Goodbye Google Play Music, hello YouTube Music. The slow death of the former has been going on for a while now, but the final nail in the coffin is the official announcement of an easy transfer of all your music, playlists, podcast content, and track likes from Google Play Music to YouTube Music.
Transfer your Google Play Music account to YouTube Music
Big picture: YouTube Music launched a few years ago and was positioned as a replacement for Google Play from the start. Now we’re seeing the definitive transition from one service to the other, even though they’re both owned by Alphabet/Google.
How to transfer: Google has made the switch from Play to YouTube pretty simple. All you have to do is download the YouTube Music app for iOS or Android, tap the Transfer button, and all of your “uploads, purchases, added songs and albums, personal and subscribed playlists, likes and dislikes, curated stations, and personal taste preferences” from Google Play will flow into the new app. You’ll receive an email when the transfer is complete. All of the transferred music will end up in your YouTube Music Library tab.
How long and how much? Google Play Music appears to be functional until the end of the year, but since transferring your stuff is so easy, you might as well do it now. Pricing remains the same, with a free, ad-supported tier and a paid membership for $9.99 per month. There’s a Premium tier for $11.99 per month that gives you ad-free, background listening, and offline playback across all of YouTube. If you were a Google Play Music Unlimited member, you’ll automatically be on this tier.