YouTube Music launches in UK as Spotify rival – but there’s a BIG catch
GOOGLE is taking aim at Spotify with the launch of a brand new streaming service: YouTube Music.
The new app is available in the UK starting from today, and offers up singles, albums, remixes, live performances – and music videos too, of course.
YouTube Music launched in the USA last month, but Google kept quiet about a British debut.
But the app is now available to download on both iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) and Android phones and tablets.
Like Spotify, there's a free tier of YouTube Music available, which lets you play any song you like.
However, it's ad-supported, so your tunes will be interrupted by an audio advertisement every so often.
Sadly, there's another big catch to the free tier: there's no background playback.
That means if you want to listen to music outside of the app (or with the screen locked), you'll need to fork out for a Youtube Music Premium subscription.
A free Spotify membership allows background playback, but there's no free version of Apple Music, so YouTube Music's free offering lives somewhere in between the two.
To get YouTube Music Premium, you'll have to pay a £9.99 monthly fee.
That gets you background listening, ad-free music playback, and the ability to download music for offline listening.
There's also an additional payment tier called YouTube Premium.
This comes with all of the perks of YouTube Music Premium, plus ad-free usage, background playback, and offline downloads for YouTube proper.
Yes, for £11.99 each month, you'll get an advertisement-free version of the full YouTube app.
It also nets you access to the full slate of YouTube Originals shows and movies – which includes Cobra Kai, Impulse, F2 Finding Football and The Sidemen Show.
The YouTube Music app itself is a decent enough rival to Spotify and Apple Music.
It's got a clean, black design with all the usual offerings: curated playlists, recommended content based on your tastes, and popular trending tracks.
You'll also get the option to listen to music videos where available, although you can still opt to stream audio-only – if you'd rather.
There's a special offline download feature that automatically saves a random playlist of your chosen length, based on songs you like listening too.
This means you don't have to faff about trying to work out what songs you want to download for your next flight or tube journey – just pick a playlist length and you're sorted.
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Google being Google, the YouTube Music app has fantastic search capabilities too.
For instance, if you say "zig a zig ah" into the search box using your voice, you'll be served up some classic Spice Girls.
Similarly, you could ask for "that George Michael song with the models", and Freedom! will load right up.
If you're at all tempted by the sound of YouTube Music, you'll be pleased to hear that there's a free trial available.
Like Apple Music, YouTube Music can be trialled for three months free of charge, after which you'll be billed £9.99 per month.
Are you going to check out YouTube Music? Let us know in the comments!
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