Google Faz Uma Remodelação Dos Serviços De Música

Google reshuffles its music products

The product teams for YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being combined into a single unit, The Verge reports, in a hint that Google plans to fuse the two music services into a single app. 

For the moment, the apps will continue to operate independently, but an eventual combination (if it occurs) would solidify Google's music offering to consumers. 

Right now, YouTube Music and Google Play Music are separate but complementary apps:

• YouTube Music is a streaming app recreates the listening experience on YouTube into a standalone audio-only app. It’s built around playlists, personalized stations and a near endless catalog of songs. Another (and perhaps more specific) way to think about YouTube Music is as the music component of YouTube Red minus the price and perks of a paid subscription.
• Google Play Music is both a music streaming service and a cloud-based music locker where users can upload and store songs from their personal catalogs. It has a streaming catalog of over 30 million songs and lets users save up to 50,000 songs from their own collection on the app. It’s tied into the Google Play app store, where users buy and download their desired songs.
• YouTube Red, meanwhile, is the company’s paid subscription service. At $9.99 a month, it gives users ad-free access to YouTube music and video, and the ability to play content offline and in the background while the screen is off or when running another app. A subscription to YouTube Red gives users full access to both YouTube Music and Google Play Music. 

But this the latest sign that YouTube Music and Google Play Music are better off as one. Google already combined the business development teams from both apps last year. Driven by an urge to simplify its relationship with the music industry, the move streamlined Google’s negotiations with music copyright holders — publishers, labels, and artists — by consolidating Google’s music partnerships to a single point of contact.

And combining the apps’ product teams is another indication that running Google Play Music and YouTube Music separately doesn’t make business sense. Initially, YouTube Music was seen as a way to sell more songs and memberships on Google Play Music, but perhaps these apps aren’t as differentiated and complementary as Google had envisioned.

Merging YouTube Music and Google Play Store could benefit Google in several ways:

• Competition. Combining the best of YouTube Music and Google Play Store into one app likely lead to a more competitive service. It would eliminate having to switch between the two apps (as well as any consumer confusion about how these apps are different in the first place). Staying competitive is key in a music space that’s becoming increasingly crowded.
• Subscriptions. Similar to the point above, combining the two apps would provide a more cohesive and compelling free offering underneath YouTube Red, which would act as a stronger conduit to then funnel users into paying Red members. YouTube needs to convert 4% of its one billion monthly user base to match Spotify’s number of paid subscribers.
• Acquisitions. Simplifying the organizational structure of Google’s music services clears the course for Google to go and make acquisitions in this space because it would make any future product integrations — particularly big ones — much easier to do. Earlier this year, Google was rumored to be “very interested” in buying SoundCloud for $500 million.