What happened with Google Play Music?

Google Play Music was a music and podcast streaming service and online music locker operated by Google. It was launched on November 16, 2011 as a competitor to other services like Spotify and Apple Music. Initially available only in the United States, it eventually expanded to over 60 countries.

Google Play Music offered over 35 million songs for purchase and streaming along with thousands of curated playlists. It also allowed users to upload up to 50,000 songs from their own music library to the cloud for free. Upon launch, Google Play Music received positive reviews for its song selection, storage capabilities, and mobile apps. Critics noted it was a viable alternative to competitors with room to grow its user base.

Growth & Competition

Google Play Music launched in 2011 as an expansion of Google’s Android Market digital store, allowing users to purchase music and stream songs from their digital locker. In the early years, Google Play Music saw slow growth compared to competitors like Spotify and Pandora according to this Wikipedia article.

By 2017, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music had emerged as major competitors in the music space. According to research from Statista, Spotify surpassed Google Play Music in monthly active users in 2016, reaching 60 million compared to Google’s 30 million. While Google Play Music was popular on Android, it struggled to gain traction against mainstream services available across platforms.

As competitors expanded their catalogs and added more robust features like personalized recommendations and playlists, Google Play Music failed to keep pace. Though it maintained a core user base, Google Play Music saw sluggish growth compared to the explosive rise of Spotify and Apple Music. This mounting competition ultimately led Google to make the decision to transition Google Play Music users and libraries over to a new service, YouTube Music.

Transition to YouTube Music

In May 2018, Google announced that it would be transitioning away from Google Play Music and towards a new service called YouTube Music. This came as Google looked to consolidate its music offerings into one unified service (source).

YouTube Music would leverage Google’s strengths in machine learning and AI to provide a personalized music streaming experience. The plan was for YouTube Music to eventually replace Google Play Music entirely, with Google encouraging users to transfer their libraries over to the new service.

In an official blog post, Google stated that YouTube was already the #1 music streaming platform globally. By bringing YouTube’s catalog of over 50 million official songs, remixes, live performances, covers and music videos together into YouTube Music, they aimed to create an immersive music experience (source).

YouTube Music Launch

In May 2018, Google officially launched YouTube Music as a new music streaming service to replace Google Play Music [1]. YouTube Music aimed to leverage YouTube’s vast catalog of songs, music videos, covers, and live performances to create a more immersive and video-centric music experience.

At launch, YouTube Music offered both a free ad-supported tier and a paid subscription tier called YouTube Music Premium. Key features included personalized recommendations, smart search, support for uploads, playlists, and the ability to play music in the background [2]. One major difference from Play Music was the focus on music videos and live performances alongside just audio tracks.

However, YouTube Music lacked some features that Play Music offered, like a desktop app, extensive music library management, and the ability to purchase music. The transition was gradual, with Google operating both services in parallel for over 2 years.

Play Music Shut Down

Google officially shut down Google Play Music on October 2020, after announcing plans to end the service in August 2020 (source). The shutdown had been in the works for some time, as Google focused efforts on its newer YouTube Music streaming service.

The shutdown was gradual, with Google disabling key features of Play Music over the months leading up to the final shutdown. In August 2020, uploads and downloads were disabled. Then in September, users lost access to the Play Music store and radio stations. Finally in October 2020, the service shut down completely for all users.

To ease the transition, Google allowed Play Music users to transfer their music libraries, playlists, and preferences to YouTube Music. However, the transfer process faced some criticism from users who found it slow, tedious, or error-prone. The shutdown meant losing access to any music purchased through Play Music. Overall, the shutdown marked the end of an era for Play Music after nearly 10 years.

User Reactions

Many longtime Google Play Music users were disappointed and frustrated with the shutdown of the service. When the transition to YouTube Music was announced in 2018, some users complained that YouTube Music lacked many important features that were available in Google Play Music (1).

After the shutdown in late 2020, Reddit threads on r/googleplaymusic filled up with nostalgic posts and complaints about the loss of functionality. One user said “I still miss the ‘Thumbs Up’ auto playlist so much.” Others complained about problems uploading their libraries and issues with recommendations on YouTube Music (2).

On technology forums and blogs, the Google Play Music shutdown was met with dismay by many users. Some felt it was being retired too soon, given that Google Play Music offered a cleaner interface, better organization and playlists, and a seamless ability to store and stream a large personal music collection (3).

Overall, the shutdown of the beloved Google Play Music service left many faithful users disappointed. While Google pushed for a transition to YouTube Music, longtime fans of Play Music felt like an old friend had been taken away from them.

YouTube Music Improvements

Since its launch in 2018, YouTube Music has been consistently updated and enhanced based on user feedback. Some of the significant improvements over the years include:

Improved recommendations – In 2019, YouTube Music launched a new home screen with sections like “Mixed for you” and “Recommendations” to provide users with more personalized music suggestions (YouTube Music – New Features Highlights: Aug 2023).

Support for uploaded music – In 2020, YouTube Music enabled users to upload their personal music collection to the service, a feature requested since launch (YouTube Music).

Enhanced mobile experience – Updates in 2021 brought improvements like lyrics support, on-device search, and new playlists to the YouTube Music app (YouTube Music).

Integrated podcasts – In 2022, YouTube Music incorporated podcasts into the service. Users can now listen to podcasts alongside music in the app.

Overall, YouTube Music has evolved significantly over time by listening to user feedback and consistently delivering new features and enhancements.

YouTube Music Today

YouTube Music has become a major player in the music streaming space today. According to Musical Pursuits, YouTube Music had over 50 million paying subscribers as of 2022, capturing about 7% of the global music streaming subscriber market share (https://musicalpursuits.com/music-streaming/). Though significantly smaller than market leader Spotify, YouTube Music’s subscription base has grown steadily since launch.

In terms of positives, YouTube Music benefits greatly from integration with YouTube itself – the world’s largest online video site. This gives YouTube Music unique access to official music videos, covers, live performances and remixes (https://explodingtopics.com/blog/music-streaming-stats). The service also provides personalized recommendations based on a user’s YouTube watch history and subscriptions. On the downside, some users complain about issues with uploads and poor recommendations compared to rivals.

Looking ahead, YouTube Music aims to continue growth, particularly in emerging markets where YouTube itself is popular. However, competing against streaming titans like Spotify and Apple Music remains an uphill battle.

Legacy & Impact

Google Play Music had a significant influence on the music streaming industry. When it launched in 2011, it was one of the first on-demand music subscription services that allowed users to upload their own music libraries and combine them with a large catalog of songs for streaming (1). This unique hybrid offering helped set user expectations for accessing both subscription content as well as their personal libraries within one service.

Play Music also pioneered key product features like intelligent recommendations and radio stations based on machine learning algorithms and user taste profiles. It paved the way for the seamless integration of streaming music services into smart speakers and voice assistants. The app’s mobile experience with offline saving introduced a more flexible way of listening on smartphones.

While ultimately superseded by YouTube Music, Google Play Music still represents an important chapter in Google’s history as an early experiment in subscription media and consumer digital content. It showed Google’s ambition to compete directly with services like Spotify and Apple Music. The legacy of Play Music endures through the platform YouTube Music built upon it, even as Google aims to advance its vision for the future of digital music with a unified brand and experience.

Conclusion

In summary, Google Play Music experienced impressive growth after launching in 2011, quickly becoming one of the top music streaming services. However, facing stiff competition from Spotify, Apple Music and others, Google decided in 2017 to eventually replace Play Music with a new service, YouTube Music. The transition began in 2018, with the official launch of YouTube Music and the gradual phasing out of Play Music over the next two years. User reactions were mixed, with many lamenting the loss of Play Music. However, YouTube Music has since improved and evolved into a formidable contender in the music streaming space. While Play Music could not survive the intense competition, its legacy lives on through YouTube Music.

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