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Here's a way to catch up with the competitive market of streaming music: pre-install your app on millions of Android handsets. That's what Google will do now with YouTube Music. The company announced today that the application would be preinstalled on all new devices running Android 10 as well as Android 9, including its own set of Pixel smartphones.
The move comes at a time when the company's music strategy needs change.
Since the launch of YouTube Music in November 2015, Google operates two separate music services. The latest, Google Play Music, was launched in 2011. To add to the confusion, YouTube has also proposed a subscription level, originally called YouTube Red and renamed later. YouTube Premium, which would access Google Play Music and YouTube Music. In addition, Google Play subscribers would also have access to YouTube Premium. Oh, and since last May, Google also allowed you to buy YouTube Music separately, if you prefer.
Have you followed all this?
Of course, it was not as bad as Google's weird email application strategy, but it was still a disaster.
Last April, Google finally confirmed that it would replace Google Play Music by YouTube Music, explaining that closing the Google Play Artist Hub was part of a broader strategy to merge the two music services.
Despite today's news that YouTube Music is being added to the list of pre-installed apps that came with Android and is now the new default, the Google Play Music shutdown has not taken place yet.
Instead, the company says that listeners to Google Play Music equipped with Android 10 devices can continue to use the service by downloading the application directly from the Play Store, if necessary.
And those who do not have a new Android device (9 or 10) can continue to search for YouTube music on the Play Store, if they wish.
YouTube's streaming music service is pretty competitive in terms of features with its biggest competitors, like Apple Music and Spotify. Like most space users, it also offers the ability to discover and play music, but in this case it includes albums, live performances and remixes. With a paid subscription, YouTube Music users can listen without advertising and offline. He has also just introduced his own version of Spotify's Discover Weekly, with the launch of his own Discover Mix.
But since YouTube Music had to compete with the built-in Android music app for subscribers, its subscriber count is behind Spotify and Apple. This is compounded by the fact that there was no way to import playlists from Google Play Music users and favorite songs over the years into YouTube Music.
YouTube Music in May had about 15 million subscribers. In comparison, Spotify had 232 million active monthly users and 108 million paid subscribers at the end of June. Apple Music exceeded 60 million subscribers in June.
Google Play Music's replacement plan is still under preparation, according to Google. This has not happened yet.
"As we announced earlier, we plan to replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music. As part of the transition, YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music and will be preinstalled on the new Android Q devices, "confirmed a spokesperson for YouTube.
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