YouTube on a smartphone. Image: Mind and I/Shutterstock
Google’s YouTube to amplify sonic wars with Apple Music and Spotify.
The paid streaming music and video space in the UK and Ireland has a new contender in the shape of YouTube Music.
The UK and Ireland are now part of a contingent of 17 countries where paid YouTube services are available after the service was unveiled last month initially in the US, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.
There are two versions of the YouTube Music service: a free ad-supported version, and YouTube Music Premium, which is ad-free and costs €9.99 a month.
Music fans can get three months of YouTube Music Premium free here.
YouTube Premium sounds start of war against Netflix
Google is also launching a new service called YouTube Premium, which will be free for the first three months and will cost €11.99 a month thereafter.
With the YouTube Premium service, viewers can enjoy all the ad-free benefits of Music Premium as well as YouTube Originals shows and movies such as Cobra Kai, Impulse, F2 Finding Football and The Sidemen Show.
Google Play Music subscribers will automatically receive access to YouTube Music Premium at their current price.
So far, the YouTube Premium service, which replaces YouTube Red, includes around 65 different originals series with a new series being added weekly.
The launch of the new platforms by Google is a strategic ploy to get users to keep all their entertainment in one place instead of hopping between platforms.
Google makes up for the missing ad revenue through subscriptions instead.
Image: YouTube
The platform includes a recommendations engine, curated playlists, a smart search feature for songs that you can’t remember the name of and an offline mixtape feature.
YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium work on Android and iOS phones and tablets as well as Google Home smart speakers.
It will be interesting to see how much YouTube’s Premium offerings rock the respective Apple and Spotify universes.
Considering YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, a go-to platform for most internet users and the new services are free for the first three months, expect the internet giant to create its own sonic boom.
YouTube on a smartphone. Image: Mind and I/Shutterstock
