By the end of the year, YouTube, a division of Google, will reveal a paid subscription music service.
Subscriptions to YouTube’s program, at about $10 a month, would be tailored to mobile devices, and let its customers watch videos or just listen to the music without interruptions from advertising.
The deal would also allow record companies, which have long complained about low per-stream payouts, to reap bigger royalties on YouTube.
Mobile access to the site has skyrocketed — Google recently announced that 40 percent of YouTube’s traffic is mobile, compared with 6 percent just two years ago — but lower advertising rates on tablets and smartphones have caused some music labels to block their content from those devices.
The music industry is also awaiting Beats Music, a subscription service expected soon from the makers of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Music executives are hoping that the company’s success can translate into music subscriptions, which have been slow to take hold, partly because of all the free music easily available on YouTube and elsewhere.
So you’re paying for advertisement-free radio? Hmm… I’m not quite on board.
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