A week after it announced YouTube Music, Google is rolling out the new streaming service to users in some parts of the world.
The access so far extends to some in the United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. A free version is available with ads, or users can pay $9.99 to go ad-free, or $11.99 for the newly-rebranded YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red), which features original video content. Subscribers to Google Play Music are automatically signed up for YouTube Music.
The platform should become a challenger to Spotify and Apple Music, with a brand new mobile app and desktop player and access to genre, mood, and activity-based playlists. Additionally, the service will feature hard-to-find singles, remixes, live performances, and covers available on YouTube, and Google says the app’s AI is well-suited to provide recommendations and smart searches. Similar to its competitors, users can download music to listen without Internet, and the service generates an “offline mixtape” that “automatically downloads songs you love just in case you forgot to.”
Google says YouTube Music will be available in the following countries in the near future: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.