The music industry hasn't seen much love (at least from a monetary perspective) since YouTube exploded in the past decade, but now it looks like the site is evolving quite rapidly this month into a whole new era with their streaming service “YouTube Red.”
YouTube Red launched on October 28th and has free trial offers, with a $9.99/month charge for full access. The service is also ad-free.
As Billboard points out in a very good article describing the current state of YouTube's move, not everything is a home run with YouTube Red – but there's a lot of potential. The article points out that 91% of Spotify's revenue comes from paying subscribers (which is only 27% of their total base). YouTube could capitalize in a similar way and with a much bigger base of consistent users. We'll have to see how many people sign up for “Red” and keep things moving into the future.
Many artists are still getting discovered via YouTube (not to mention other new music content) that drives larger numbers and appeal than other competitors. Their app and Music channel already reach more music fans than most services could dream of. Read more here from Billboard.
Source: Billboard
