One thing noticeably lacking from the Breaking news, courtesy of Billboard, concerning the upcoming (though perpetually rumored) launch of YouTube’s music subscription service is… anything to make people give a shit! Also, news. Imagine my surprise when, upon my initiation into this role, it was made clear by deliberate repetition that news is supposed to involve news at some point. “Wait, so relaying the script of the puntastic Batman & Robin (1997) on multiple occasions is out of the question, irrelevance to TMT aside?” I complained. “So be it. I understand. No dice when it comes to my request, I guess.” Reluctantly then, let’s move this article forward. Come hither, marginal points of note!
And they are basically marginal. Supplementing earlier murmurs about the possibly imminent launch of a YouTube-based paid music subscription service, it’s been revealed that such a paid, or “premium,” service could go for a measly 10 bucks a month, and… the advantage? No advertisements, which rightfully takes advantage of a condemnable ignorance of AdBlock, and the ability to listen to cached music offline. “Soft sell” would appear to be an understatement then, especially when you consider that the paid service will come paired with a free component that offers “unlimited access” to the same exact library of music. Supposedly the overarching conspiracy here is to increase mobile app usage, thereby enhancing YouTube’s ability to sell ads on the platform. Feh.
One potential worthwhile (though obviously unconfirmed) feature of the service is the ability to stream entire albums. I’ve noticed an increase in these types of uploads anyway, but who knows how extensive YouTube’s contributions will/might be. Guess we’ll just see, possibly by the end of the year. With bated breath…
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com