It’s been a long, slow and shaky road, but Google is finally accelerating the transfer from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, and the library transfer feature is now live and functioning in Australia. You no longer need a VPN to trick the feature into working, and will probably receive (if you haven’t already) an email from Google inviting you to transfer over.
Even better news is that, instead of being neglected like usual, Google’s G Suite customers are included – my GPM subscription is attached to a G Suite account and the transfer process was open to me and worked seamlessly. Perhaps a first for G Suite customers to be included in the first tranche of a new release feature.
I did the transfer this morning, and commenced the transfer process effortlessly – just a couple of clicks and of it goes:
The process (for me, at least) took maybe 10-15 minutes and I received an email advising me my transferred library was done, and ready to enjoy:
All my playlists, purchased music, uploaded music and more have come across and they’re in YouTube Music ready to use, just as if they were still in Google Play Music.
Unlike many, I’d suggest, I won’t miss Google Play Music at all. Its interface has become dated and neglected in recent years, and while it still functioned perfectly well for what it was intended to do, YouTube Music has come along in leaps and bounds. It’s my go-to music app when I’m at the gym (mainly because I like to listen to recorded live-music sets rather than albums), and at least half the time it’s what I’m listening to in the car as well.
I’m one of those weird people who keeps Spotify and YouTube Music going at the same time, because for me at least they serve different purposes. Spotify Family subscription keeps my family members happy with their music wherever they go, and YouTube Music pretty much takes care of me.
I won’t be upset to uninstall Google Play Music now that YouTube Music has – for me, at least – reached feature parity. If you ask me, it’s a better product now. What are your thoughts?
My transfer took about 12 hours, but I’m not really happy with the result. The artists tab is all over the place, and choosing one artist int he Library section shows all of that artists stuff, not just the albums I’ve added to my library.
Might have to switch to Spotify later this year when GPM disappears if I can’t figure this thing out.
YouTube music is crap
i cancelled subscription and joined spotify premium as every video ive ever clicked liked on over the years now appears in your YouTube music list… google for such a large company, your tech’s are dumbasses
I don’t mind the YT Music app, I’m slowly learning to like it. But the only missing feature that has annoyed me so far is no ability to “clear queue” like you can in GPM. Sometimes i’m ready to change playlist/genres and there isn’t a quick and clear way to do this.
Dylan, in the app, when the “now playing” bar is showing down the bottom of the screen, if there’s no ‘X’ showing, you can swipe down on that bar and it disappears, clearing the queue. It’s not obvious. There always used to be an X to delete it on the phone app, but it’s been taken away in more recent versions. The X still shows in the app on my Nexus 9 tablet (running an Android 8.1 custom rom).
I’ve found a few odd issues following the transfer of uploaded music. Playing uploaded music doesn’t appear in your music history or recent activity lists, and uploaded music in playlists is ignored if you’re using the playlist as a radio seed. The differentiation between uploaded and online music is clearer in YTM than GPM (still could be improved), but it didn’t seem to make any attempt at album-artist-matching. The uploaded content remains quite an isolated world. ie. if you click on an common artist name in your uploaded music, you’re just shown the list of songs by that artist in… Read more »
Paying a subscription for the ability to cast my paid for music to my paid for speakers is outrageous and needs to rectified if they want people to use this app in place of GPM
Not really… The subscription allows for your music to be stored in the cloud. If you want to cast your paid for music to your paid for speakers and not have a subscription, you can… you just need to have it stored on a local device.
It’s not free for google to store all of your music in the cloud to be accessible where and when you want it… so why should they not charge you?Just like ANY other cloud storage service…
It free was for Google Play music which is what this is replacing.
Both personally uploaded and purchased music via the play store could be cast without a subscription
I don’t like how it over laps with YouTube. I have no interest in music videos. if I subscribe to a band it ends up in YouTube app. I can see liked songs in YouTube. I want none of this. If GPM goes away and this is my only option then I’m going back to cds (and getting a cd player). I hate it.
YouTube music is useless when using Google assistant on a nest hub or even Android auto voice. Ask Google Nest hub to one of play my playlists or a “radio station” mood or style mix that GPM + Assistant always responded correctly to, and now I get some random YouTube playlist. Never what I asked for. The cross catalogue mix of YouTube and music means it can’t do what GPM used to. Off to trial Spotify.
I’m not exactly thrilled with the switch. As a free user who owns his own music, I can’t cast without a premium account, essentially meaning Google wants me to pay to play my own music in my house. Also, the folder heirarchy for uploaded music is missing Album view within any given artist. Imagine opening Bob Dylan, and then being presented with 50yrs of individual tracks, and no album view….
This app still stucks, and at least I can use Plex to cast at home, but seriously – what a mess.
What’s interesting is the last paragraph in the email. “Keep your deal: As a long-standing Google Play Music member, you’ll keep YouTube Premium benefits at no extra cost. That means unlimited uninterrupted and offline videos on YouTube. By transferring, you’ll get to keep your Premium status.” The way I’m reading this paragraph, it looks like you if you were an early sign-up to GPM, back when the subscription system was called Google Play Music All Access, it looks like you get grandfathered access to YouTube Premium, for no monthly fee increase. Chris, would you be able get a confirm from Google… Read more »
I can confirm that my Google Play music subscription – Family Plan – @ $17.99 includes You-Tube premium
If you were to just be on You Tube premium, I think the Family plan is $22.95
Luke, I signed up for the GPM subscription as soon as it was live in Australia, back in mid 2013. $9.99 a month.
I got YouTube Premium as part of my GPM subscription, when it went live in 2018, without needing to pay more per month.
In the mid May article, this year, Ausdroid mentioned some of what the pricing and bonuses would be, but didn’t give any info for existing GPM subscribers who weren’t on a Family Plan.
https://ausdroid.net/2020/05/13/finally-you-can-officially-transfer-your-google-play-music-library-over-to-youtube-music/
‘What about the cost?’ section.
The only issues for me now are the lack of equivalent licensing on some songs that are available in full YT and GPM, plus the sorting on search results isn’t as good as GPM. But aside from that it’s in a usable state now.
finally.
So much progress, and yet I still can’t have Google assistant or an assistant routine play a playlist. That is literally all I’m using Google Play music for nowadays.
I know right… GPM playlist… fine… YTM playlist, good luck!
It’s a piece of trash. I can’t download my music from the server without a subscription.
It’s not a music App, it’s a music video app. So disappointed. It’s garbage.
Still doesn’t look like a good deal, 2 dollars a month more to maintain the same access plus it wont let me transfer to my main youtube account. It’s so old with all my subscription history they consider it a ‘brand’ account not a personal one and those can’t be used with youtube music transfer.
Just got the mail too. Apparently it may take several hours to transfer. Looking forward to seeing how it goes. Especially what it decides to do with duplicate-named Playlists and their duplicated contents.