Google has launched a standalone YouTube Music app as it looks to cement its renewed drive into music streaming.
The new app, which is available on iOS and Android (in the US initially) has been built exclusively for music and offers full access to the library.
As well as a “nearly endless catalog,” it features personalised recommendations and stations, while a station can be launched from any song, artist or album. There are also tabs for trending music and tunes users have liked using the application.
See also: YouTube Red explained
Subscribers will also be able to save music for offline playback, listen in the background while performing other tasks and hear audio without having to wait for the video to load.
There’s also clear separation between official music videos, live concert footage and fan made uploads, while hitting the Explore tab will enable users to discover more from the same and similar artists.
“The app also gives you complete access to one of the richest music
catalogs on earth. You’ll be able to quickly find music videos, tracks,
artists and albums, but you’ll also see all the remixes, covers, lyric
videos and concert footage that YouTube has to offer,” wrote Project Director T. Jay Fowler on the YouTube blog.
Google is automatically giving everyone who downloads and signs into YouTube Music two weeks of YouTube Red free of charge (there’s also a one month free trial available too, but that will begin a billing cycle).
YouTube Red is an interesting proposition as it also features complete access to the Google Play Music All Access library as well as ad-free access to every single video on YouTube.
We’ve just downloaded the YouTube Music app and taken it for a quick spin and initial impressions are good. The well designed app offers a surprisingly slick and intuitive experience that belies YouTube and Google’s confusing messages when it comes to music offerings.
The experience of listening to an album official video by official video is quite refreshing, while the toggle switch that transfers between video and audio mode is also quite neat.
YouTube Music is the third major app launch from the video giant in recent months, with dedicated Kids and Gaming apps also augmenting the main platform.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.