YouTube Music is an online music and video streaming service. The music catalog is quite large, and you’ll be able to find plenty of obscure content here that you may not find elsewhere, including mixtapes, live recordings, one-offs, and more. There are currently over 100 million official tracks, according to Google.
The most basic level of access to YouTube Music is free. At this level, you can stream music, make playlists, watch videos, and get recommendations. You can also view song lyrics and skip tracks. However, for higher audio quality, offline downloads, and background playback on mobile, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid Premium subscription.
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Yes. Like Spotify, YouTube Music is available as both a free ad-supported service and a paid tier called YouTube Music Premium.
The free access level is ad-supported. On a mobile device, you can’t turn off the screen or use other apps at the same time. You also can’t download music to your device for offline listening. You don’t even need an account to use the free tier to listen to any songs.
The YouTube Music Premium tier removes ads, unlocks 256 kbps High audio quality, enables background listening on mobile devices (so you can exit the app and keep listening), and lets you download songs for offline playback.
YouTube Music only
You can also subscribe to YouTube Premium, which includes YouTube Music Premium.
Remember not to subscribe to Premium through the YouTube or YouTube Music app on an iOS device, as it will cost more because Apple takes a commission fee.
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the key differences between YouTube Music Free and YouTube Music Premium.
| Feature | YouTube Music Premium | YouTube Music Free |
| Audio quality | 256 kbps AAC / OPUS | 128 kbps AAC / OPUS |
| Ad Interruption | Ad-free | Ad-supported (Audio & Video ads) |
| On-Demand Playback | Yes | Yes |
| Background Playback (Screen Off) | Yes | Not on mobile app |
| Offline Downloads | Yes | No |
| Audio-only Mode | Yes | No |
| Supported Devices | Mobile app, Web player, Smart TV, Sonos, Smart Speakers, Wear OS, Apple Watch, CarPlay | Mobile app, Web player, Smart TV |
YouTube Music Premium offers a one-month free trial. To get the most from the free trial, you can get the Family plan. YouTube family plans allow you to share your YouTube paid membership with up to 5 family members who live at the same residential address.
Annual plans are only for individual subscribers, but don’t offer a free trial.
Besides, many third-party promotions offer YouTube Premium free for up to 6 months. Since YouTube Music Premium is included in YouTube Premium, which means you can get free YouTube Music Premium for the same period.
Get YouTube Premium for free with a qualified mobile plan. Note that only individual YouTube Premium memberships can be purchased through these companies. If you want to purchase a family plan, sign up directly with YouTube. Find your country below and follow the carrier link to sign up.
| Country | Carrier |
| Australia | Optus |
| Brazil | TIM |
| Brazil | Vero |
| Indonesia | Telkomsel |
| Japan | Docomo |
| Japan | KDDI |
| Japan | Softbank |
| Korea | KT |
| Korea | KT Skylife |
| Korea | LGU+ |
| Korea | SKT |
| Mexico | Telcel |
| Spain | Orange ES |
| Spain | Vodafone ES |
| Taiwan | Taiwan Mobile (TWM) |
| Thailand | AIS |
| Turkey | Vodafone TR |
| United States | Google – Fi |
| United States | Verizon |
| United Kingdom | Vodafone UK |
Xiaomi users with eligible devices can get up to 2 or 3 months of YouTube Premium. This offer is only available to users who have not subscribed to YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, or YouTube Premium Lite before. You need to purchase and activate eligible devices, and redeem the offer in the YouTube app. The promotion is valid until Aug 31st, 2028, at 11:59 pm PST.
Different eligible devices are available for different trial periods. Check details with the promotion description at https://www.mi.com/global/support/terms/youtube-premium-terms/.
This offer is valid exclusively for new users in the United States who have not previously participated in a trial for YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, YouTube Red, or Google Play Music. The offer must be redeemed by January 31, 2027, at 11:59 PM PST. A valid form of payment and a Google account are required, and participants must be at least 18 years old.
Once the free trial expires, your subscription will automatically convert to a recurring monthly plan. Be sure to cancel before the trial period ends to avoid unexpected charges.
Details: https://tv.google/products/#smarttv
My Best Buy Plus and Total members can get 3 months of free YouTube Premium. The subscription auto-renews for $15.99/month after the promotion ends until canceled.
This offer is only available to new YouTube subscribers who have not been YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, YouTube Red or Google Play Music members.
Visit Get free YouTube Premium for 1 month and 50% off for 2 months from Best Buy, click Add to Cart, and check out. It’s free, so you won’t be charged. Then it sends a redeem code or link to your email.
With this offer, you will get free YouTube Premium for one month. After the first month, you will automatically be charged the discounted amount ($7.99/mo) for two months if eligible. After the discounted months of paid service, you will automatically be charged the full individual subscription price, currently $15.99/month. You can cancel the subscription anytime.
This offer is available to new users only (no past trial of YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, YouTube Red, or Google Play Music) in the United States. If you have used the YouTube Premium free trial before, get the 2-month discount.
Is it possible to download songs or enjoy ad-free listening even with the YouTube Music Free tier? It’s a definite “Yes” after following the steps in the next part.
Pazu YouTube Music Converter is designed to download and convert YouTube Music to your desktop for permanent offline playback. With Pazu YouTube Music Converter, you can download ad-free songs with a free or premium YouTube Music account. It converts YouTube Music tracks to MP3, AAC, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and AIFF. You can download music directly from the integrated YouTube Music web player, with original quality and full ID3 tags preserved. Once the songs from YouTube are in plain formats, you can keep them on your devices and play them on any device. Let’s take a look at the detailed steps.
To get started, download, install and run Pazu YouTube Music Converter on your 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.
You don’t need to sign in to your YouTube Music account.
Tap on the Settings gear icon to change the output settings. The default output format is MP3. Pazu YouTube Music Converter also supports M4A, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC. You can also change the bitrate and sample rate according to your needs.
Click a playlist or album you want to download. Then click the red Add to list button to load songs.
All songs in the playlist will be added by default. You can uncheck the songs you don’t want.
After selecting the songs, click the Convert button to start downloading YouTube Music songs to the format you choose. You will see a progress circle indicating your music is downloading.
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 play the downloaded songs with any supported device or media player offline, no need for the YouTube Music app or subscription.
To view or manage all music you’ve downloaded, click the clock icon in the top-right corner of the YouTube Music Converter interface.
Download and convert YouTube Music to MP3, M4A, etc