Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Alphabet (GOOGL) Boosts YouTube Music With Updated Playlist

Read MoreHide Full Article

Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) division Google is consistently adding features to its music streaming service YouTube Music.

Reportedly, YouTube Music was updated with a redesigned playlist interface, which validates the above-mentioned fact.

The redesign includes a two-column view with cover art and background blur on the left side. Other features like the creator and the last updated details are shown on top.

Additionally, the lower part shows the name of the playlist along with the description and control options like download, share, shuffle and an overflow menu.

The recent capabilities are available on the YouTube Music app running on Android tablet and Chromebook.

With the recent move, GOOGL aims to provide an enhanced music streaming experience to customers using Android tablet and Chromebook.

Enriching YouTube Music Efforts

Apart from the latest step, Alphabet recently introduced shortcut features and an album carousel to the YouTube Music’s Explore tab.

GOOGL added a capability by which users can save queues as playlists. Alphabet also rolled out its “Recent Played” and “Turntable” widget to Android users.

Further, GOOGL rolled out the background listening feature for YouTube Music in Canada to provide an enhanced music experience to users in the country.

With these recent efforts, Google positioned itself well to rapidly penetrate the booming global music streaming market.

The market has been witnessing significant growth for a while owing to an increase in mobile advertisement spending, use of mobile apps, rise in the number of subscription services and users’ accessibility to local content on the music streaming platforms.

Per an Allied Market Research report, the online music streaming industry is expected to reach $24.7 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 9.8% between 2021 and 2027.

Competitive Scenario

Given this upbeat scenario, not only Google but also other companies like Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) , Apple (AAPL - Free Report) and Spotify (SPOT - Free Report) are making strong endeavors to capitalize on the above-mentioned prospects.

Amazon is gaining strong momentum in the music streaming market on the back of its expanding global footprint. Recently, Amazon Music released ‘Your Voice is Power’ playlist for subscribers in Canada. The playlist features music themes related to perseverance and determination, and foundational moments spanning 30 plus years of music-making. With this initiative, Amazon aims to retain its current subscribers and attract more users in the country.

Further, Amazon’s release of Amazon Music in Columbia and Chile remains a notable step. The move lets music fans in both countries access its premium music subscription service Amazon Music Unlimited.

Apple’s music streaming service Apple Music offers a subscription tier service Apple Music Voice Plan, powered by Siri. With the Apple Music Voice Plan, subscribers can access millions of songs, playlists, personalized mixes, genre stations and Apple Music Radio.

Further, Apple Music’s recent partnership with Waze to let subscribers access Apple Music content directly from the Waze Audio Player remains noteworthy.

Spotify released “Spotify for Work”, which allows companies to offer Spotify Premium to their employees as an employee perk. Notably, global professional services firm Accenture is rolling out the recent Spotify offering for its employees across Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania. The recent initiative by Spotify is helping it expand its customer base.

Additionally, Spotify France and shesaid.so collaborated to make an online directory of professional women, trans and nonbinary individuals within the music industry in France. With this effort, Spotify aims to bring equality in the music space.

Nevertheless, YouTube Music’s growing efforts to expand its features are expected to continue giving a tough competition to the above-mentioned peers.

Currently, Google’s parent Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Published in