The new music services are rolling out like thunder before a storm this year, but all the rumbling has yet to produce anything worthwhile in a market saturated by Spotify and Pandora. A conflicting barrage of new premium streaming services has brought us the nightmarishly bad Tidal and the complicated, stuttering mess of Apple Music – and now the new YouTube Music app is hoisting itself upon us, promising new frontiers of convenience and access – all for yet another monthly fee.
YouTube is now a decade-old service, and has expanded to a staggeringly large network of creators, advertisers and 1 billion-plus viewers. They’re the leader in online video by a wide margin, serving up billions of hours of video each day while reaching more 18 to 49-year-olds than any cable network. YouTube is adding to their empire by introducing a slate of original movies and TV shows with its biggest native stars as well, hoping to appeal to consumers’ overall media habits. So fine-tuning to accommodate music fans, as with kids and gaming in their own respective categories, is a logical step for the media behemoth.
However, the new YouTube Music app is a failure. YouTube has always been the foundational leader in digital music, the reflex go-to for kids, grandmas and the lazy-tech masses alike. But their new endeavor, announced last month in an effort to get people to sign up for its new premium YouTube Red subscription service, is half-assed and doesn’t integrate into our lives in any way deserving of our cash and/or attention. YouTube is jumping on a bandwagon that’s already overburdened with services, including one from its own parent company Google.
YouTube Music is available for free for a 14-day trial, after which the service will cost $9.99 per month – though the iOS version is inexplicably $12.99. But it’s in no way a complete music service. Sure, it eliminates the impossibly long ads which drove countless frustrated users to AdBlock services to avoid having to watch a 40 second Ted Cruz campaign ad, fucking up the mood before we watch the latest clip of Adele talking into a goddamned Zack Morris phone.
You can always opt out of the $10-$13 monthly fee and go without Red, which means YouTube Music will play ads similar to what you see on YouTube proper. As far as free-streaming competition goes, YouTube’s lengthy advertisements are among the most intrusive and annoying ever conceived.
Of YouTube Music’s three top sections, one is merely a collection of all the music videos you previously liked – because why not watch all that shit all over again? The other two sections are a global listing of new and trending stuff on YouTube (get ready for an endless barrage of Bieber and Drake clips), along with recommendations, and – once again – links to stuff you’ve already played.
In addition to the definite benefit of spectral access to live versions of your favorite songs, covers and more, one thing YouTube Music locked up well is the awareness that they’re driven by mobile, and their attempts at accommodation are interesting. If users want to just listen instead of watching, they can switch the app to audio-only mode, which turns off the video playback, replaces it with a still image and allows you to listen while going about your business. But audio-only mode only works for paid subscribers, and has already been receiving negative feedback from iPhone users.
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There’s an “offline mixtape” which can contain up to 100 songs, syncing with your likes and importing suggestions. In other words, the aforementioned Bieber and Drake bullshit will find its way into your promotional realm, and soon be involuntarily downloaded to your phone. Suck it, pay up.
Back to the playlist, though. Creating a playlist with several videos to watch in a row seems impossible, and instead we’re offered “song stations,” which queue up videos from artists related to the one you’re on. You remember this game from Pandora, the limits of which drove us to Spotify – and millions of people now await their Monday morning Discover playlist with baited breath. Because it kicks ass!
YouTube Music could’ve – should’ve focused on YouTube’s one massive weak point – discovery. The lack of personally curated playlists on YouTube Music makes the app far less functional, far less appealing.
Google is capable of far better. Their Google Play Music service kicks YouTube Music’s ass in playlisting, discovery features and higher fidelity presentation. For $10 a month, a Google Play subscription unlocks features in YouTube Music, with ad-free playback on the main YouTube app, access to Google Play Music and more.
Why do we need YouTube Music except to buoy YouTube Red? Until that question is answered in ways that Spotify can’t address, we’ll keep our ten bucks a month.
