YouTube Debuts Music and Ad-Free Video Subs, Folds YouTube Red
YouTube is overhauling its music and ad-free video subscription offering, essentially breaking YouTube Red into two plans. Video-lovers will pay a little more, but there's still time for them to secure current pricing.
The two-year old YouTube Red subscription service combines on-demand music with ad-free YouTube playback and access to a selection of YouTube original content (including "Cobra Kai," the "Karate Kid" continuation that debuted on May 2nd). YouTube Red, which costs $9.99 per month, will soon go away, and two new services will take its place,
For people who only want on-demand music, there's YouTube Music, a $9.99 per month subscription that offers ad-free music streaming, background listening on phones, and the ability to download some music for offline listening.
YouTube is promoting personalization features built into YouTube Music, which will provide dynamic recommendations depending on subscribers' listening histories or where they currently located (such as recommending energizing music at the gym). YouTube will also offer an ad-supported free version of YouTube Music.
For $2 more, subscribers can get YouTube Premium, which includes all the music features and throws in ad-free video play on YouTube, background video play on phones, video downloading, and access to YouTube originals.
While $11.99 is a price increase for YouTube Red subscribers, they'll be grandfathered in at their current rate when YouTube Premium starts in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea on Tuesday. Anyone interested can sign up for YouTube Red before Tuesday to be guaranteed the lower rate. The new service will expand to other countries in the coming weeks.
While early reports announced that parent company Google will fold Google Play Music at the same time, that isn't the case. Instead, Google Play Music subscribers will automatically get YouTube Music as part of their plan.
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