Google Announces YouTube Music Key, Includes Background Playback, No Ads, Offline Viewing, And More

Guys, it’s happening (….gif). The rumored YouTube music service that we’ve been hearing about for months is finally a reality. It’s called YouTube Music Key, and it looks pretty great.

So here’s the gist: it’ll cost $7.99 a month (initially, at least – the price will eventually jump to $9.99), and includes full albums, background playback, offline viewing, and no ads. No ads. It’s worth eight bucks a month just to get rid of the ads. That price also gets you a subscription to Google Play Music All Access, just like we suspected it would.

The question, however, is whether or not current All Access subscribers will automatically get Music Key as well. Worst case scenario is that you’ll have to cancel your AA subscription and sign up for Music Key. No big deal. Looks like AA subscribers will automatically get Music Key after all. Nice.

Update: We’re already starting to see some movement here, shown in the screenshots above. Thanks to Henry Green and Blendi for the screenshots!

Speaking of signing up, MK is of course part of a very limited beta program right now. You’ll have to put your name on the waiting list if you want to get in on the action, which you can do right here. We should start to see Music Key roll out “in the coming days.”

YouTube Blog