GOOGLE MUSIC WILL BE KILLED FOR YOUTUBE REMIX

Since 2017 there have been rumours that Google plans to merge YouTube and Google Play Music in order to create a new streaming service.

Now, some light has been shed on the situation. According to the outlet's source, Google Play Music will be replaced by the up and coming YouTube Remix platform, which is slated to launch later this year.

As for all the existing Play Music users, they will all be migrated to a new service by the end of 2018. A statement from YouTube seems to corroborate this, with hints of notifications about migrating to the upcoming service:

"We’ve previously announced the combination of the YouTube Music and Google Play product teams – music is very important to Google so it’s critical we have one offering that meets the needs of consumers and artists. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made."

It is worth noting that YouTube Remix was expected to launch at SXSW back in March, but Google denied that it has such plans.

It does make sense to combine YouTube's vast catalogue music videos and Google Play Music's immense audio library, but it remains to be seen exactly how this will all play out. Google Music is available in more countries than YouTube's Red subscription service for ad-free playback, so there may be complications around licensing video content globally.

With streaming music on the upswing lately (it grew by $1.2billion (USD) year-on-year globally to reach $7.4 billion in 2017), and rivals like Deezer and Spotify introducing new features to keep things fresh for fans, it is high time Google stepped up its game.

Hopefully, YouTube Remix will see it gain some ground in the coming months.