YouTube Music to become audio-only for its non-premium subscribers

Non-premium users will now be able to listen to music in the background, shuffle play personalized mixes, and explore millions of songs & thousands of playlists, free of cost.

Last week, Google announced that YouTube Music will now allow the audio-only feature for its non-paying customers. The feature would be available free of charge from November 3, 2021 — a perk that has been limited to the paid subscribers. Apart from this, YouTube will also makemore changes to differentiate between its paid and non-paid users, including removing music video playback support for free subscribers.

Non-premium users will now be able to listen to music in the background, shuffle play personalized mixes, and explore millions of songs & thousands of playlists, free of cost. While the paid subscribers would be able to enjoy additional exclusive benefits, like listening to songs on-demand, watching videos on YouTube Music, skipping tracks an unlimited number of times, and lastly, enjoying YouTube Music without ads. Free users who aren't subscribed to either of these plans will also miss out on features like on-demand music selection and unlimited skips.

Right now, it is possible to watch music videos in the Home and Explore feeds of YouTube Music even if you don't pay for the service, with the option to seamlessly switch between audio and video playback from the Now Playing screen limited to Premium subscribers. Google is also planning to rollout this feature globally if the testing becomes successful in Canada. YouTube Music Premium costs $9.99/month in the United States, or as part of the main YouTube Premium subscription, which costs $11.99/month.