YouTube Red & Google Play to Join Forces

During a panel at NYC’s annual New Music Seminar,  hip hop mogul Lyor Cohen, now and YouTube’s Global Head of Music, announced that YouTube Red and Google Play will combine forces. Both streaming services are Google entities, and joining the two will make accessing digital music and videos far simpler than in the past, and will allow Google to join the ranks as one of the few music streaming services that consumers are actually using.

In their current format, Google has YouTube, YouTube Red, Google TV and Google Play. Combining YouTube Red and Google Play will remove unnecessary bulk and improve ease of use, which has proven itself to be the number one thing consumers are looking for; for this reason, Google’s top streaming competitor Spotify has accelerated to the top of the music streaming game. Changes to the platforms have been rumored for months, and it is believed that the free platforms will remain available. However, a combined platform pending the price of a subscription will certainly entice potential users. Google confirmed in a statement that no immediate changes will be made, and there will be plenty of advance notice before any changes are made. You can see the statement from Google below:

“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. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”