Youtube’s Music Streaming Service, YouTube Premium launches in South Africa
In May 2018, Google announced that it was launching a new music streaming service known as YouTube Premium. The company said the reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player will feature thousands of playlists, the official versions of millions of songs, albums, artist radio and more, in addition to all the music videos people expect from YouTube.
YouTube first rolled out the new YouTube Music experience in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. The expanded to Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. And now, the service as well YouTube Music has been launched in South Africa, making it the first country in Africa to enjoy the services.
The new ad-supported version of YouTube Music is free, while YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership that gives users background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience, costs R59.99 a month or R89.99 per month for a Family Plan. Users can get three months of YouTube Music Premium free here.
YouTube Music offers a number of features music lovers will really enjoy, according to Google SA Head of Marketing Asha Patel
“With the Smart Search feature on YouTube Music, music lovers can find any song, even if they can’t remember what it’s called.”
Users can search for descriptions, lyrics and even emojis to find the tracks they want to listen to. Smart Search is available in most languages, including indigenous South African languages like isiZulu and isiXhosa.
“Google Play Music subscribers will automatically receive access to YouTube Music Premium at their current price,” says Patel. “Nothing is changing with Google Play Music – you’ll still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music.”
The new YouTube Music app is available to download from Play Store and App Store or users can check out the web player at music.youtube.com and sign up for YouTube Premium at youtube.com/premium.
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