YouTube to launch music subscription service next year in third attempt: report

YouTube plans to introduce a paid music service in March, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

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YouTube plans to introduce a paid music service in March, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

This will be a third attempt by parent company Alphabet Inc. to catch up with rivals Spotify and Apple Inc, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.

Warner Music Group, one of the world's three major record labels, has already signed on, said the report.

YouTube is also in talks with the two others, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, the report added.

Google, another Alphabet unit, introduced Google Play Music, a streaming service, in 2011. YouTube launched ad-free, subscription-based YouTube Red in 2016 featuring exclusive video content from popular creators such as Lilly Singh Michael Stevens.

The new service, internally referred to as Remix, would include Spotify-like on-demand streaming and would incorporate elements from YouTube, such as video clips, the people said. YouTube has reached out to artists to seek their help in promoting the new service, according to the report.

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