YouTube Announces 'YouTube Music Key' Subscription Streaming Service for $7.99 Per Month

Wednesday November 12, 2014 9:47 am PST by Juli Clover

YouTube today announced a new subscription streaming service, YouTube Music Key, which is currently in beta. The service offers up ad-free music on YouTube, along with background play and offline viewing.

Priced at $7.99 (discounted from $9.99), YouTube Music Key also includes a subscription to Google's Spotify competitor, Google Play Music (formerly Google Play All Access), which includes more than 30 million songs and will feature the ability to watch official YouTube videos directly within the app.

Some streaming music services, like Spotify, offer a limited number of music videos, but ad-free access to high-quality popular videos is a feature that will be unique to YouTube Music Key and its sister service, Google Play Music.

Alongside YouTube Music Key, the YouTube apps for iOS and Android and YouTube.com have been updated with a new section dedicated to music videos, which provides recommended mood-based playlists and features trending music. The new focus on music will also highlight full-length albums and artist pages.

YouTube Music Key is currently in beta, with access going to the company's "biggest music fans" first before seeing a wider worldwide launch. YouTube users who receive an invite to the Music Key beta will receive six months of access for free. Customers who sign up for Google Play Music will get immediate access to the YouTube Music Key beta.

Top Rated Comments

penajmz

84 months ago

I don't see any reason why I would be paying for this.

Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)

J. Jizzle

84 months ago

Another music streaming service that you have to pay for? Really? How many of these do we need? This seems pointless.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

cheesyappleuser

84 months ago

$7.99 for the ability to listen to low-quality music files?
lol

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Eddy Munn

84 months ago

What does the 'key' mean?

If the app still doesn't play music in the background or when you sleep your phone then... lame.

Their website boldly states 'Background listening' as a key feature.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

logicstudiouser

84 months ago

Why would I spend $8 per month when it is so easy to use adblock and download youtube content already? This is a bad move by Google.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

rwilliams

84 months ago

I haven't had the desire to watch music videos since the late 90s. I don't see myself paying to do so in 2014.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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