What is YouTube Music and YouTube Premium?

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium are two different services with confusingly similar names. Here we explain what they both are so you can decide which you might want to use

By Henry Burrell

Phones Editor, Tech Advisor JUN 19, 2018 12:00 am BST

Google has launched YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in the UK. One is a music streaming service like Spotify that also taps into YouTube’s unrivalled bank of music video. The other is a premium tier of YouTube itself, with some added bonuses.

Here is what the two free or paid for streaming services offer.

What is YouTube Music?

YouTube Music is a music and video streaming service similar to Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal. It is a free to download app with a free version that runs ads and doesn’t include some features.

What is YouTube Music Premium?

Like other music streaming services, you can subscribe to YouTube Music Premium. This removes the ads and adds features like offline downloads and background listening (music keeps playing, even from YouTube videos, if you close the app or lock the device).

The service used to be called YouTube Red, but has been relaunched as YouTube Premium.

Unlike rivals, YouTube Music brings together music and music-related video into one app. The tagline ‘It’s all here’ alludes to this. If you don’t want to keep switching between apps for your music and video, this could be the answer for you.

Those who already subscribe to Google Play Music will also get access to YouTube Music Premium as part of their subscription.

How much is YouTube Music Premium?

YouTube Music Premium costs £9.99 per month in the UK, or £14.99 for a Family Plan.

YouTube Music

What is YouTube Premium?

YouTube Premium offers all the premium services of YouTube Music but removes all ads and also offers background play for video, video downloads and access to YouTube Originals, a Netflix and Amazon Prime Video rival.

How much is YouTube Premium?

YouTube Premium costs £11.99 per month in the UK, or £17.99 for a Family Plan.

Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor

Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.