RadioOnFire.com - A new music streaming service is set to hit the market next week Google's YouTube announced on Thursday. YouTube Music will offer both ad-supported and $9.99-per-month versions. YouTube also announced it will revamp YouTube Red, the paid version of YouTube that comes with original programming, to include YouTube Music at an additional price of $2. YouTube Red will be replaced by YouTube Premium, which will cost $11.99.
The popular internet video brand is looking to tap into the growing market for paid music streaming, and with YouTube already having over a billion users, it will fiercely compete with services from Spotify Technology SA, Pandora Media Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, and Tidal.
"Google has an advantage given YouTube's more than a billion users and viewers. So, it has opportunities to convert some into YouTube Music listeners or premium subscribers," said Ali Mogharabi, an analyst at Morningstar Research.
The news has already sent stocks of music streaming companies Spotify and Pandora lower by about 2 percent on Thursday morning.
Music streaming services have helped lure users away from free or pirated music and the revenue overtook sales of CDs and digital downloads for the first time in 2017, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Spotify and Apple Music have become the recording industry's single biggest revenue source.
YouTube Music is now looking to hone in on that revenue as well. It will launch on May 22 in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea, and include features such as personalized playlists based on a user's YouTube history. It will roll out to more countries in the following weeks. YouTube's service is expected to replace Google Play Music, the Alphabet Inc unit's existing music streaming brand.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
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