YouTube to Launch Music Streaming Service?

A new report from Fortune suggests that Google is planning to launch a YouTube music streaming service later this year.

The service has its own negotiating team and operating unit but will likely have some overlap with new features also rumored to be coming to Google's Android music platform, Google Play. The two new services are defined by their respective places in the Google empire: Google Play for Android is a digital locker for music -- users buy, store, and sort a collection of tracks; but on YouTube's coming service, anyone can listen to tracks for free. Both services are said to be adding a subscription fee that will unlock additional features. For the YouTube-based service, this will likely mean ad-free access.

While Google didn't confirm the rumor, a YouTube spokesperson said: "While we don't comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we're looking at that."


Rumor has it that Apple is looking to launch an iRadio service. A recent report said that Apple and music labels have intensified their negotiations to launch an ad supported Internet radio service by early 2013. Additionally, new 'radio buy buttons' were been found in iOS 6.1 giving weight to the possibility.

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