YouTube rolls out Music Key, a paid music streaming service
Ever since its inception, YouTube has been offering tons of free music and has never charged for viewers to access its content (except for paid movies), now this is all changing. YouTube unveiled YouTube Music Key on Wednesday, an upgrade of its music offerings that will include higher-quality audio for most songs and give users the option of paying $7.99 a month for extra features, chief among them removing YouTube's ubiquitous ads.
The site, which is owned by Google, says it attracts 1 billion unique users each month, and music videos have long been one of its biggest attractions.
Music Key, which will be available for mobile and desktop, is offering videos and full albums (in conjunction with Google Play) available to stream without ads. You'll also be able to download tracks for offline listening, similar to Spotify.
The app will also work in the background while you use other apps. This is currently not possible on the regular YouTube app.
The beta version of YouTube Music Key is launching Monday, and if you're a heavy YouTube user, you might get an invite to try it out, or you can submit your email to get an invitation.
The beta test will be free for 6 months, but after that period the cost will be $7.99 a month, eventually increasing to $9.99 (Spotify's premium service also costs $9.99). You'll also be able to stream using Google Play at no extra charge.
The new service won't change the actual YouTube site, but it will reportedly affect the way tracks are categorized. It will be similar to sites like Spotify and iTunes whereby songs will be grouped together by artist and album, making for easier searching capabilities. Music Key will also allow for users to seamlessly switch between it and the Google Play app/download store.
Watch the video below:
