YouTube, which calls itself a “Google company,” has its own branding and design direction that’s independent from the broader organization. YouTube Studio is now getting a new icon that shares some similarity to YouTube Music.
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Since the start of this year, Google’s streaming service has yet to receive a major feature update. That continues today with search in YouTube Music for Android and iOS now directly displaying songs.
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YouTube Music has been putting more focus on its algorithmic auto-playlists as of late, having renamed its iconic “Your Mix” playlist and introduced seven new daily mixes in the past year. In addition to these, a new “Replay Mix” is now appearing for many YouTube Music users that includes their most commonly played songs from the past “few weeks.”
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YouTube Music has been available on Android Auto for quite some time and has been updated along with the platform to revise its visuals and more. Now, the app is getting one of its biggest redesigns, with YouTube Music on Android Auto adding navigation tabs and more.
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In an update today, YouTube revealed that it paid $4 billion to the music industry over the last 12 months, while Premium and Music Premium subscriptions saw notable growth at the start of this year.
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At I/O 2021, Google announced that its wearable platform would do a better job of highlighting first-party services, among other tentpoles. This includes YouTube Music, Google Maps, Pay, and Assistant, with a brief preview of those Wear OS apps provided today.
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The tech behind Chromecast, once known as Google Cast, is available in everything from TVs to soundbars and speakers from variety of different brands. As a result of an ongoing lawsuit with Sonos, though, Google may soon need to stop selling smart speakers and other cast devices in Germany.
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When listening to songs in the YouTube mobile client, Google will occasionally prompt users to open the YouTube Music app for a better experience. The main YouTube app is now testing a dedicated “Listening controls” experience for music.
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In February, Google said its streaming service would add “even more” playlist creation features and increase discoverability of those user-generated collections. That has so far been the only app roadmap provided by the company this year. YouTube Music is now implementing those plans in search by distinguishing between Featured and Community playlists.
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With Google Play Music now double dead and even fully disabled on devices in favor of YouTube Music, if you’re simply not a fan of the replacement, you might be looking for some serious audio alternatives.
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The criticism of YouTube Music, especially from Google Play Music users, is that it bizarrely lacks basic features. One of those is the ability to repeat songs while Casting, though that has finally just been added to YouTube Music on Android.
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Following a brief test earlier this week on the main website, YouTube Music for Android is now beginning to more widely see outline-style icons.
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At the start of December, the Google Play Music website and mobile apps officially stopped working for all users worldwide. It marked the biggest milestone in the transition to YouTube Music, but there is one last step. Before February 24th, transfer your Play Music library to the replacement YouTube service, or download using Google Takeout.
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The evolution of YouTube Music continues with the music streaming service adding a new “Library Tracks” playlist for some users out there that collates your entire music library into one large listenable collection.
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YouTube Music has seen a few tweaks since the start of this year, with the latest one giving users a better preview of what songs are in playlists they’ve created, thanks to a grid view that matches Spotify and Apple Music.
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As of last year, downloading certain apps from the Play Store on Chrome OS would automatically “install” the Progressive Web App. The latest service to follow this PWA approach is YouTube Music, though Google is taking a circuitous route with a separate Chromebook listing.
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While we’re well into the new year, YouTube Music looks to be taking another stab at giving users a 2020 Year in Review. Hopefully, this iteration will be widely rolled out.
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Like autoplay on the main video site, YouTube Music is good at recommending similar songs to listen to next. YouTube Music is now surfacing “Start radio” right on the main Now Playing interface.
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Almost a month into the new year, YouTube Music has yet to see any major changes. There have been a handful of tweaks, and the latest today involves YouTube Music switching to grid views when displaying albums and singles on artist profiles.
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YouTube Music is now Google’s only song streaming service after Play Music was deprecated last year, though transfers are still available. A small tweak sees YouTube Music being prominently advertised on the YouTube.com sidebar.
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The general layout of YouTube Music has remained largely the same since its 2018 relaunch, but a small change online and on Android sees Google tweak the background theme.
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As we have now seen the much-loved Google Music bite the dust in recent weeks, YouTube Music has added yet another notable but frustrating feature in the form of animated video previews when scrolling your music feed.
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After generating a straightforward playlist with top songs, YouTube Music is now emailing subscribers a “Your 2020 music journey” recap complete with listening stats and other breakdowns.
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Those that don’t pay for YouTube Music are either using it for the cloud locker or as a lighter YouTube client just for songs. Free YouTube Music users are now seeing a prominent “Upgrade” tab in the bottom bar.
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