Fortune is reporting that YouTube will be launching a streaming music service to compete with the likes of Spotify.
According to the report:
The service has its own negotiating team and operating unit, but will likely have some overlap with new features also rumored to be coming to Google’s Android music platform, Google Play.
The two new services are defined by their respective places in the Google empire: Google Play for Android is a digital locker for music—users buy, store, and sort a collection of tracks; but on YouTube’s coming service, anyone can listen to tracks for free. Both services are said to be adding a subscription fee that will unlock additional features. For the YouTube-based service, this will likely mean ad-free access.
Fortune was briefed on the service by sources in the record industry and at Google who declined to be named. Through a spokesperson, YouTube issued the following statement: “While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.”
YouTube to launch music streaming service, take on Spotify [Fortune]