YouTube Music and Premium has managed to cross 100 million subscribers, “including trials,” Adam Smith, Vice President of Product Management at YouTube, announced today. The milestone comes amid a controversy in which YouTube has been preventing ad-block users from watching videos by forcing popups; some reports claim that the company has gone so far as to slow down website and playback performance.
Smith on some of YouTube Music and Premium’s latest improvements:
…in the past year alone we enhanced the Premium playback experience including adding the ability to continue watching YouTube across different devices like your smart TVs and tablets and introduced an enhanced version of 1080p HD. We also experimented with new generative AI features that Premium users were among the first to try. And for listeners, we introduced the Samples tab, a lightning fast way to discover new music, a completely customized radio building experience , and brought podcasts to YouTube Music.
Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube, echoed some of these benefits in a letter that he shared today:
- Ad-free access to both apps, and play videos in the background or download them
- YouTube Music app now seamlessly integrates music streaming with long-form video and short-form video
- Radio Builder feature lets users build “the perfect radio station”
- Generative AI playlist covers allow users to create one-of-a-kind cover art
- Early access to AI innovations, including a new conversational tool
Cohen on YouTube Music’s relevance:
The music industry is at a critical juncture. Together, we can harness technological innovation to drive unprecedented value for artists and fans, building on our momentum that contributed $6 billion to the music industry in 12 months.