The video service YouTube announced the payment system music-key which will offer higher quality sound and the ability to listen to music and videos without ads. YouTube, owned by Google, attracts about 1.000 billion unique visitors each month, and music is one of its main draws. Music Key will be available via invitation in the coming days in an initial testing phase in a limited number of countries: United States, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Finland.
The full-scale debut of the paid service won't take place until next year. Google will offer the service for free to those who received the invitation for the first six months and will charge $ 7,99 per month thereafter. Users who have not received an invitation and subscribe to the service next year will have to pay $ 9,99, which will also grant access to Google Play All Access, which allows unlimited download of songs. One of YouTube's rivals, Spotify, also charges $ 9,99 per month.
music-key It will also offer its subscribers the possibility to listen to the songs in the background while using other applications and to save songs to listen to them later without the need for an internet connection. YouTube has been in negotiations for the past year with record companies to obtain new licenses. The service closed deals with record labels Universal, Sony and Warner last year, but the debut was delayed due to tensions with smaller firms that claimed YouTube was offering them unfair contracts.
Via | EFE