In a move that would shake up the streaming service industry, YouTube Red and Google Play Music are set to merge.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s head of music, spoke about the possible merger between the two digital platforms.
Cohen was asked why the music streaming branch of YouTube, YouTube Red, wasn’t more popular and competitive in the streaming market.
The former head of Def Jam claimed that combining YouTube and Google play into one entity was the key to moving forward,
“The important thing is combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music, and having one offering.”
While at the head of Warner Music, Lyor Cohen oversaw their entire digital undertaking, including negotiating a deal with Spotify.
Cohen said one of the more important parts of expanding YouTube Red and Google Play’s influence is working more intimately within the music business,
“In my mind, the missing piece on building these businesses is collaborating with the [music] industry, and not just making deals and going away and seeing how it works.”
YouTube’s music streaming service is currently all over the place. They have YouTube Red, which allows streaming without ads and gives users access to Google Play Music.
With YouTube Red you can also use YouTube Music, which is separate from YouTube Red but is more seamless when you have YouTube Red.
It’s not very straightforward. YouTube TV is also apparently a thing, but it’s not widely available at the moment.
As for the other side of this partnership, Google said in a statement to The Verge that they’ll let the people know if any changes to music streaming are made,
“Music is very important to Google and we’re evaluating how to bring together our music offerings to deliver the best possible product for our users, music partners and artists. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.”
Right now if you sign up for either service you get the other for free, but combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music would offer a one stop shop for streaming users and is clearly the easiest way to make this collaboration work.
YouTube Music may be kind of a wild collage at the moment, but if anyone can figure it out, it’s Lyor Cohen.