What happened to the music I uploaded to Google Play Music?
In May 2020, Google announced that it would be shutting down Google Play Music by the end of the year. Google Play Music launched in 2011 as Google’s music streaming service, allowing users to upload their own music library to the cloud, purchase music through the Play Store, and stream curated radio stations. In 2015, Google introduced YouTube Music, a new music streaming service aimed to eventually replace Google Play Music. Throughout 2020, Google has been notifying Play Music users that their libraries and data will be migrated over to YouTube Music before the Play Music service is discontinued. This transition aims to move all existing Google Play Music users to YouTube Music, where they can continue streaming music with their uploaded libraries, purchased songs, playlists, preferences and listening history intact.
Google Play Music Shutdown
Google Play Music was a streaming music and cloud storage service developed by Google. It was launched in November 2011 as a competitor to services like Spotify and Apple Music. Google announced in May 2020 that the service would be discontinued later in the year as the company shifts its focus to YouTube Music.
The shutdown timeline was as follows:
- August 2020 – New users could no longer sign up for Google Play Music.
- September 2020 – The mobile app began shutting down for users in New Zealand and South Africa.
- October 2020 – Google Play Music was completely shut down for all users.
According to sources like The Verge, Google decided to discontinue Play Music in favor of focusing on its YouTube Music service. The company wanted to consolidate music streaming under one brand and platform. Existing Google Play Music users had their playlists, purchases, likes, and recommendations transferred to YouTube Music.
Migration to YouTube Music
In May 2020, Google announced that Google Play Music would be shutting down later in the year and transitioning users to YouTube Music, Google’s new music streaming service. YouTube Music officially replaced Google Play Music as Google’s music platform in October 2020.
YouTube Music aims to be a comprehensive music streaming service, offering both official songs and albums as well as a vast catalog of user-generated content found on YouTube. It provides both a free ad-supported tier as well as a premium paid subscription. Features include customized recommendations, intelligent search, support for uploads, playlists, radio stations based on songs or artists, and more. The interface and experience are optimized for mobile devices.
As Google Play Music subscribers were migrated, their playlists, purchases, likes, dislikes, and preferences were automatically transferred over to YouTube Music in an effort to make the transition seamless. However, the shift to a new platform left some users dissatisfied with missing features or differences in how their libraries were handled. Overall, YouTube Music successfully replaced Google Play Music as Google’s centralized music platform by leveraging YouTube’s massive collection of unofficial songs and remixes, although some functionality changed in the process.
[Cite: “Follow the Tides of Music From Battle for Azeroth”]
Automatic Account Transition
When Google Play Music shutdown, user accounts were automatically migrated to YouTube Music. This meant that when users signed into YouTube Music with their Google account, their Play Music data and preferences transferred over. According to this article from The Verge, when you first open the YouTube Music app after the transition, it displays everything that is being migrated from Google Play Music to YouTube Music.
Uploaded Music Transfer
Google aimed to make the transition process as seamless as possible for users transferring libraries from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. Previously uploaded songs, albums, and artists were automatically transferred over to YouTube Music for users who enabled the account migration.
The transfer brought over all music that was either purchased from Google Play Music or uploaded directly by users. Uploaded songs were matched to official catalog versions on YouTube Music when possible. According to Google, any uploads that didn’t have an equivalent were copied over as-is.[1] This ensured users maintained access to any rare, live, or personal recordings.
Playlists and music libraries were reproduced in YouTube Music with the same names, metadata, and organization. The transfer process aimed to recreate the Google Play Music experience within the new YouTube Music interface.
Playlists, Favorites and Recs
When Google Play Music shut down, playlists, likes, favorites, and music recommendations were automatically transferred to YouTube Music for users who completed the migration process (The Verge). This ensured users would not lose their curated song collections and preferences during the transition.
The transfer moved all Google Play Music playlists over to YouTube Music as exact copies. Users can find their old playlists waiting for them in the “Playlists” section of the YouTube Music app or website. Likewise, thumbs upped songs and albums marked as favorites transferred over and can be located in the “Liked songs” playlist.
The algorithms powering Google Play Music’s personalized recommendations also carried over to YouTube Music. Suggested albums and playlists based on listening history and music tastes moved to the new service and can be found in sections like “Discover” and “New releases for you.” This maintained a tailored music experience for listeners.
Overall, the migration kept users’ playlists, favorites, likes, and recommendations intact. Users generally found their collections and preferences seamlessly carried over to YouTube Music after completing the transfer process (FreeYourMusic).
Purchased Music
When Google Play Music shut down at the end of 2020, users lost access to any music they had purchased through the service. Unlike music uploaded to Google Play Music, purchased songs did not automatically transfer over to YouTube Music.
This means that any music bought through Google Play is no longer accessible. Users can no longer download or stream content they paid for. According to users on Reddit, Google deleted purchased music from user libraries without any option to recover it [1].
Unfortunately, Google did not provide a way for users to download or transfer purchased music before the shutdown. Users were only given a short window of a few months to export their uploaded music libraries. Any paid content was simply lost when the service ended.
This has understandably caused frustration for many users who spent money buying songs, albums, and other content through Google Play Music. After the shutdown, that purchased music is no longer accessible at all.
Issues and Problems
Many users encountered major issues when transitioning from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. One of the most common problems was that duplicate songs were deleted during the transfer process. For example, users with music samplers in their Google Play Music libraries found that YouTube Music would delete duplicate tracks and only keep one copy (source: https://www.reddit.com/r/googleplaymusic/comments/goyq5s/transitioning_to_youtube_music_from_google_play/).
Another significant issue was loss of metadata and edits made to tracks in Google Play Music. This included information like album art, edited song titles and artist names, ratings, play counts, and more. Much of this metadata failed to transfer over to YouTube Music (source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/google-says-its-working-hard-to-address-youtube-music-complaints/).
In addition, many users complained about missing albums, songs, and playlists after the transition. There were reports of entire artists or albums vanishing, despite Google’s assurances that all uploaded and purchased content would transfer. Playlists were another common source of problems, with many not transferring correctly or being empty on YouTube Music.
Alternatives
After the shutdown of Google Play Music, many users looked for alternative platforms to store and stream their uploaded music collections. Here are some top alternatives to YouTube Music for this purpose:
Spotify – While Spotify doesn’t allow uploading your own music like YouTube Music, it has a huge catalog of over 70 million tracks that users can stream on demand. Spotify also offers playlists, radio, and music recommendations. There is a free ad-supported tier or a paid Premium option without ads (Source).
Amazon Music – Amazon Music allows you to upload up to 250,000 of your own songs to their cloud storage and stream them on any device. This makes it a good alternative to YouTube Music for listening to your personal music library. Amazon Prime members get access to 2 million songs for free (Source).
Plexamp – Plexamp is a music player that connects to your Plex Media Server to stream music from your personal media libraries. It allows uploading your own music collection and listening across devices. The app has a clean, focused interface optimized for music playback.
Apple Music – While Apple Music doesn’t let you upload your personal music, it has a library of over 75 million songs. You can also save music offline, get curated playlists, listen to radio stations, and more. It works seamlessly for iPhone users.
Conclusion
In summary, Google Play Music was officially discontinued in late 2020 after several years of operating alongside YouTube Music. The shutdown was announced well in advance, giving users time to prepare. Google offered tools to automatically transfer Play Music accounts, uploaded and purchased content, playlists, favorites, and recommendations to YouTube Music.
The transition process went smoothly for most but some users experienced issues with missing uploads, inaccurate metadata, and lost playlists. Overall though, key data was preserved thanks to Google’s migration tools. YouTube Music now serves as the new home for Google Play Music users.
While it’s sad to see Play Music go, YouTube Music aims to provide a similar listening experience. The shutdown marks the end of an era but also a new chapter for Google’s music strategy. Users can look forward to exploring YouTube Music’s catalog of official songs, covers, remixes, live performances, and more.