YouTube Music is going to come pre-installed on Android devices. The service, which has struggled to seize a significant portion of the music streaming market, will replace the relatively unsuccessful Google Play Music.
The move is more a matter of Google consolidating its estate of products rather than attempting to meet the standards of competitors.
YouTube Music will come pre-installed on new Android smartphones and will be included in the next version of its operating system, Android 10.
Brandon Bilinski, Product Manager – YouTube Music said,
“Music fans on Android phones can now easily unlock the magic of YouTube Music, which will come installed on all new devices launching with Android 10 (and Android 9), including the Pixel series,”
“Once you’ve started your new device, just look for the YouTube Music icon and start listening! And if you don’t have Android 10 yet, don’t stress—simply visit the Play Store to get the app.”
YouTube has two billion monthly active users, many of whom use it to listen to music, but the company’s dedicated music streaming service only had 15 million subscribers as of May – less than 0.8% of YouTube’s user base.
To date, YouTube Music has under-performed compared with rival services in terms of monthly active users, including Spotify with 223 million and Apple Music with 60 million subscribers.
Unlike these rival apps, the free version of YouTube Music does not allow those users to listen to the audio of their favourite songs while the app is running in the background.
Google Play Music listeners with new Android 10 devices can continue to enjoy Google Play Music by downloading it from the Play Store and logging in to their accounts.
