YouTube Music rolls out to 12 more markets

YouTube has rolled out its music subscription service to 12 more markets.

Last month YouTube Music was launched in Australia along with the US, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea.

In the latest round, the desktop and mobile app has gone live in Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

More roll-outs are expected past the current 17, in February.

YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki planned to have YouTube Music in up to 100 countries.

At the moment, Google Play Music (which YouTube Music is replacing in subscription and free tiers) is in 64 countries, so that’s where YouTube Music will head to.

Spotify is currently in 65 markets and Apple Music in over 100.

In addition, YouTube Red is now YouTube Premium, for music with video streaming in the 17 territories.

YouTube Music has thousands of personalised playlists, a wide search function (which susses out location, weather and activity of the user and provides the most appropriate music) and advanced custom recommendations.

Current Australian members of YouTube Red and Google Play Music automatically receive access to YouTube Premium at their current price.

Director of product management for music products T. Jay Fowler told TMN that one of YouTube’s plans for music subscribers is to provide more than just audio recommendations from favourite artists “but also a video, or a live performance or TV appearance.

“We want the artist to totally come alive before the user.”

To read more about YouTube Music features, head over to our analysis.