Google Play Music Shutting Down: Service To Begin Phasing Out In September As YouTube Music Takes Off

Google confirmed the early timetable for the closure of its Google Play Music streaming service.

The platform will begin shutting down in September, starting with New Zealand and South Africa and continuing to all other countries by October. By December, the service will shut down completely and users will no longer be able to transfer their content.

This move comes as the tech giant has begun to move all its eggs to the YouTube Music basket. Google Play users have been able to fully transfer their content and settings to the other service since May.

Google has promised to make the transfer process as painless as possible and to give users of the old service as much notice as possible. Transferring a profile can be done simply by opening the YouTube Music app and selecting the transfer option, which should be displayed prominently.

Google Play Music users will be able to access the platform for as long as it is available in their region, according to the company’s timeline. Any users that purchase an Android 10 device, however, will find YouTube music preinstalled.

In addition to the streaming subscription portion of the platform, the Google Play Music Store, which allows users to purchase tracks and albums in the same manner as on iTunes, will shut down at an unspecified time in late August.

Google Play Music launched in the fall of 2011 and was slow to grow over the years in the face of competition from Spotify and Apple Music. Later on, subscribers also gained access to YouTube Premium. The modern version of YouTube Music that Google is moving its focus towards launched in 2018.