If you’re a little unclear on the redundancy of operating both the Google Play Music and YouTube Music apps, you’re not alone.
In order to streamline its offerings, Google has reportedly combined the product staffers on both apps into a single team, The Verge reports, noting that the transition actually began last year among the business development teams to make it easier to negotiate deals with labels and artists. While both Google Play Music and YouTube Music will continue to operate independently for the time being, Google is likely to meld both into a single music app in the future, according to The Verge.
“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,” a Google spokesperson told the outlet in a statement. “Nothing will change for users today, and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”
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Both Google Play Music and YouTube Music are available for free, though YouTube Red subscribers get fuller access to both services. Google Play is an online music storage service that lets users save 50,000 tracks from their own libraries — or offers subscribers on-demand streaming to any song within the Google Play Music catalog. YouTube Music, on the other hand, is akin to other verticals launched by YouTube, including YouTube Kids and YouTube Gaming, featuring non-stop music “stations” and live performance footage. Red subscribers receive ad-free and background listening on YouTube Music, as well as the ability to create offline mixtapes.
