YouTube Music is a music-streaming service and app from YouTube, which is owned by Google, for listening to songs, music videos, live performances, remixes, covers, and even podcasts.
It was launched in 2015, and certain aspects of YouTube Music gradually took the place of Google Play Music as Google’s main music streaming brand in December 2020.
🔍 Key features
Here are the main capabilities:
- A big collection of songs + music videos + live / covers/remakes.
- Free (ad-supported) level: You can listen without paying (with limitations).
- Premium tier (referred to as YouTube Music Premium): no ads, background play, offline listening, audio-only mode.
- Google Help
- Integration with YouTube: if a track has video, you can generally switch between sound and vision.
- Personalized discovery: recommendations, mixes, genre/mood search.
đź“Ť Availability & region considerations
The service is offered in numerous countries (119 countries & territories as per Wikipedia), and exactly what features can be used where otherwise varies. Wikipedia+1
Since you are in Faisalabad, Pakistan then do make sure that all features (premium tier, downloads, select local catalogs) will be fully accessible there.
🔧 The pros and cons (vs. other services)
Pros:
Big strength: YouTube Music offers an array of live versions, covers, remixes and the official track others services may not have. Pocket-lint+1
If you’re already using YouTube for music videos, that is a good way to have one cohesive experience (audio + video).
Decent free tier to get you started.
Cons:
Sound quality: Does not provide high-resolution audio (like hi-fi lossless) in most markets; some competitors sound better. Digital Trends
Free tier restrictions: You can listen instantly or download podcasts through the Spotify mobile app, but background play (listening while your screen is off) on mobile is pretty much only in the paid plan. Pocket-lint+1
Some users feel that app is more focused on video than audio, not ideal if you are a pure audio listener. From reddit:
“I love it for music but it has to be in its lane … podcasts need their own environment.”
Conclusion
YTM is a very fine streaming service and does have good exclusive benefits particularly if you enjoy video+audio / live/unknown versions of songs. It’s worth a try (there is a free tier). But if your top priorities are pure audio, highest fidelity, or very large local catalog + things like family sharing for cheap, you can compare with those services as well.