YouTube to debut new streaming music service in March - report

YouTube is developing a new paid music service it hopes to introduce in March, Bloomberg reported. Sources familiar with the matter are saying Warner Music has signed on and that talks are also taking place with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels. The service is internally referred to as Remix, and it would include Spotify-like on-demand streaming features and incorporate elements from YouTube, such as video clips. YouTube has reached out to artists to seek their help in promoting the new service, the sources said. 

Major record labels have in the past said YouTube does not compensate them enough, considering how many people use the site to listen to music, estimated at 1 billion users per month. This would be YouTube’s third attempt at bringing out such a streaming service after the launch of YouTube Music Key in 2014, which gave subscribers ad-free music videos, and then transforming that service in 2016 into YouTube Red, which lets users watch any video without advertising. The music industry had hoped Red would be devoted to music, but YouTube has positioned it as a home for original video projects like science-fiction comedy “Lazer Team” and a reboot of “The Karate Kid.”

YouTube hired former Warner Music executive Lyor Cohen last year to help oversee its music operations and serve as a liaison to the record business. Google folded much of the staff for Google Play Music into YouTube earlier this year, and Cohen announced plans to create a new paid service.