Spotify’s Newest Competitor Is YouTube
YouTube is rumored to be preparing a new music streaming network that would rival industry leader Spotify.
According to Fortune the video sharing website wants to provide free songs mixed with advertisements or the option to hear song without ads for a monthly fee. Spotify currently offers ad free listening for $4.99 via Desktop and $9.99 via mobile devices.
To add value to the service Google is expected to add a digital locker at Google Play for Android. By adding the extra option the company can round out its music services for different types of users, thus creating an online experience that provides more benefits to customers.
Fortune notes:
Potentially foreshadowing how Google’s two separate music services will compliment one another, YouTube has already begun embedding click to buy links on user-uploaded songs that direct to Google Play (along with Google’s competitors: Amazon Mp3 and iTunes). It’s not difficult to imagine a user’s “collection” becoming jointly visible between the two platforms, or having music purchases or listening histories from one feed informing the recommendation engine of the other.
YouTube is not commenting on the rumor, however given Google’s increasing interest in cloud based computing and the hold that type of technology has over music lockers it is a definitely possibility.
Would you be willing to use YouTube for your music streaming needs?