YouTube Music: Everything you need to know

YouTube is one of the most-viewed websites on the planet, and by far the most popular video platform today, so it’s no surprise that millions upon millions of users turn to it every day for music. It’s the default platform for music videos — especially viral music videos like ME! and Old Town Road — and it’s also a place to find just about any song, remix, mashup, or fan cover you could ever want. Whether you’re looking for lyrics to a song before karaoke night, music to sleep to, or a new remix to play at your next party, YouTube has what you’re looking for.

With YouTube Music, YouTube is ready to dominate the streaming market with a music app built upon its video empire. YouTube Music has an app with a truly unique interface, an unparalleled content library, and more than a few kinks to work out, but YouTube Music is here to stay and here to compete.

Check out our full review

YouTube Music is built on a gold mine. YouTube is not only the most used video platform in the world; it might be the biggest catalog of professional, semi-professional, and amateur music available in the world.

Relaunched in May 2018 — the service originally debuted at the end of 2015, but it was a half-hearted experiment at the time — YouTube Music debuted with a variety of bugs and missing features that put an initial bad taste in some people’s mouths. Since then, however, Google’s continued to update and refine the service so that it can compete on the same playing field as the likes of Spotify.

YouTube Music still isn’t perfect, but it now deserves to be on your shortlist if you’re looking for a new streaming service to join.

The service starts at $9.99/month — but no one should pay that

There’s no real sugar-coating it: using YouTube Music as a free user on Android is bad. There are ads every three to six songs and you don’t get access to all of its features. YouTube Music is worlds better when you pony up for the paid tier, and YouTube Premium is absolutely worth paying for.

YouTube Music Premium, however, is not.

Confused? Let us explain ourselves. 👇

For the love of Duarte, buy YouTube Premium instead of YouTube Music Premium

Where is YouTube Music available?

If you’re interested in checking out YouTube Music, the service is currently available in the following countries:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Austria
• Bahrain
• Belgium
• Bolivia
• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Indonesia
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Japan
• Kuwait
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• Malta
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Nicaragua
• Nigeria
• North Macedonia
• Norway
• Oman
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Romania
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Serbia
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Turkey
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

Getting started

YouTube Music is an adjustment from traditional music services — especially because it’s based around video as well as audio — but thanks to the Google’s search prowess and downright uncanny predictions and recommendations, getting used to Google’s music service should be as painless as possible.

There might be a few hurdles to get over if you’re coming to YouTube Music from something like Spotify or Apple Music, but by following our guides that are linked below, you should be up and running in no time at all.

What’s happening to Google Play Music? Where are my likes and playlists?

Before there was YouTube Music, we had Google Play Music. Play Music has continued to exist side-by-side with YouTube Music since the service’s big re-launch in 2018, but the end of the road is quickly approaching for Play Music.

Google plans to completely shut down the service for good at some point around the end of 2020, but before that happens, the company is giving users plenty of time to transfer their Play Music library over to YouTube Music.

Using the handy transfer tool now available in YouTube Music, you can transfer all of the following:

• Music recommendations
• Your playlists & many stations
• Liked & disliked songs
• Uploads & purchases
• Albums & songs in your library

If you need help getting everything moved around, check out our step-by-step guide below 👇.

How to transfer your Google Play Music library to YouTube Music

How does it compare to other services?

YouTube Music is bringing a lot to the table, but it’s far from the only music streaming service in town.

Spotify has spent the last decade building up a loyal user base, building algorithms that few companies can even begin to touch, and building up a reputation as the best brand in streaming music. Amazon Music Unlimited isn’t quite as popular, but it offers excellent integration with Alexa and is a pretty good value for anyone that’s subscribed to Amazon Prime.

Here’s what happens when we pit YouTube Music against them head-to-head.