YouTube launching new music streaming service

YouTube is launching a music streaming service, offering both videos and audio tracks, in an attempt to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, BBC News reports.

YouTube Music will combine millions of "official" tracks with the vast catalogue of rarities and remixes uploaded by YouTube's users.

Like Spotify, it will offer a free, ad-funded app, alongside premium subscriptions costing $9.99 per month.

It will launch in five countries, including the US and Mexico, on 22 May.

The Google-owned company said YouTube Music would come to Europe "soon".

YouTube Music product manager Elias Roman said: "The days of jumping back and forth between multiple music apps and YouTube are over. Whether you want to listen, watch or discover, it's all here."

In a blog post, he added that the service would offer a mix of "official songs, albums, thousands of playlists and artist radio plus YouTube's tremendous catalogue of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos that you can't find anywhere else".

He promised that the new app would offer personalised playlists based on users' streaming history, much like Spotify's Discover Weekly.

It is understood that YouTube Music will eventually replace Google Play Music, which is the company's current streaming offering.

Existing Google Play Music customers will get a YouTube Music package thrown into their subscription for free, while Roman reassured users that their playlists, purchases and uploads would remain intact once Google Play was phased out.