It’s fair to say YouTube isn’t artists’ nor publishers’ favourite streaming platform. While the video site offers free access to tracks, albeit with the intrusion of some ads, many streamers do not see the need to pay.
Now YouTube has revealed its plan to convert the freeloaders who currently deem it unnecessary to pay for music they enjoy on a daily basis.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the boss of the forthcoming, revamped YouTube music service said there’ll be a dramatic increase in ads played between songs.
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YouTube’s global head of music Lyor Cohen said the service will “frustrate and seduce” free users into paying a monthly subscription. The plan involves disrupting the passive listening experience where one track simply progresses to the next.
He said: “Once we do that, trust me, all that noise will be gone and articles people write about that noise will be gone.”
Smoke ’em out
This, according to Cohen, will be the difference-maker when up-selling free streamers. It plans to “smoke out” those who can actually afford to pay for the streaming service.
He said: “You’re not going to be happy after you are jamming ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and you get an ad right after that.”
Them’s fighting words from YouTube, which says it wants to be a “good partner” to the music industry.
The new YouTube service, which may be announced at Google I/O, is likely to succeed the current subscription offerings in the area. The service is currently being tested by ‘thousands’ of Google employees according to today’s report (via Engadget).
With YouTube Music, YouTube Red and Google Play Music, it’s about time Google got its streaming ducks in a row.
Ironically, it just emerged that YouTube has become the highest grossing app on the Apple App Store for the first time, thanks in large to YouTube Red.
Can the new YouTube service rival the dominant Apple and Spotify platforms? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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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.
