Google’s long-expected YouTube music service will be called YouTube Music Key and will feature more than 20m songs and videos curated specifically for YouTube.
The YouTube music service will offer a 30-day free trial, with a $9.99 monthly subscription giving access to “high-quality tracks - complete albums, organised into artist discographies”, specifically for YouTube with both video and audio-only streaming and offline listening, according to Android Police.
It is expected that the YouTube service will link in with Google’s existing Play Music All Access music subscription service, which costs $9.99 or £9.99 a month in the UK and is expected to be rebranded Google Play Music Key.
Concerts, covers and remixes
The YouTube service will offer concert footage, covers and remixes in addition to the official discographies of artists, according to reports. Google will offer an enhanced version of YouTube’s existing recommendation engine based on user consumption, making suggestions of what to listen to as users watch videos on YouTube.
The service will be available through a browser on a computer as well as through smartphones, tablets and Google’s Chromecast streaming media stick.
Google’s YouTube music service has been expected for a long time, which recently stalled due to negotiations with music labels. Google was also accused of strong-arming independent labels who refused to sign up for the new music service, threatening to block them from YouTube according to indie trade body Win.
YouTube Music Key is expected to be offered once remaining disputes over licensing have been resolved, but could be a US-only service in launch. It is unknown when Music Key will be launched with speculation putting it before the end of 2014.
Google declined to comment.
