YouTube is preparing a premium on-demand music service --
akin to a Spotify, but with video -- to launch later this year, according
Billboard.
The service, designed with mobile listening in mind, will
have a free component and a premium tier that offers unlimited access to a full
catalog of tracks similar to what's already available via YouTube's parent
company, Google Inc., via its All Access subscription music service. Premium
features would include the ability to cache music for offline listening and
removing ads.
The free tier is likely to be unlimited, on-demand access to
full tracks on all platforms, including mobile, said several people who have
been briefed on the proposed service. In that sense, the paid tier is more of a
"soft sell" as YouTube's primary goal is to continue to amass ears
and eyes to its mobile platform to sell ads.
But having a paid tier, with all the required licenses for a
premium on-demand product, gives YouTube more flexibility in packaging and
selling music with fewer restrictions on what it can do with the music,
multiple sources pointed out. In addition, there are strategic reasons for
developing a premium music video service that could be paired up with other
Google products in the future, including Google Glass.
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