Most YouTube Premium users are primarily interested in ad-free video playback. However, the top subscription tier also includes Music Premium, and Google is now advertising that fact in the primary YouTube app and offering to open YouTube Music.
This evening, listening to a lyrics video in YouTube for Android brought up a “Switch to YouTube Music” banner. Appearing underneath the player window, it noted how the service is “Included in your membership” and featured a large “Enjoy now” button.
Tapping immediately launched the video I was playing in YouTube Music. Unfortunately, the app did not remember my playback state a few seconds into the song and started from the beginning. It also resulted in a Picture-in-Picture window for the original video.
For YouTube, this is an interesting tactic to get more people to at least try YouTube Music. They are already paying for it after all, and the standalone app provides a dedicated audio listening experience that is better.
In my scenario, I subscribe to YouTube Premium. It’s not clear if the same prompt will pop up for just Music Premium users. Meanwhile, there are several obvious improvements like remembering playback position, as well as switching to the actual catalog version with proper album art rather than just continuing to play the uploaded video. It could also be intelligent about not offering to open YouTube Music when you’re specifically watching a music video.
It’s unclear how new this feature is, but it’s not prevalent on version 14.35.54 of YouTube for Android. Basket Case by Green Day was the only video that displayed the banner for me during my listening session.
More about YouTube Music:
- YouTube Music 3.31 hints at ‘retail mode’ push for Google’s streaming service [APK Insight]
- YouTube Music adds ‘Released’ playlist to compete with Spotify’s ‘New Music Friday’
- A year later, YouTube Music adds library sorting for albums and playlists
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