Google is hoping that third time’s the charm if reports are to be believed that YouTube will be launching a new paid music subscription service by 2018. After the not so stellar performances of Google Play Music and YouTube Red, reports are saying they will be trying once again to launch a new service that will not just bring in revenue but also appease record companies who are asking for better revenue from YouTube. The new product, internally called Remix, is expected to make its debut by March 2018.
Google wants a piece of the pie that Spotify and Apple Music are currently enjoying. And record company executives have been criticizing Google for not being able to monetize and compensate them properly, given that a huge number of YouTube users “listen” to music videos on the service. Reports are saying that one of the big three, Warner Music Group, has already signed up for the service while Google is still in negotiations with the other two, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. They’re also in talks with Merlin, a consortium of various independent labels.
While services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Tidal etc have all reached various levels of success, Google Play Music and YouTube Red have not made huge dents. The latter, which was originally expected to focus on music became more invested in original video projects. Remix (not the final name of course) is aiming to compete with the music streaming giants, but with the additional elements of video as an extension of YouTube.
Of course, all of these are just rumors and conjecture at this point, but it does make sense from a business perspective for Google. Now whether this third attempt would be more successful than the previous two remains to be seen.
VIA: Bloomberg
