YouTube on Tuesday announced the launch of its new music streaming service — YouTube Music, in India. This comes close on the heel of recent launch of Spotify in the country, giving music lovers in India one more streaming application to choose from.
While users will be able to stream the music for free in the ad-supported version of the application, the company is also offering paid membership with additional features such as playing songs in the background, offline downloads and an ad-free experience for ₹99 per month.
Additionally, at a monthly price of ₹129, users can gain access to YouTube Premium that will give ad-free access to millions of videos on the platform, including YouTube Originals, along with the music.
T. Jay Fowler, director of product management, music products, YouTube, said, “We know that India loves watching music videos on YouTube — be it the vibrancy, choreography, stars and glamour. Music from India has always been so much more than just the audio. Therefore for us, with the launch of YouTube Music, all the emphasis is on the familiar and to make every user experience richer as they start using the service.”
Some of the features includes personalised recommendation, pre-made playlists across genre, mood, activity, or language.
For paid members, ‘Offline Mixtape’ feature automatically downloads up to 100 songs they might like on their mobile device.
India is one of the leading markets for YouTube in terms of consumption. Over the last year, Indian songs like Dilbar and Aankh Marey have reached number 1 on the YouTube’s Global Top Songs chart, and artists like Neha Kakkar, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu have earned the top spot on the YouTube’s Global Top Artists charts. Additionally, seven of the top 100 most played songs of 2018 across YouTube featured Indian artists.
The company said subscribers of Google Play Music will get YouTube Music Premium membership as part of their subscription each month.
“And for them nothing will change — they will still be able to access all of their purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music just like always,” it said.
