YouTube Music announces update for Android and iOS, adding a new Explore tab

Today YouTube Music took to Twitter to announce new features for its app, among which most notable is the Explore tab, which aims to help music lovers discover new songs and browse playlists by mood. An additional new feature is Song Lyrics, "to sing along to your favorites."

The YouTube Music Android app has now been downloaded over 100 million times, with its iOS version also enjoying popularity, being number 4 on Apple's App Store Music category.


The music streaming service was launched by YouTube in 2015, taking advantage of the immense catalog of music the platform has, and continues getting each single day, thanks to which it beats its rival music streaming services at the likes of Spotify by far, at least when it comes to sheer numbers. Adding to it is the fact that YouTube has an immense amount of niche, underground music by smaller independent artists, which often can't be found elsewhere.

Its premium tier, YouTube Music Premium removes ads and allows for background playback and of higher audio quality (256 kbit/s as opposed to 128), in addition to letting users download music for offline listening, at the cost of $9.99 per month.

Alternatively, the YouTube Music Premium service comes free with a YouTube Premium subscription, which itself is $11.99 per month.

Downloading the app also allows for a free month of Music Premium for new subscribers, while existing YouTube Red or Google Play Music members who have already received a 30 day trial aren't eligible.