Andre Yoskowitz
5 Mar 2013 23:27
According to Fortune, Google will launch a subscription streaming music service later this year.
The service will be backed by the YouTube brand, and will offer free unlimited streaming for basic users and more advanced features for subscribers.
Most likely this will work just like Spotify, which is free for streaming, with ads, and costs $5 per month for unlimited without ads and $10 for unlimited without ads and mobile access.
So far, according to the sources, Warner Music has signed on for the new venture and that label is usually the hardest to negotiate with. YouTube is a powerhouse, and its top videos are music, with many new videos from top artists topping 200 million views in a couple of months. A recent report claimed that 64 percent of teenagers preferred YouTube for music listening over any other service.
Google will be entering a crowded market, which includes Spotify, Soundcloud, Rdio and to a lesser extent, Pandora.