We’ve been hearing for some time now that Google Play Music and YouTube Red will eventually become one entity, since they’re almost practically the same. Now we have a confirmation that this is actually happening, and this came from YouTube’s head of music, Lyor Cohen, during the New Music Seminar conference in New York. Well, he didn’t exactly say the words, but he did say that they needed to merge the two services so they can just have one offering.
In the panel session, he was of course asked why YouTube Red, which is a paid streaming subscription (think Netflix, Hulu, etc), is still not resonating with users. His answer was basically that they needed to combine it with Google Play Music, their music streaming service, and have just one offering. He also said that’s what missing is more collaboration with the music industry instead of just making deals with them. “Music is very important to Google and we’re evaluating how to bring together our music offerings to deliver the best possible product for our users, music partners and artists,” he emphasized.
The rumor of the merger gained ground when earlier this year, the teams of the two services were already combined. On the surface, nothing much will really change since if you pay for either YouTube Red or Google Play Music, you’ll get the other one as well. But having a more structured, unified, and simple offering may actually attract new subscribers to the new service.
We still don’t have an exact confirmation or a timeframe for when this merger will happen. Given the various and slightly confusing YouTube products available, like YouTube Music, YouTube TV, we should get a streamlined app and service soon.
VIA: The Verge
