YouTube Premium and YouTube Music have launched in India, where the video giant counts roughly 250 million monthly users.
The YouTube Music app offers two iterations — an ad-free version and a paid subscription service dubbed YouTube Music Premium that provides offline and background consumption of official songs as well as covers by digital creators. YouTube Music Premium is priced at 99 rupees — or roughly $1 — per month. YouTube notes that recommendations within YouTube Music are personalized, and subscribers can also search the platform via genre (‘Bollywood Hotlist’), mood (‘Upbeat Hindi Retro’), or artist (‘Featuring Drake‘). Paid members can download up to 100 songs with the Offline Mixtape feature.
Additionally, YouTube Premium — priced at 129 Rupees, or roughly $2 per month — is now available across India as well, enabling subscribers to watch YouTube videos ad-free as well as access its original programming catalog, complete with standout series such as Cobra Kai and BTS: Burn The Stage. A subscription to YouTube Premium includes access to YouTube Music Premium, though not vice versa.
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In addition to India, both services have rolled out today to South Africa, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Uruguay, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Bolivia — marking a total of 43 countries, according to Music Business Worldwide. The outlet also notes that YouTube Music arrives in India one month after Spotify launched there, gaining 1 million users across its free and premium tiers within a week.
“India is where the multi-lingual music scene thrives,” YouTube’s global music head Lyor Cohen told MBW. “It’s interesting to note how Indian artists have consistently claimed top spots over the last few months in the ‘Global YouTube Top Artists’ chart.”
