Google Kills Off Play Music; YouTube Music To Get New Upgrades

Google has discontinued its music streaming service Google Play Music nine years since it was launched, and the company is compensating by adding new features to its latest offering, YouTube Music.

The Google Play Music web page is no longer available, while the app is still working for some users. But it, too, will soon be discontinued for everyone.

For now, the app is giving users a chance to transfer their library, including their uploads and playlists, to YouTube Music, within a certain time period, and with an easy transfer process. Users will find a “Transfer to YouTube Music” button in the middle of the page. If your accounts are linked, then your music transfer will begin.

Users can also download or delete their music, remove their recommendation history or their music library. The Google Play Music website informs users that music and data will automatically be deleted once the shutdown of the app is complete.

Google Play Music joins other Google services like Reader, Google+ and Trusted Contacts, which were shuttered by the tech giant earlier this year.

The company has been contemplating combining YouTube and Google Play Music for years. For a long time, it had been negotiating two music licenses with record labels, one for Google, one for YouTube, according to Wired. Therefore, merging them seems like a good idea. And since YouTube's yearly revenue is almost $15 billion, the company knew what it had to do.

Users were notified in advance about the two services being combined. The company had laid out plans for phasing out Google Play Music, with streaming shutting down in September and the app and website going offline last month. It will be completely out of service by the end of 2020.

Play Music debuted in 2011 as Music Beta by Google, the tech company’s first music streaming service, along with Google Movies, on the Android Market store. This was launched to take on Apple’s iTunes, which was already a dominant force in the market. Until Music Beta, Google relied on Amazon MP3 Store in Android 1.0.

Within six months, Music Beta became Google Music. Record companies like Universal, EMI, and Sony signed on to Google Music and independent artists could sell their music to Google Music through its artist hub.

Over the years, Google’s Android Market store became Google Play Store, and its apps added "Play" too, like Google Play Music, Google Play Movies, and Google Play Books. The app expanded in other countries and other OS’, including iOS in 2013.

Until two years ago, the app had started streaming all kinds of audio: user-uploaded music, music store, podcasts, music videos, and monthly streaming service. It is not clear when YouTube Music will be able to integrate all of Play Music’s major features.