Rumours Of YouTube To Launch Ad Free Music

Credit – www.geeknewscentral.com

It has been suggested that one of the biggest search engines in the world, YouTube are going to provide a new subscription service by December this year. The new premium service will cost $10 a month and will allow subscribers to listen to music videos or just the tracks with no interruptions from commercials (finally!). Some have also speculated that users may be able to listen to saved music offline, benefiting mobile users by saving on battery and data costs. It was first reported on October 23rd by the international music news magazine, Billboard.

Billboard reporting that, "The service, designed with mobile listening in mind, will have a free component and a premium tier that will offer unlimited access to a full catalog of tracks similar to what's already available via YouTube's parent company, Google Inc."

So, how will record companies and artists be able to make any money? Well in order to launch the new music service YouTube had to secure the licenses. Record companies are going to be given higher payouts and the new service will benefit the companies by organising music in playlists and albums.

YouTube had already secured Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group earlier this year. Not only were these licenses for YouTube but they were also for the Google All Access service that launched in May, which, similar to Spotify and the new YouTube service, offers unlimited commercial free music for $9.99 a month.

40% of YouTube's traffic is from mobile devices which is a huge amount considering some music labels block their content from tablets and smartphones due to low advertising revenues. There's no doubt that the new subscription service will be designed for people who want music on demand everywhere they go.

YouTube is the 2nd biggest search engine in the world behind its parent company, Google. However, the YouTube experience has been described as disorganised, because users have trouble finding the official music videos and the full songs. According to Rolling Stone Magazine a label source claims "It takes a lot of effort by the user to organise the [YouTube] experience". With all of the label's licenses the new music service should make finding and listening to music easier. The music licenses authorise YouTube to provide full albums and music videos as opposed to only a few from every album.

Although there is a lot of speculation about the new subscription service, YouTube isn't giving anything away. YouTube's executives stated "We're always working on new and better ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving partners more opportunities to reach their fans. However, we have nothing to announce at this time." For now I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens and look forward to the new changes!