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Google merging YouTube and Play Music teams to ‘deliver the best possible product’

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With nearly identical features, it can be quite confusing whether Play Music or YouTube Music should be used for tunes. Fortunately, Google might be simplifying this situation by combining the two teams to create “the best possible product.”

The Verge reports that the product teams for the two separate apps are being merged in order to “deliver the best possible product for our users, music partners and artists.”

No immediate changes are planned with both services remaining independent for the time being. In a statement, Google confirms the new organization and notes that any revamp will be communicated to users far ahead of time:

Music is very important to Google and we’re evaluating how to bring together our music offerings to deliver the best possible product for our users, music partners and artists. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.

This change follows a move last year that saw the two business development teams combine to make label and artist negotiation easier for Google as a whole.

Play Music is the more traditional service with the ability for users to upload their tracks to the cloud. A subscription provides offline access to 35 million songs, while there are also podcasts features and machine learning-powered recommendations. Meanwhile, YouTube Music technically has the larger collection and better branding.

Both apps have their merits and as such the decision of which app survives may not be as obvious.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com