For months now we’ve been hearing rumours that Google could have plans to merge YouTube and Google Play Music into one seamless streaming content platform.
While those rumours have died down lately, it looks like they’re making a return. A new report from Droid Life, along with a comment from Google regarding the rumour, indicates that a new music streaming service dubbed ‘YouTube Remix’ could be on the way.
The report indicates that current Play Music users will be migrated to the new service by the end of 2018.
A statement from YouTube sent to Droid Life seems to corroborate the rumour, hinting at exactly how users will migrate to the new platform.
The statement from Google reads as follows:
“We’ve previously announced the combination of the YouTube Music and Google Play product teams — music is very important to Google so it’s critical we have one offering that meets the needs of consumers and artists. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”
YouTube Remix was first expected to launch back at SXSW in March, but the announcement never happened.
If this new platform also includes YouTube’s Red subscription service, it will be interesting to see how it rolls out internationally. For instance, YouTube Red isn’t yet available in Canada. Taking things a step further, Google Play Music isn’t available in every region around the world, which could lead to complications related to video licensing.
In the face of Spotify’s recent IPO and redesign, as well as Apple Music’s growing subscriber base, it makes sense for Google to be making an effort to combine its various content subscription services into one unified platform.
Source: Droid Life
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