YouTube has been the dominant force in the world of video-sharing platforms for many years, and its success has led to the creation of subscription services like YouTube Premium and YouTube Music.
Does YouTube Music have ads?
The free version of YouTube Music does include ads, which commonly play before a song starts or during a video. However, if you pay for the YouTube Music Premium membership, you can enjoy your favorite tracks, albums, and live performances without interruption from ads.
YouTube Music was created by Google in 2015, to rival the streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. It hasn’t quite reached the success of those platforms, but YouTube Music has enjoyed steady growth and is used by millions of music lovers worldwide.
There are many benefits to using the platform, but with various subscriptions available, it can get a little confusing.
Does YouTube Music Have Ads?
When YouTube Music replaced Google Play Music in late 2020, the platform enjoyed a significant increase in users. As of October 2020, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium had over 30 million paid subscribers, and around 5 million people signed up for the free versions.
There are many reasons that YouTube Music must have become so popular in recent years. Indeed, much of its success is likely down to the fact that YouTube is one of the most recognizable websites/apps in the world, and by far the biggest video-sharing platform.
However, up until 2015 when YouTube Music and YouTube Red (now Premium) were introduced, YouTube wasn’t commonly associated with listening to music. Music videos and lyric videos have always been a big part of YouTube’s catalog though, so it made sense to integrate these into a dedicated music platform.
If you sign up for YouTube Music’s free plan, you’ll have to put up with ads popping up in between songs, or in the middle of an album or playlist. YouTube Music free still allows you to access all of the music-based content on the site, and you can skip tracks with no limitations.
Some users may not mind being interrupted by ads, but it can get annoying particularly if you’re listening to an album that is supposed to flow continuously.
The duration of ads on YouTube Music’s free plan ranges from 5 to 30 seconds, but in some cases, they can be as long as ten minutes. However, YouTube allows its users to skip them after 5 seconds in most cases unless the advertiser has paid more to disable this option.
Check out this YouTube video that shows how to use YouTube music.
Can You Get YouTube Music Without Ads?
Signing up to YouTube Music Premium, which costs $9.99 per month, will allow you to enjoy playback with no ads. There are many other benefits that this paid subscription offers in comparison to the free version, including background audio playing, the ability to download songs and videos, and a higher quality streaming resolution.
This is the only way to get YouTube Music without ads.
If you stick with the unpaid version, you will have to put up with ads between the songs that you listen to. As you can see from the table below, YouTube Music Premium has many different advantages over its free equivalent.
| Subscription | Cost (per month) | Features & Terms |
| YouTube Music | Free | ● Dedicated music app ● Access to all music/music-related videos ● Unlimited track skipping ● Playback with ads |
| YouTube Music Premium | $9.99 | ● Dedicated music app ● Access to all music/music-related videos ● Unlimited track skipping ● Playback with no ads ● Background playing ● Download for offline playback ● Exclusive audio mode ● 256kbps audio ● Free 1-month trial |
YouTube Music is also available for students or families.
The student version is only $4.99 per month and gets you all of the same features as YouTube Music Premium. You simply have to prove that you’re studying by linking your account to your accredited college or university when you sign up.
The YouTube Music Family subscription is available for up to 6 people who live in the same household. Again, it offers all of the benefits that YouTube Music Premium does, including no ads and downloadable music and videos.
When you compare the features of YouTube Music’s paid subscriptions and the free version, $9.99 per month seems like a pretty fair price. You can also try Premium membership for a month free of cost to see whether it is the right choice for you.
If you enjoy watching music videos and footage of your favorite artists performing live, then YouTube Music is a great choice. It may lack some of the capabilities of Spotify or Apple Music, but in terms of combining videos and music content, it’s the best option out there.
Which Is Better – YouTube Music or Amazon Music?
YouTube and Amazon are two of the world’s best-known brands, and both are competing to rule the music streaming market.
YouTube Music Premium and Amazon Music Unlimited have millions of users, but choosing between them can be difficult. Let’s compare each aspect of these streaming platforms so that you can decide which is a better option for your requirements.
Firstly, when it comes to the quantity of music and content offered by these platforms, YouTube Music comes out on top. If a song or album exists, it’s highly likely that you’ll be able to find it in YouTube Music’s vast database.
Amazon Music Unlimited still has all of the most popular music in its database but lacks some of the more obscure content that you will be able to find on YouTube Music. This is partially due to the fact that YouTube has content deals with many major and indie record labels.
One of the areas in which Amazon Music excels is its user interface. it has been around for longer than YouTube Music, and therefore many of the bugs and issues have been removed over time.
In terms of audio quality, YouTube Music and Amazon Music Unlimited are evenly matched. They both offer high resolution, 256kbpos audio quality, which is the maximum for most popular streaming platforms.
YouTube Music Premium also has the edge when it comes to playlists. Users can add up to 5,000 songs to a single playlist on any device, compared to a maximum of 500 when using Amazon Music on Android devices.
Overall, YouTube Music Premium is a better platform for combining music and video content. It has a larger database of content compared to Amazon Music Unlimited.
Nevertheless, if you’re looking for better functionality and stability, Amazon Music Unlimited is a trustworthy choice.
Do You Get YouTube Music with YouTube Premium?
YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium are two separate subscriptions offered by Google. This often causes confusion amongst users as they are unsure which subscription to sign up for.
When you sign up for YouTube Premium, you get access to YouTube Music Premium too. Additionally, you also get access to a wider range of video content, podcasts, and other features.
YouTube Music is specifically for music-related content, such as songs, albums, playlists, lyric videos, music videos, and videos of live performances.
YouTube Premium, on the other hand, includes everything that you get with YouTube Music and much more. You can play videos in the background, enjoy all of the videos on YouTube without ads, and choose from a huge selection of YouTube Originals content.
Furthermore, YouTube Premium allows you to watch a wide range of movies for free. You might be wondering why anyone would choose YouTube Music Premium over YouTube Premium if the former is included in the latter’s subscription – the only real reason would be the cost.
YouTube Music Premium is available for $9.99 per month, or $17.99 per month for the family plan which allows you to add up to 6 members of the same household to a single subscription.
Youtube Premium, on the other hand, is available for $11.99 per month. The family plan also costs $17.99 per month.
All things considered, it’s worth paying the small extra cost per month to enjoy the benefits offered by YouTube Premium. You get all of the features included in YouTube Music Premium, with a wide range of additional content and capabilities.
Related Questions
Can you listen to YouTube Music offline?
Subscribers to YouTube Music Premium can enjoy their favorite music offline, by using the download feature to store tracks or albums on their device. All that you need to do is connect to the internet at least once every month so that the downloads are restored.
Do you have to live in the same house for YouTube Premium Family?
To share your YouTube Premium account using the family plan, you must all live in the same household. Also, you can only make adjustments to the members of the family subscription once every 12 months.
Is there a limit to downloads on YouTube Music Premium?
YouTube Music Premium users can download up to 500 songs to be enjoyed even when their device has no internet connection.
