YouTube has announced some major changes to its YouTube Music service that may upset some users. If you use the free version of YouTube Music, you'll no longer be able to watch the videosonly listen to the audio. If you want the videos, those have moved behind the paywall.
Let's explore these changes in more detail and find out when they're coming to YouTube Music.
How Is YouTube Music Changing?
In early October, YouTube published a blog post to announce that background play will be available in Canada, free of charge, from November 3, 2021. This means that you can listen to your tunes on YouTube Music while you browse other applications or have the screen off.
Alongside the background listening, free users will still be able to shuffle personalized playlists and browse songs and playlists as usual.
So far, so good. However, alongside this update, YouTube announced those using YouTube Music for free in Canada won't be able to watch the music videos. Instead, it's an audio-only experience. The ability to watch the videos is now contained within the YouTube Music Premium subscription.
It gets worse. Other features, like on-demand music selection and unlimited skips, are also going behind the paywall. Essentially, the free YouTube Music experience is getting watered down considerably. For many, this will heavily compromise the experience.
When Will These Changes Occur?
These changes will take effect on November 3 for YouTube Music users in Canada. The company has stated that they have global expansion plans but have not shared definitive dates or plans for any other countries.
Other streaming services are no doubt looking to see how this goes down for YouTube; they're also experimenting, with Apple recently announcing a Siri-only voice plan for Apple Music.
Is YouTube Music Premium Worth the Investment?
Background play has been a highly requested feature for free users of YouTube Music, so some may see this update as a positive. However, YouTube has generally been associated with video content, so moving videos behind a paywall may be an unpopular move for the streaming service.
YouTube Music Premium may be worth the investment, particularly if you currently use on-demand listening and watch music videos in the app. However, there are a number of other music streaming services as well. Spotify and Apple Music are the most popular two services to take a look at.