After leaking this afternoon, YouTube has decided to get ahead of the murmurings and officially announced the service which will go live on May 22nd in the US, meaning May 23rd here in Australia.
The launch is of two new services – YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
YouTube Music
YouTube says that the YouTube Music will include a free, ad-supported service that will allow you to access all the new features of YouTube Music, though a AU$11.99/month paid tier will offer benefits including ad-free content, background playback, and offline downloads.
The YouTube Music service will include ‘thousands of playlists, the official versions of millions of songs, albums, artist radio and more, in addition to all the music videos people expect from YouTube’ as well as covers, remixes and live versions.
The new YouTube Music app, which looks similar to the old one, will feature all this in one, easy to use place.
The good news if you’re a Google Play Music customer is you’ll still be able to access all your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music, and you’ll be grandfathered in to YouTube Music Premium – so it seems the monthly price won’t change. Though, if you were a fan of YouTube Red you will have to pay more – because this is where YouTube Premium comes in.
You can express your interest in YouTube Music by heading to music.youtube.com/coming-soon.
YouTube Premium
YouTube Red was great, but now it’s being supplanted by YouTube Premium and it will cost more as of Tuesday.
The YouTube Premium service will cost AU$14.99 per month, but includes YouTube Music Premium, as well as access to their YouTube Original series like Cobra Kai and the upcoming Impulse series.
YouTube Premium also includes access to ad-free access to YouTube, the ability to background play videos, and downloads across YouTube.
Pricing for YouTube Premium will be grandfathered for users of YouTube Red apparently, with YouTube saying ‘When YouTube Premium launches, YouTube Red members will automatically receive access at their current price’.
The good news is, if you want to get in on that YouTube Red pricing, you can with sign-ups still available through youtube.com/red – where YouTube Red costs AU$14.99/month – or for families you can get access for up to 6 family members for $17.99 per month with a 1-month trial included for both.
YouTube says they’re going to be launching more YouTube Original series which include ‘comedies, dramas, reality series and action adventure shows’ soon.
Our take
Creating content costs money, and with the success of the recent Cobra Kai series the blood is in the water for Google and YouTube to make more of it – hence: YouTube Premium now costing $2 per month extra.
The good news for existing YouTube Red users is that it doesn’t look like anything will change – and you can still get in on that pricing for $11.99AUD per month which by all accounts appears to include both the ad-free YouTube Music Premium and the YouTube Premium service, plus all your Google Play Music subscription.
For new users it’s going to cost more once this whole shebang launches next Tuesday, so our recommendation is to get over to YouTube.com/red and sign up now.
Is it safe to assume that the price increase will also affect family pricing?
How does family bundles work? Will everyone part of my YouTube Red family bundle also get access to my google purchases including apps? Will they be able to purchase music, apps etc from my account since I am the manager of the family account?
Well I got an YouTube Red transition email today promising to grandfather in my existing discounted price into Youtube Premium. Glad about that.
I pay the $18 per month for the family (6 members) access. I’ve given 4 away to nieces/nephews as Christmas presents for the past 2 years, they love it and I don’t have to do anything, as in go out to buy a present and they think it’s the best present ever. I love Youtube Red, no ads, also when I go camping I can download heaps of videos to watch in the tent on a rainy day also I can download thousands of albums from GPM to listen while out in the bush. It is so worth the $18… Read more »
i wish Google would hire me as a “sounds confusing” consultant
Well this seems to clean it up in some ways, as well as distancing Google Play Music from being thought of as a Android only thing.
I do think given how lots of folks use youtube and associate it with music I do think Googles Music service being Youtube branded makes some sense.
Of course I do wonder how long before it will change again. I mean rebranding Drive to Google One seems to make me think that they see it as their version of Prime, so I half expect to see Youtube added to Google One at some point.
I find it confusing in that I associate YouTube with videos and I just want a music streaming service, which “Google Play Music” literally says in it’s name, so to me it makes little sense to brand it after a video site.
So that seems little more than a rebranding exercise and a price increase to cover premium shows like Cobra Kai.
Curious to know if I’ll get to keep my discounted red price.
And I do wonder what it will mean for apps and such.
Sounds great to me and from what I understand my current pricing of $11.99 /month shall carry on for both services. I think having a two tiered approach is a good idea – personally thought having YouTube red included free with GPM made it an absolute bargain.
Has been a bit buggy lately though so maybe these pending changes/developments were why.
Hopeful the YouTube music premium app works well 🙂
I’m paying $9.99 a month for my Google Play Music Unlimited subscription, the launch price for subscriptions when it originally launched as Google Play Music All Access.
https://ausdroid.net/2013/07/18/google-play-music-all-access-now-available-in-australia-and-new-zealand/
Youtube Red was rolled into my sub for free, when that upgrade was applied to GPM subs.
What YouTube tier will folks like me be likely to wind up on?
This is still confusing. I signed up to Google Play Music and have YouTube Red included. Does that mean I’ll no longer have YouTube Red once the new service launches?
Basically if you have GPM with YouTube Red – then you have YouTube Red….at least that’s what I think.
Cool. That’s what I was hoping. Otherwise there’s no way for me to get Red separately on the current pricing.
I’m not so sure…
“[with GPM] you’ll be grandfathered in to YouTube Music Premium”
If GPM includes Red then why wouldn’t people be grandfathered into YouTube premium?
Red includes ad-free YouTube and access to YouTube Originals as well as Google Play Music. The read is if you’re on Red, you’ll basically be transitioned to YouTube Premium.
So in what situation would someone be “grandfathered into YouTube music premium” if everyone has red?
It appears that some of the ambiguity might be due to them splitting what happens via regions. They state: “Current YouTube Red and Google Play Music subscribers in the U.S., Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Mexico will continue to get the features they already enjoy at the same price they pay today. Google Play Music subscribers in all other countries will automatically have access to YouTube Music Premium as soon as it becomes available there. And if you use Google Play Music, nothing will change — you’ll still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and… Read more »
My Google Play Music account ($11.99 p/m) came with Red, so it looks like that’ll be renamed YouTube Premium, with nothing changing.
Or maybe I signed up for Red and it came with GPM? Can’t remember. Either way, GPM and ad-free YouTube is well worth $11.99 p/m for me, with the made for YouTube projects thrown in for free – bargain.
That’s my theory.
So wait! Youtube Music (non premium) won’t do background play?? For music? That sounds stupid for a music service.
And no mention of Family plans?
This could be confusing but the YouTube Music Subscription does do background play but the Free tier of YouTube Music doesn’t do background play.
Basically, if I understand correctly, the difference from the plans today is that instead of getting Music added if you get YouTube red, you get music and add the YouTube the Video features of it for $2 odd dollars.
I asked a Google Music guy (via chat) about the family plan and he seemed to say it would continue.
HTH
But we are talking music here – what’s the point of having the music app in the foreground always (even though it is the free tier)
I don’t know but I think it’s more considered to be the YouTube videos of music on the free version.