good as the other apps on the platform. It has an average score of 4.7 stars out of 5 on the Apple App Store, and it has already received 239,000 ratings.
Pricing and Plans
The paid subscription levels, on the other hand, offer ad-free listening, background playback, and up to ten hours of listening per month.
There are three subscription levels for YouTube Music: free, ad-supported, and paid. The free level allows you to use the service without paying anything, but you will have to contend with ads and limited offline listening options. The paid subscription levels provide ad-free listening, background playback, and up to ten hours of listening per month.
YouTube Music Premium is an excellent option for listeners who want to enjoy high-quality music without interruption. It will cost $9.99 per month, which is about the industry standard.
Finally, you can access YouTube Music by signing up for YouTube Premium. This will get you everything that YouTube Music has to offer, as well as completely unlock your general YouTube experience (no ads, background play, etc.).
Suggestions that I have for YouTube Music
: I think YouTube Music should allow music on their app that is accessible in audio form, regardless of whether or not the artist has a video on YouTube for the song.
In the future, I would like to see YouTube Music expand their horizons by including more music options that are easily accessible in audio form. This could be a bit of a nightmare for the company, but it would be great for lesser-known, up and coming artists.
YouTube Music is amazing. They are doing some really innovative things with smart search and AI algorithms, which will definitely inspire their competitors to up their game in the tech department in the years to come. And for the price, you can't go wrong.
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