YouTube Music review: no doubt it's gaining on Spotify, so is it time to switch?

YouTube Music: two-minute review

YouTube Music is YouTube’s music streaming service. It works like rivals Spotify and Tidal, with an app that looks similar. However, it’s not as nice to look at or as intuitive to use as the best music streaming services, especially when it comes to creating playlists. 

Sound-wise, it’s similar to the Spotify experience but doesn’t have high-res streaming or boosted audio quality, in the way that Tidal, Qobuz and and Apple Music do. It also has recommendations in the form of “radio”, which generates a radio station with a selection of music like the track you’re listening to, and personalized playlists. They get to know you well, but don’t suggest the kind of eerily accurate recommendations (or bizarrely-named Daylist titles) that Spotify has become known for. 

Apologies for constantly comparing YouTube Music to Spotify, but it’s long been the best music streaming service for many – and the platform most people are familiar with. And when you do get into the weeds and compare the two side-by-side, you start to ask the question: why would someone use YouTube Music when better, more intuitive alternatives exist?

The thing is, nothing about YouTube Music is bad. You just find most things – audio, recommendations, app experience, connectivity – are better from rivals. However, there are two key things that make YouTube Music the best proposition for its 100 million subscribers (that includes both free and premium versions).

The first is that it comes with YouTube Premium. This is YouTube’s paid-for subscription that strips ads from videos. For people who already pay for that, it’s similar enough to other streaming services, so why pay twice for another service like Spotify too? 

Secondly, it has a dedicated base of users who want to have access to all of the music in its library. You’ll find everything uploaded to YouTube here too, which means user uploaded music (including your own), remixes, amateur music, recordings of live sets, more obscure tracks, emerging artists and much more. 

YouTube Music is also constantly rolling out improvements to its offering. For example, it added podcasts in late 2023 and recently announced a sing to search feature, which lets you literally sing into your phone and it’ll find the track for you. As well as a new prompt-generated AI radio trial. Which, to be fair, Spotify already does in the form of AI DJ and its more recent AI playlist generator which is (in Beta at the time of writing this review, but) really fun to use. 

Yes, Spotify got there first with some of these upgrades, but YouTube Music seems to be taking major steps to catch up. It would be a sensible moment to do so, given the fact some users are growing tired of Spotify’s promises, especially after the PR disaster when it bricked Car Thing earlier this year – and the fact it has yet to deliver on its hi-res Spotify HiFi promises, despite recent price hikes. Does YouTube Music have what it takes to compete? Read on for our full YouTube Music review.

YouTube Music: what is it?

Before we get into what YouTube Music is, let’s get clear on YouTube’s different offerings. So firstly, there’s YouTube. We’re all familiar with this hugely popular video streaming service. There’s YouTube Premium, a subscription service that gives you more YouTube features, like playing music in the background on mobile devices and stripping away ads. 

Then there’s YouTube Music, a music streaming service that also incorporates regular YouTube’s music videos. It’s best to think of it as a mash-up of the original YouTube app and Google Play Music. Because YouTube is part of the Google ecosystem, it’s tied to your Google account.

There are a couple of ways to pay for YouTube Music. We’ll get into that in more detail below, but you can access it for free with some restrictions and there’s a premium version. One of the big benefits for YouTube Premium subscribers is that they’ll also get access to YouTube Music premium bundled into the deal. 

At the time of writing, YouTube has recently announced that there are now 100 million subscribers to YouTube Music, which includes both free and premium users. 

In terms of what YouTube Music offers, there are more than 100 million tracks. But it’s also home to anything users have uploaded to YouTube that’s classed as music, amateur content, unofficial content, more obscure content, you get the picture. This is one of the unique selling points of YouTube Music. Not only is there a lot here, but music you’ve uploaded can live among everything else you’re streaming. Good news for those who like everything neatly in one place.

Otherwise, YouTube Music looks and feels very similar to other streaming services. You’ve got a grid-like app with suggested music and personalized playlists packed with recommendations, and there’s the ability to save tracks, like them and add them to playlists.

YouTube Music review: pricing and subscription

• A free version with restrictions
• YouTube Music premium is $10.99/£10/AU$11.99 per month
• Premium tier comes free with YouTube Premium

Just like Spotify, there’s a free version of YouTube Music. This has some restrictions. It’ll have ads and you can’t download tracks for offline listening. A YouTube Music Premium subscription is $10.99/£10/AU$11.99 per month and that rids the experience of ads and means you can download tracks, albums and playlists for offline listening. 

As we mentioned above, you can also access YouTube Music by paying for a YouTube Premium subscription. That costs $13.99/£11.99/AU$16.99 per month but you can test it out with a free trial, which at the time of writing is for three months. 

At $10.99/£10/AU$11.99 per month, YouTube Music is around the same price as most rivals, including Tidal, which is also $10.99/£10.99/$11.99. Spotify’s premium tier costs $10.99 / £10.99 / AU$12.99 a month, so YouTube Music is slightly cheaper. 

As we’ll get to later on, there are ways in which both Tidal and Spotify beat YouTube Music, which makes it seem as if it’s not good value. Then again, there are some key things YouTube Music offers users that rivals don’t, so everything starts to balance out – depending on what you’re looking for. 

YouTube Music review: audio quality

• No high-res
• Spotify marginally better
• Sounds the same as Spotify in testing

When you start using YouTube Music, you’ll automatically be listening to ‘Normal’ audio quality, which is a bitrate of 128kbps. If you want to save on data when streaming from your phone, you can go into the Settings in the app and change to ‘Low’ quality, a bitrate of 48kbps. If you’re on an unlimited monthly plan (you lucky thing you), you can select ‘High’, which is 256kbps. 

Even that highest bitrate is low compared to rivals though – especially rivals that offer hi-res and lossless listening, like Tidal. But even Spotify Premium allows you to stream music at 320kbps. It’s not just about the bitrate either, YouTube Music delivers AAC-compressed audio, which can lack the detail and clarity of the more hi-res audio file types.

However, there’s some speculation online (take a look at Reddit) about why YouTube Music sounds better than Spotify for some listeners. During my testing, I didn’t notice a major difference between the two. Despite Spotify’s minor quality bump, if anything, YouTube Music had a richer and more expansive sound. Then again, this is of course subjective and while I marginally favor YouTube's sonic presentation, it's also dependant upon how you listen; if you're streaming wirelessly via Bluetooth (which incurs compression) or using the DAC inbuilt in your laptop (rather than one of the best portable DACs hooked up to some of the best wired headphones, which would be largely wasted here anyway) you're unlikely to notice much difference. 

What matters most here is to note that like Spotify, you won’t get audiophile-grade sound from YouTube Music, but in a battle strictly between the two, there’s not much in it.

YouTube Music review: catalog

• A huge selection of music
• Live sessions and videos too
• More obscure and unofficial tracks

Gone are the days of judging streaming services by the number of tracks they have in their library. With only a handful of exceptions, you’ll find more artists and types of music everywhere you look. 

However, if you’ve ever felt like Spotify and the like aren’t catering enough for your tastes, then YouTube Music could be a great choice for you. Most of what you’ll find on rivals like Spotify are official tracks. On YouTube Music, you’ll find all of the music uploaded to YouTube, which means you’ll get mixes, fan uploads, work from amateur artists, more obscure tracks, rare stuff, and so much more. 

It’s worth mentioning here that although this sounds great, it won’t be for everyone. For example, if you search for a track you often don’t get the official track served up first, but endless mashups and remixes. This will be, quite literally, music to the ears of those who have always craved more choice. But others will be overwhelmed and want to be spoon-fed the more mainstream, regular version – I’m not ashamed to say that although I found YouTube Music incredibly fun to use, I definitely fall more into this last camp.

As well as getting access to more music, there are a lot of extras here. You can easily tap to see the music video of anything you’re listening to if one exists – which you’d expect from YouTube. Although other streaming services do offer some video, it works seamlessly here. Great if you’re a fan of music videos, you’ll feel like you’re transported back to your teens watching MTV again.

You’re also able to add any music you already have, whether that’s on your Google Play Music library, iTunes or a hard drive, to your YouTube Music library. This is great if you feel like you’ve got pockets of disparate music and want what you own, and what you stream, to be in one place. FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WMA files are all supported and the process of uploading them is really straightforward, just go to your profile via the web and click ‘Upload music’.

Late in 2023, YouTube Music added podcasts to its offering, sort of folding in Google Podcasts, which is in the process of being discontinued. We can’t find an official number about how many podcasts are available through YouTube Music, but it seems that some of the big names and popular shows are here, but not everything. If you’re really into podcasts, especially those that don’t rake in the big viewer numbers, you’d be better off looking elsewhere. 

YouTube Music review: platforms and apps

• Main iOS and Android apps are good
• Some clunky UI points
• Rivals do it a little better

There’s an iOS and an Android YouTube Music app. It also works as a web player from your browser, on Sonos, some Fitbit and Garmin devices, Apple HomePod and on anything related to Google, like Wear OS smartwatches, Google Home and Nest speakers and Chromecast. Rivals like Spotify and Tidal have more connectivity options, but these are likely to be enough for most people. 

We tested YouTube Music using the iOS app. It’s functionally similar to rivals and, as it’s been updated over the past year, it looks like them too (especially Tidal). Expect black and grey styling and bright artwork for albums and recommendations. Content is presented in a scrolling, grid-like layout. It’s a design we’re familiar with but that’s fine because it works well and feels clean, simple and easy-to-use.

Wherever you use YouTube Music you’ll find slightly different variations of the same layout, just tweaked for different screen sizes. You’ll find Home, Explore and Library tabs. Home is where new tracks, recommendations and playlists, both generic and curated live. Explore contains more searchable content, recommendations and ways to find new tracks based on moods and genres. And Library is where everything you’ve saved and curated lives. 

Something about the experience doesn’t feel quite as slick or smartly designed as Spotify or Apple Music at times. But it’s still nice to use and we’re maybe nit-picking here. What we’re saying is, if you haven’t tried the others you would probably be content. If you have, there’s a sort of clunkiness that takes a few days to get used to. 

YouTube Music review: playlists and recommendations

• Solid recommendations
• Plans to make them better
• Spotify is still king here

Like all music streaming services, the more you use YouTube Music, the more it learns about your tastes and preferences. You can get recommendations in a bunch of ways. You can play the ‘Radio’ option from any track or album, which generates a radio station filled with similar tracks and artists. There are also a bunch of playlists that update regularly and are personalized to you, including Discover Mix, Replay Mix and New Release Mix. Over time, you’ll get even more to sit different moods, like Workout Supermix, Romantic Supermix and Focus Supermix.

There’s also the ability to create your own radio station. Through a feature called Your Music Tuner, which is located in the Home tab of the app, you can fine-tune a custom radio station experience. You select artists, artist variety and tweak other filters. When you’re done, the YouTube Music algorithm will build a custom station that you can continue to tune. 

After trialling YouTube Music for several weeks, I can confidently say it’s got to know me and my preferences. Many of the suggested tracks and artists are the kind of music I like listening to. I also love that mixes are created for certain moods and situations. But it doesn’t quite feel as good as Spotify. 

Now, I’m willing to admit this could be subjective and I’ve been using Spotify longer. But Spotify’s recommendations feel fresher to me. I have that eerie sense that new tracks and artists (and even new genres) are unearthed that I like but have never heard before. Whereas youTube Music serves up some of the same artists and tracks again and again. This is nice and still has a personalized touch, but doesn’t feel quite so effective for new music discovery.

Then again, I’m well aware we’re comparing YouTube Music to the best of the best. Although not everyone loves them, Spotify’s recommendations and generated playlists are one of the main draws of the music streaming service. 

As mentioned above in the intro, YouTube Music is making changes and adding AI to create better playlists. As far as I can tell (these features haven’t rolled out yet), they’re largely the same as Spotify’s offering, but it’ll be interesting to see how that pans out in future.

Another way YouTube Music wants you to find new music is with Samples. YouTube Music is going all in on this as it has a whole tab of its own in the mobile app. Think of Samples as TikTok for music. Click on the tab and you’ll be served a continuous feed of short form video clips to get you interested in new artist and tracks. This is a nice touch for integrating video and will take you back to the days of finding out about new artists from the likes of MTV and Kerrang. 

Want to create your own playlists? That’s easy too, with the same kind of look and feel as Spotify and Tidal. Simply add a track to a playlist then you can choose a name for it and select an artwork theme. YouTube Music will serve up suggestions for new tracks you can add, which I’m often doing instinctively now. The functionality doesn’t feel quite as natural as rivals, for example, you can’t search within a playlist. 

YouTube Music review: should you subscribe?

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• First reviewed: July 2024