by Alex Weprin , December 8, 2017

Google is hoping that the third time’s the charm when it comes to its music efforts. The company’s YouTube division is planning another subscription music product for early 2018, according to Bloomberg.

The new service would be the company’s third attempt at breaking into the crowded music subscription space, which counts Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited as players.

In 2011 Google released a subscription service called Google Play Music, while in 2014 YouTube offered a subscription service of its own focused on ad-free music videos.

The new service is reported to combine on-demand music with music video content, which could serve as a differentiator to competitors, all of which essentially have the same selection of music.

Music is incredibly popular on YouTube, with individual artists, labels and the distributor Vevo all having a heavy presence on the ad-supported video service. In order to get the new service off the ground, YouTube would need to have deals in place with most, if not all, of the major studios, all of which are available on competing services.

As YouTube contemplates a return to the subscription music space, at least one of its competitors is expanding. Amazon said Friday that its Music Unlimited service was expanding to 28 new countries, including Spotify’s home country of Sweden, Finland and Belgium.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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