Fortune: YouTube music streaming service launching this year:
We’ve been hearing rumblings about Google’s
plans for a Spotify-killer for what seems like
forever now. More recently, there’s been word that the company’s YouTube
brand is also getting set set to enter the space, albeit with some overlap
from a Google-branded effort. *Fortune* spoke to some anonymous-type folks
in the record industry who confirmed the latter, adding that the service is
set to launch this year. The offering will apparently give users some free
streaming, with additional features being made available for a subscription
fee. The site reached out to YouTube, who offered the following bit of
hopeful non-commitment:
While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content
creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream
in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.
That sounds like an awkward fit. But pay per view on YouTube would be interesting.