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YouTube is the most popular streaming platform in the world, and you can watch all of it for free with a $14 Premium subscription. YouTube Music Premium—which costs $11 on its own— is included for free. But is it actually free? YouTube Premium would be more appealing without it.
How Much Does YouTube Premium Actually Cost?
YouTube Premiumseemingly includes two streaming services for the price of one. What’s there to complain about? That’s one way to look at it, but it’s not how I see it, and I don’t think YouTube truly sees it that way either.
If you look around at other streaming services, YouTube Premium’s $14 price is pretty consistent with the competition. Netflix’s cheapest ad-free plan, for example, is $15.49. The same can be said for YouTube Music Premium at $11 per month—the same price as Spotify Premium. But things get weird when you combine the two services.
That line of reasoning could lead someone to believe YouTube Premium only costs $3. However, I don’t actually think that’s the case—YouTube the video streaming service is immensely more popular than YouTube Music. It’s clear what Google is doing here.
Google Needs YouTube Music Subscribers
The point is YouTube Music needs YouTube Premium, but the opposite is not true. That’s what has kept me away from YouTube Premium for so long.
I Don’t Want Two Music Services
Google acts like including YouTube Music Premium with YouTube Premium is a big bonus, but that’s not true if you’re never going to use it. I watch YouTube more than any other streaming service, but for those of us who prefer other music streaming services, it feels like I’m wasting a chunk of that $14 on something I don’t want.
Financials and logistics aside, I don’t like paying for things I’m not going to use. Whether that’s a fair assessment or not, that’s what yet another messy Google situation has me feeling like. I just want ad-free YouTube. Keep the music, Google.
