With so many people using YouTube to listen to music and watch music videos, YouTube has now announced the YouTube Music Key subscription service.
As much as we use YouTube for watching adorable cat videos and funny TV clips, more and more of us are turning to YouTube to listen to music. From getting to see the latest, official music videos as our favourite musicians release them to discovering indie tracks by bands we’ve never heard of, YouTube is a massive library of audio-visual hits.
The problem is, whilst it’s not short on just how many tracks are on the site, actually listening to/viewing them can be a hassle. Ads ahead of videos can spoil the experience and it can be difficult to organise playlists and skip to videos when you’re on the go.
It’s for both of these reasons that YouTube has now announced ‘YouTube Music Key’. A paid music subscription service, YouTube Music Key looks set to solve all of our music listening problems.
According to the company, YouTube Music Key has two parts to it. The first of these is the roll out of the YouTube music hub (there should be a ‘Music’ tab on the YouTube homepage right now) which recommends tracks, music videos and special playlists (both based on individual artists and what you’ve already listened to) for your hearing pleasure.
The second part of YouTube Music Key is where it gets interesting. Currently in beta, the service offers ad-free viewing, the ability to listen to tracks in the background, offline music, endless playlists and you’ll also unlock Google Play Music for free which lets you choose from over 30 million tracks (which you can download) and make custom radio stations that will even update themselves based on your music tastes. And, you can add your existing iTunes library to Google Play for free, putting every bit of music you own into one place.
That massive list of features doesn’t come free though as it will cost $10/£10/10€ per month (depending on your local currency). That figure does seem quite expensive initially but when you consider just how many songs YouTube and Google Play Music have between them (well over 50 million) it definitely seems worth it.
As for how you get access to YouTube Music Key at the moment, the service is currently invite-only and YouTube is only sending them out to their “biggest music fans first.” It’s not entirely clear what defines their ‘biggest music fans’ but those who do get the email will not only get six months of YouTube Music Key for free but they’ll also get the discounted subscription $8/£8/8€. Oh, and that promotional discount will last for the rest of their lives too, so it certainly pays off to be an early adopted.
Visit the YouTube Music Key page (the link is below) for the best chance of getting into the beta.
Source: YouTube Music Key
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