Google Play Music will stop functioning for users in India and many other markets around the world starting October, the company has announced. The Google Play Music users will still get till December to transfer their content to YouTube Music. A dedicated option to transfer has already been set up for the users of Google Play Music. The technology giant also said that it was making changes to the Google Play store and Music Manager.
YouTube has announced in a blog post that Google Play Music service will be replaced by YouTube Music. It has offered a timeframe till December 2020 during which the subscribers of the Google Play Music can transfer their content — like playlists, music libraries and personal taste preferences — to YouTube Music. It must be noted that the Google Play Music users’ libraries will not be available after December 2020. Gadgets 360 can confirm that an option of transferring the music content has already been flashing for users of YouTube Music for quite some time now.
Additionally, Google has announced that Google Play Music users will not be able to stream from or use the Google Play Music app in the coming months. Subscribers in New Zealand and South Africa will no longer be able to use the app from September, and other global markets, including India, will not be able to access the app from October.
“Starting in late August, users will no longer be able to purchase and pre-order music or upload and download music from Google Play Music through Music Manager,” Google added in the blog post.
How to migrate content from Google Play Music to YouTube Music
To transfer your data from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, subscribers can follow any of the two options. The first is to visit music.youtube.com/transfer and click on Transfer. The second method is via a transfer tool on the app. Tap on your profile picture > Settings > Transfer and then transfer the data from Google Play Music.
Google says that it will transfer the full Google Play Music library that includes uploaded and purchased songs, playlists, stations, albums, songs in the library, liked and disliked songs, as well as the billing information of the subscription. The company will convert the Google Play Music subscription to the equivalent tier of YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Premium.
In February 2020, YouTube had 20 million music and premium paid subscribers, and over 2 million YouTube TV paid subscribers.
Enhancements to YouTube Music
Apart from introducing the transfer tool in the YouTube Music app in May, Google has also improved and added new features to the app that are familiar to Google Play Music users. Changes have been introduced in Assistive Playlist Creation, where users can quickly create playlists by adding recommended songs based on existing songs in the current playlist. Users can also collaborate with other music fans to create shared playlists called Collaborative Playlists. The app will also let users explore programmed playlists like Highline, Caribbean Pulse, Conditions Underground, among others.
Google has also introduced features and improvements in the YouTube Music player page (available for Android mobile users) to give users better playback controls. The new Explore tab will allow users to find new releases including albums, singles, and music videos. Available on both mobile and the web, this option also has a catalog of playlists based on moods and genre.
YouTube Music is now available on Android TV via an update. The integration of the app with Google Maps lets subscribers listen to music and get recommendations within the Google Maps interface. Users can now ask their Google Assistant on Google Home and Nest smart speakers to play recommended music from YouTube Music.
