Is Launch of YouTube Music a Game Changer?

The digital airwaves contain a smorgasbord of music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora to name but a few. After a year in beta, YouTube Music has arrived on the scene to shake things up a little with a unique blend that focuses on music videos and shiny new features for music enthusiasts.

The new service proudly promises 50 million songs. Nearly 20 million of those are fan covers and independent artists. YouTube’s entrance has left many thinking if rival Apple Music might have left it a little too late in bringing their Music App to the Android platform.

YouTube Music aims to create a one-stop destination with a modern twist to an old theme. Rather than a weekly music chart, it will deliver a daily Top 40 of relevant songs with music videos of the moment. T. Jay Fowler, the head of music products at YouTube said:

“We want the Daily 40 to be the place you go to know what everyone else is watching and talking about and sharing.”

“If a song is blowing up on YouTube, this is where you’d find out about it.”

Although there is a free version available, if you however want an ad-free experience and access to the brand new features such as the offline mix-tape then you will need to think about becoming a YouTube Red subscriber starting at $10 a month where you will already find YouTube Kids and YouTube Gaming.

Subscribers of the traditional music-streaming store Google Play do not need to worry about Alphabet cannibalizing itself because users with subscriptions to either YouTube Red or Google Play will be able to access either site.

Right now Spotify has around 20 million paid subscribers, a number that is considerably higher than the late entrant Apple Music’s 6.5 million. However, we can already see signs of change in the digital landscape with millennials displaying a stronger interest in unique amateur videos from relatable everyday members of the online community.

Basically, Alphabet now has two very different all-you-can-eat music services with one eye on the impending virtual reality video phenomenon that will be arriving early next year, offering the potential to be a real game changer for how music lovers consume their music. 

Here in 2015, some will question the need for yet another music streaming site, but Google Play and YouTube Music have the power to compliment each other perfectly and offer their subscribers something that their rivals simply cannot compete with.

Gaming and vloggers are already experiencing unprecedented growth, and virtual reality is waiting in the wings quite literally to rock our worlds next year. Truthfully I cannot see any other company that is ready to hit the ground running to capitalize on these trends.

It's not about where we are now, but where we are heading and this vision for the next two years could enable them to not only catch-up, but also take the lead if they continue to make all the right moves.

The way in which we consume music is constantly evolving and we are slowly surrounding ourselves with like-minded people in order to create niche communities. Whether it's a new song, album, band, concert, video game, TV show or a must have gadget, we are all creating conversations on platforms. 

By offering everything under one roof for users of all ages, it seems that the establishment of Alphabet to house Google's Internet services businesses was only the beginning of Sergey & Larry’s master plan, one that could make the arrival of 2016 terribly exciting.

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