YouTube Set to Launch Subscription Music Service

It looks like YouTube is set to throw its hat into the subscription music service ring by launching a brand new service in the near future. According to Billboard, the service – with a focus on mobile listening – will be strikingly similar to Spotify‘s model, offering a two-tier structure that features an unlimited, on-demand free component alongside a premium, low-cost monthly subscription that would enable users to remove ads and cache music for offline listening. Thanks to licenses obtained by parent company Google for its All Access service, YouTube has already secured most of the content it would need for the new offering. YouTube’s subscription music service is supposedly set to launch before the end of the year as a part of a redesign to its mobile app – timing that would likely allow it to hit the market ahead of future competitor Beats Music.