In the world of music streaming services, Google currently offers two services, the older Google Play Music and the newer YouTube Music. Over the last few months, Google has been trying push Google Play Music subscribers over to YouTube Music, and now, Google has announced that YouTube Music will completely replace Google Play Music by the end of 2020.
In May, Google introduced a tool that allowed users to easily transfer their Google Play Music library over to YouTube Music. Along with this, Google is also adding features like an “Explore tab” to YouTube Music to bring it on par with Google Play Music.
By the end of August, Google will remove the ability to purchase, pre-order, upload and download music on Google Play Music. By September 2020, users in New Zealand and South Africa will no longer be able to stream music on Google Play Music at all, and globally for all users Google will end support by the end of October.
For those users who decide to not transfer their library to YouTube Music, Google will notify the user and cancel the subscription at the end of their billing cycle.