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YouTube Music Key announced: ad-free, offline music for £10 a month

Google's just added another string to its music streaming bow

Esat Dedezade

Google has revealed its new YouTube music service which brings the fight straight to the green doors of Spotify.

The new YouTube Music Key beta service will initially arrive with a promotional £8 monthly price tag (down from £10 a month), and brings with it ad-free music, background playback (for listening to songs with the screen off or when you’re in other apps), as well as offline viewing.

The service also includes a subscription to Google Play Music, with access to over 30 million songs, along with the ability to watch YouTube music videos directly from the Play Music app itself. 

The non-promotional price pits the new service directly against Spotify, but brings with it the bonus of ad-free music videos, which will appeal to music fans who prefer a little visual stimulation with their music.

Given that artists like Taylor Swift have removed their discography from Spotify to protest about the royalties earned from the streaming service, and given that her library is still available on YouTube, it’ll be interesting to see what way, if any, Google’s new service makes the pendulum swing.

From today, you’ll also notice a new Music section on youtube.com and the iOS and Android apps. It’s essentially a portal to your favourite music videos and recommended playlists, determined by your viewing history.

Playlists tailored to specific moods and trends are also available, letting you wallow in everything from melancholic winter blues to uplifting trance, and everything in between.

You can now also full an artist’s entire collection of high-quality albums (a YouTube-first), along with their official music videos.

Many people use YouTube to listen to music because it’s free, so this dedicated music section looks set to be a decent alternative to the subscription service.

We’re sure that Google’s is hoping to use the new Music section to entice users over to its subscription service, though we’ll have to wait and see how many people jump over to the paid music ship.

You can get more info on the YouTube Music Key beta here, and if you get an invite you can enjoy the first six months for free. Happy listening.

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About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.