How to Play YouTube Music in the Background without Premium?

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coco
March 20, 2024

YouTube Music is all about music discovery of one of the richest music catalogs on earth. The catalog consists of millions of songs, music videos and radio stations. You can access YouTube Music for free if you agree to accept the ads. The main drawback is that you must stay on YouTube Music to use the free subscription tier. If you switch to other apps or when your screen is off, YouTube Music stops. As you can imagine, this is rather inconvenient and will kill your battery very quickly. Besides, you can’t listen to YouTube Music while using other apps.

The most direct way to listen to YouTube Music in the Background is to subscribe to YouTube Music Premium to break this limit. YouTube Music Premium is included in YouTube Premium. However, it will cost you $13.99 per month. Don’t worry, there are still some other ways for you to play YouTube Music in the Background.

Method 1 Play YouTube Music in the Background on Android

On your Android:

1. Open Settings.

2. Tap Apps – YouTube Music – Set as default.

3. Tap Go to supported URLs – In other app.

4. Open https://music.youtube.com in Chrome browser.

5. Play the song you want.

6. Tap the three-dot icon on the top right corner and tap Desktop site.

7. Tap Reload. Play the song again. Now YouTube Music will play in the background.Scroll down from the top and here you can control the playback.

Related: How to transfer Spotify music to YouTube Music?

However, this trick is only for Android, not iPhone. If you have iPhone and want to play YouTube Music in the Background, you can fix this issue by downloading YouTube Music songs to MP3 and play them with Music app.

Method 2 Download YouTube Music songs to MP3 and play them with other music player

The second method is to download YouTube Music songs, albums and playlists to mp3 and play them with other music player, then all you need is Pazu YouTube Music Converter.

1. Run Pazu YouTube Music Converter 

To get started, download, install and run Pazu YouTube Music Converter on your Mac or Windows PC, which features a built-in YouTube Music web player.

If you have already purchased a license, click the key icon to register the converter. If not, continue using the trial version.

YouTube Music Converter

You don’t need to sign in to your YouTube Music account.

2. Choose output format

The default output format is M4A. Pazu YouTube Music Converter also supports MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF. Click Option button to change output format or output folder if you need. You can also change bitrate, samplerate according to your needs.

YouTube Music Converter settings

3. Add songs

Browse or search to fidn the songs, albums or playlist you want to download. Click the album or playlist you want to download. Then click the red icon to load songs. 

choose YouTube Music playlists

All songs in the playlist/album will be selected by default. You can uncheck the songs you don’t want to get.

choose YouTube Music songs

4. Click Convert button

After selecting the songs, click Convert button to start downloading YouTube Music songs to the format you choose. You will see a progress circle indicating your music is downloading.

convert YouTube Music to MP3

Once the songs have been downloaded, click the folder icon to quickly locate the DRM-free YouTube Music songs in the format you choose. You can then transfer and play it anywhere.

To view or manage all music you’ve downloaded, click the clock icon on the top right corner of the YouTube Music Converter interface.

YouTube Music to MP3 converter