Image Credit: YouTube

What’s the difference between YouTube Music and YouTube Premium?

YouTube and YouTube Music are available for free, with adverts that interrupt the experience. But YouTube also offers paid subscriptions for ad-free YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium – which is where it gets a little confusing. Let’s run through exactly what’s on offer.

Does YouTube Music Premium come with YouTube Premium?

YouTube Premium is a more expensive bundle subscription that includes YouTube Music Premium. YouTube Music Premium only allows access to YouTube Music Premium.

What can you do with YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium?

YouTube Music is YouTube’s music streaming platform, which gives you access to a catalogue of music with some restrictions. YouTube Music Premium is the ad-free option, offering unlimited streaming at a cost of $9.99 a month.

With YouTube Premium meanwhile you can watch videos on YouTube without being interrupted by adverts and you can stream music on YouTube Music ad-free. You also get YouTube Kids, which offers a restricted browsing experience with parental controls. The bundle subscription costs $11.99 a month.

On both subscriptions you also get background play, which lets you leave the YouTube app to browse elsewhere whilst the video or music continues to play on your device. The monthly cost also buys you offline listening, allowing you to download videos and music to access later.

Which is better?

So, should you choose YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Premium? It depends where you plan on spending most of your time, how much you want to spend – and where adverts annoy you the most.

Say you stream a lot of music but don’t watch enough YouTube videos for the adverts to get on your nerves. YouTube Music Premium might be the best fit for you.

But if you watch a lot of YouTube and can afford the $2 extra a month, YouTube Premium is the cost-effective choice – you get a Music Premium subscription for a fraction of the normal cost and access all the benefits of YouTube Premium.

You can get YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium for free before you commit to a subscription, with a month’s trial available for either subscription. If you get a YouTube Premium trial then you can experience background play, offline listening and ad-free playback on both YouTube and YouTube Music – and see which you’re enjoying the most.

Are you a musician or producer? Monetize your music on YouTube with RouteNote, for free. YouTube Content ID protects your songs on YouTube and YouTube Shorts so you’re properly credited and earn money whenever your music is used in a video. We can also upload songs to YouTube Music so everyone can stream your tracks.

Find out more about RouteNote here.