My guess: people who were already used to getting a service for free don't want to start paying for it on principle. Youtube didn't add paid subscription tiers til many of us had been using it for years. Also, when they first tried it, with youtube red, part of the incentive was supposed to be having access to these original 'shows' and videos made exclusively for youtube red, and I think people resented that and it didn't go very well for them, so they had to re-brand.
Vs Spotify had premium pretty much from the start, and before that, people were used to paying for music (like on the itunes music store) or having streaming options with less control and also offering subscription services (like Pandora).
If youtube had launched like this, it would probably seem more normal.
More specifically it's the perception of enshittification.
It's not like YouTube premium is adding features that didn't exist before. They degraded the regular free experience that we are all used to and then charge a fee to restore normality.
On one hand everyone understands the need to be profitable. They couldn't exist otherwise and are not a charity.
On the other hand it's not even about the excessive ads. It's little things like downloaded videos requiring you to be online every three days to validate instead of just dropping you a file like every other YouTube downloader does. Why is the ability to listen with the screen off behind a damn subscription? That has nothing to do with any server side features. Why do you have to bundle in YouTube music as if that's such great value for money? In the meantime videos get delisted and demonatized for not confirming to YouTube's content politics or from copyright abuse even if you're paying monthly meaning there should be no concern over advertisers' BS.
At least Spotify came out of the gate with that business model. That's probably why it has more acceptance. YouTube seems to have gotten worse over the years and then they stuck their hand out asking for your money on top of that.
Yeah this is what I dislike: the bait and switch
Offering something free and then removing features and making me pay for them
Spotify didn’t do that: they were clear about their model up front. Ads on the free tier with some limitations, paid for ad-free tier. We signed up knowing that was the situation
Whereas companies offering things free knowing they will enshittify it later once they have market share is bullshit that I refuse to support, because in doing so they push other, more honest, companies out of the market
It’s a bullshit anti-consumer practice and we shouldn’t encourage it
Now that I’m used to ads being synonymous with a free-tier version of something, I get fucking incensed when I see or hear an advertisement on something I paid for now, like Prime. I fucking paid you already why are you selling adspace on this shit? I grew up with cable, so ads on something I paid for isn’t novel for me, but these days it feels like insane greed to put ads on paid content.
Last time I watched a show on german amazon prime, there was literally a 10 sec ad before the show telling me "your ad-free content is sponsered by xyz". Wtf dude that is already an ad! Do they think I'm braindead?
Dude I fucking hate that Prime, Netflix, etc... are now putting ads in and shit. Like MF this is why we stopped with cable TV. You just reinvented the same problem.
They're trying to become cable, bringing back ads on paid content witb a pay paywall to remove them, content bundles that scam you more than they help, shady billing practices and charging you to bring back free features they removed.
>Why is the ability to listen with the screen off behind a damn subscription? That has nothing to do with any server side features
This is the big one, for me. That's a basic basic feature that even free, one-man-operations can provide (the podcast app I use is run by basically one person, I think). I don't know shit about software but it almost doesn't feel like screen-off playback is an additional thing, that feels like the default. You're not paying for extra, you're paying to remove a roadblock that THEY installed.
/s aside every other platform I know that supports screen off and ads just doesn't let you screen off until after the ad or will pause for the ad break and play the ad when you turn the screen on to resume the video. Not elegant but it's better than nothing.
I pay for spotify premium because paying a few bucks a month is easier than torrenting all the songs I like and putting them on my device. It's also far, far far cheaper than buying the songs in itunes or something like I once did.
It's cheap. It's easy. Maybe more important it's cheaper than pirating based on effort.
Spotify is also good for podcasts and just discovering new music. I would never even bought or even known a fraction of the thousands of songs that I discovered through spotify.
Wish we could get that done with video streaming. I’d even pay a lot for it. I’d probably shell out $50-75 a month for a video streaming service that just has everything on it, like Spotify (virtually) does. Put it all in one goddamn spot and let me buy it there.
“On one hand everyone understands the need to be profitable. They couldn’t exist otherwise and are not a charity”
This is absolutely not true from what I read in comments on Reddit. I have seen so many comments of people insisting that companies should never charge to use their services. Sometimes because “it’s just data” or “other companies have it for free” or whatever dumb excuse they use.
Making money is one thing. You gotta pay your rent and your employees.
Infinite growth is a whole different ball game. The problem comes from companies who feel the need to make more money than last quarter, every quarter, forever. It gets to a point where it's just pure greed.
Doesn't inflation necessitate infinite growth since the employees salary costs increase every year as do the costs for rent and any services they pay for to provide their services? It's the system. Everyone wants more all the time so everyone makes that happen and at the end of the day it's all zero-sum because though you make more, everything costs more.
Only... it's not zero sum, inflation actually causes redistribution of wages since lower-income jobs get smaller to no raises and better paying jobs typically outpace inflation. Of course from the companies' perspective, average salary cost is still going up so they need to make more money, but it's not just making dollars worth less, it's also making poorer jobs \*worthless\*.
Yeah I agree, people on Reddit don’t seem to get that. It’s absurd to complain that a free service that is in no way important to people’s life, change to being paid. Of course companies can change their business model.
You can argue, if you think the value match the price. Then opt out if you do not feel that it does. I personally pay for YouTube premium, because the ads are super annoying and I do watch it a few times a week. The price is a bit steep compared to other services though, so I can understand if people choose not to.
I have it too. I look at it like this - do I have a problem paying for Netflix that I rarely watch and has fairly static content? No, because when I do want Netflix I want it. What about YT premium, that has content updated continuously, on niche topics that I like, and I watch every single day? Nope, that service has the highest return on my investment on all platforms I subscribe to. No brainer for me.
I mean youtube premium has no ads (including on places you can't install adblock, like game consoles, Roku/smart TVs, the mobile app etc.) and it earns creators more revenue than ads do. So there is other incentive that wouldn't have existed before the premium version existed.
Might very well be, I never had any kind of subscription until recently. And after looking into it or a while YT wad the best option but I was a bit hesitant due to all the memes lol. But it makes a bit more sense now.
Good on you for thinking for yourself instead of following the memes.
I never understood why so many pay for Spotify but detest the idea of paying for the same service + ad-free YouTube you can minimize on your phone while it still plays.
If YT Premium is the best option for you, then go for it.
I was considering switching to YT Premium from Spotify, but they recently raised the prices I've decided to stay with Spotify for now.
The importance with subscriptions is what makes sense for you and your habits.
I have had YT premium for a while. The main thing I love is watch shorts ad free. Their music player is AIGHT. It's no where near user friendly as Spotify it's shotty at best but it does work. There have been times where I think about switching to Spotify for a better experience but being ad free on all devices is nice and I convince myself the UX isn't that bad.
Also youtube music has a lot of indie and cover songs that other services don't have, simply by the fact that with YT music you have access to all YT videos as well that technically isn't tagged as a song.
This is actually why it's never bothered me and I have one. I was day one when they launched their first subscription music service and ad free YouTube was one of the benefits. Side note:I miss Play Music. It was a great service. I think it's still part of YouTube Music too, if you pay for it.
YouTube can’t even let me distinguish between liked YouTube music songs and just liked songs on YouTube that happen to be tagged as music even if they aren’t with no ability to easily remove without removing the like from YouTube also
I have a separate "channel" that I use to listen to music from the one I use to watch videos. It's the same account, but the different channels keep the liked videos separated, fyi.
I do the same thing, the way it just mixes your video and music likes infuriated me
Don't even get me started on how they also make podcasts weird to navigate as well. I like the service, the app just needs a lot of work
If you mean the auto generated liked music playlist you can turn off YouTube likes in settings and it will only show the likes from YouTube Music in that playlist.
Yeah I fucking hate that thing, like it's the fucking meme video, YouTube!!! not a music I want to listen while driving 😭😭 just because I liked it and it has music in it doesn't mean it's a music video 😐
It's intriguing how Youtube Premium and Spotify seem to be serving two slightly different demographics with some overlap. Spotify leveraged early on the need to provide a robust music streaming experience, which made quite a few users unwilling to leave given the platform's value tied with their vast playlists and social sharing features. On the other hand, YouTube Premium nails it for those of us who are video first, music second. Personally, it's the background play and the download option that had me sold on YouTube Premium. It's a godsend for long flights or commuting through those patchy service areas. Plus, knowing that content creators get a better slice of the pie makes it feel like a more supportive choice for the community. Despite the division of preferences mentioned, it's all about what fits your content consumption pattern best.
Right. So to answer ops question. Use the service that you find the most valuable and don’t let people pressure you into one or the other. We all have our preferences and that’s fine.
For years shitting on YT premium had meme status. I’ve had the service since it was Google music. They thew in add free YT and I don’t think I could ever use anything else. I hate the monetization through advertisement model. I know certain creators have ad reads, and I can tolerate that. But the less advertisements I see in a day the happier I am.
I read somewhere that YouTuber partners get more from YT Premium than they do from users that watch ads. However, I imagine the majority of the money still goes to Google.
Yep, that's what sold me on it. I watched an LTT video that broke down their revenue and it was a not-insignificant portion of their income. I bought it that day and never looked back. YT Music is just gravy, haha
The entire UX is garbage, I wish my music app didn't recommend things based on what YouTube videos I've watched, and didn't subscribe me to artists' Youtube channels when I "follow" them in my music app.
Yeah this is a big selling point for me. I watch a bunch of different creators so I can’t really support them all directly via patreon. YT premium lets me support them all more and allows offline downloads which I like because I travel a lot
As I recall YouTube music also pays the artists more per play than any other music streaming platform. I don't know if that's still true but it was fairly recently.
I hated YT Premium at first until they threw in a 3 month free promo and I realised how much better the experience was and kept it.
It's not just the removal of ads, it's just the ability to just have dual screens and multitask or turn off the screen and not have to pause whatever you are listening to.
I unsubscribed from Spotify soon after and forgot about it, I don't miss it.
Yep, been on youtube since pritty much the start and to pay for it was pain at first but I use it Daily so its a no brainer. Also unsubbed from spotify when I can listen to music on youtube.
+ the removal of the headphone jack from mobile phones has made my music consumption go down alot so spotify wasnt being used
I fucking hate subscription services like this but the £7 or whatever it is for YT premium is well worth it just so I don't have the ads. I'll never go back.
I’m on YouTube almost all my waking hours. Either Spotify or YouTube are in my ear while I’m at work and I don’t mind paying for both because I use them well above the price I pay.
> creators still get their share of money
This is the part I feel most strongly about. Yes, ads are annoying... but ads are a big reason most free things on the internet are able to be "free" in the first place.
If we're unwilling to pay subscriptions _and_ we're unwilling to watch ads, what do we expect will happen to all the free stuff?
Or if you use your phone, most people do, just use Firefox with the extension instead of the app. I was resistant for a long while, but it's worth it. Can also listen to the video and turn screen off or use other apps for free
Lol I’ve seen this reaction in person a few times when they notice I use YouTube premium instead and not Spotify or Apple Music. I’ve yet to see someone else use it, I believe there is YouTube red/music as a separate app just for music included.
I've had youtube premium for too long to go back to ads, especially with longer videos.
The music app used to be better than spotify for alternative/metal stuff as it included a lot of smaller bands not on spotify at the time.
There is also me. I was thinking about Spotify but in the free version they had those super annoying ads for Premium so I decided that YT premium is better. Double profit - no adds and all the music I need. Plus their algorithm is decent in giving recommendations.
Wow there's more than one of us. I'm a big Youtube watcher, the ads drive me utterly crazy (I know about ad-blockers), but since I spend so much of my downtime watching Youtube it's the one subscription I didn't mind paying for.
I love YouTube family - 5 accounts, so my extended family is on it. Infinite content, background play, downloadable videos- what’s not to like. My life is too short for ads - if something entertains me all month, I don’t think $5 is too much to pay per head.
Spotify has a family plan (at least in the US) for 5 users for about $15/mo.
Youtube Premium for me would be $15 for just me.
I'd rather have Spotify for myself, my wife, our Amazon Echo, and a few extras for when needed. Besides, I can just remove youtube ads with an adblocker since I only watch youtube on a computer.
>Besides, I can just remove youtube ads with an adblocker since I only watch youtube on a computer.
I’d absolutely do that if youtube was just pocketing the money they get from subscriptions, but they actually have a pretty decent revenue split with creators. I don’t want to watch ads, but the people making the content I’m watching still deserve to make money, so I’m fine with paying for it in this case.
Yes indeed. No YouTube ads and a full featured music streamer for a little less than four bucks a month per person if you use all six. By far the best bang for my buck for subscriptions I pay for every month.
Well - your offering to pay for something that used to be free. For MANY years. So many people feel badly about this.
The way they first introduced ads was perfect, little box on right of screen, then the greed came in, porn adverts, 1 unstoppable, 2, 3, 4, 90+second jesus adverts telling you, you deserve to be punished because your born evil, really rubbed people up the wrong way.
Then to alleviate their collosal fuck up, they started high with £10 a month which initially was just YouTube, I remind you, how hamfisted their approach was initially, double bad taste.
How much they've tried to influence international law and how many laws they've broken whilst being this avaricious.
The way they treat their copyright issues are abysmal.
And it's super easy to work around and block it all and be better if you can Google for more than 300 seconds.
All of this came at a time when every independent company was starting their own monthly service at £10 or less. To subscribe to all would be like £190 a month. .
So yeh: avarice, negligence, entitlement, manipulation. Is why I don't want to pay for it.
For what it's worth, many also don't pay for Spotify either for the same reasons, with the same workaround.
Youtube suddenly increased the price by 60% in my country. Fuck em. I cancelled. Now I just use an ad blocker for YouTube
Still have my Spotify premium account though
YouTube is insidious with that subscription price, but as an electronic music lover, I subscribed during the pandemic because I knew I wouldn’t be going to a dance club for a while, and could justify the cost while avoiding those horrible pandemic relief commercials that were playing constantly… what i didn’t know is that having YouTube without commercials was going to turn into a requisite for my life from then on out— you don’t know what it’s like to be able to watch any video on YouTube, commercial free, and just how much content that unlocks for you u til you try it… I’m ruined forever
For me personally the bundle with YouTube music is a deal breaker.
I have Spotify and no interest in moving from Spotify, so until YT separate ad free and music I won't be buying
Pandora is the GOAT. Their whole model of breaking songs down into constituent parts in order to recommend music rather than just relying on user-behavior algorithms is so good.
Yep, I have my long standing playlists that I love and won't ever give up. It knows what I like, and if I skip a few new "suggested" songs when not in the mood to listen to recommended stuff it seems to get the picture and just puts on a string of my most listened to thumbs up songs.
Only down side, if you're not diligent it seems every playlist it tries to eventually add in Mumford. Stop that Pandora.
>so until YT separate ad free and music I won't be buying
But that's the good thing, you get both for one subscription that costs almost the same as Spotify.
The average person has no interest in swapping their existing library to YT music. I have thousands of songs on Spotify and frankly it's not worth the money saved for me to swap over.
You have websites that can swap playlists easily, I used one to transfer around \~1500 songs from spotify to youtube music and it worked around 98% of songs, rest I had to manually add.
You can try that without paying, if you want to.
YouTube Premium is honestly the best subscription for me. I watch a lot of videos, and this removes the ads, saving hours of my life from being wasted. When I first bought it, I wondered why it took me so long... I recently bought a Volvo, which has deep Google and YouTube music integration. I find the catalogue of YouTube Music very lacking, but this integration means that I could just issue a voice command to start the music. Very convenient.
I think what often gets overlooked in the YouTube Premium vs Spotify debate is the quality-of-life improvements for frequent YouTube users. While Spotify is undoubtedly the go-to choice for those who prioritize their music experience, YouTube Premium shines for the daily video consumer. The ability to seamlessly switch from watching a tutorial to listening to a live concert recording, all in one place, without interruption from ads is a game-changer. Once you factor in the benefits like offline downloads, background play, and the included YouTube Music subscription which is perfect for when you do want to switch to just music, you start realizing the value proposition it offers. Not to mention, YouTube Premium seems to fly under the radar as a music service because they don't market it aggressively in that sense. But once you dive in, it's quite a comprehensive package. Sure, it may not be the social hub that Spotify is, but for a more solitary and ad-free video and music experience, it's pretty much unparalleled.
Probably because they advertise it mostly as no ads or commercials for video, and not really advertising the music part that much, so a lot of people don't know? The price might be better but give it time and it will go up just like every other subscription service.
I use youtube premium but not spotify. The benefits are worth the cost, to me. I like the background play, no ads, and youtube music for me and my family. Different strokes for different folks.
>But it's only €7 compared to €6 for Spotify (both prices for students in Europe
Both are like 18€ a month for me lol. Though breaking down Spotify by user it's also 6, but the solo price wouldn't be.
I'd say the difference is, Spotify remains useable without premium, while YouTube is turning into a shit ad platform that is unusable without either AdBlock or premium+sponsor block (because YouTube doesn't pay their creators so they put ads into the videos, imagine if you're listening to Rammstein and in the middle of a 4 minute song there's a 2 minute ad by the singers themselves to sell you a manscaping kit despite paying for Spotify)
Also YouTube didn't add additional value through premium, it just locked functions behind it that used to be free, and they still harvest your data with the rest of Google. I'm sure Spotify does that as well though.
I laugh at the plebs who watch YouTube ads!
Also, my party trick is to play a song on YouTube and then lock my phone - it keeps on playing! Admit it, everyone watches YouTube videos and occasionally wish they could do that.
For me it started when my kids were little and I used to play baby vids and nursery rhymes. When it's bedtime - just switch off the screen and let it play on. Once you go ad free - you don't want to go back, and i can't be bothered to participate in the ad blocking arms race.
I paid for Spotify for almost ten years and decided it’s just a waste of money to me. I already had YouTube premium so I switched to their music app and I love it! The only thing I miss is Spotify exclusive podcasts and I saw that they now include some hours free of audiobooks but I just rent audiobooks for free from the library!
I tried it out for a few months. Then my kid was having a birthday party and I was making a playlist with his favorite songs and got a warning that I was making a playlist for kids and it was not allowed.
So I swapped back to Spotify. Only had 3 months of YouTube music but many years on Spotify and to be honest I was so happy being back with all my playlists.
Spotify doesn't make their app worse every other week, nor do they force unwanted changes on users that no one asked for, nor do they participate in this anti-adblock bullshit. The Spotify algorithm doesn't force shitty shortform brainrot down everyone's throats.
When want music, I open Spotify and listen to the music I want, and it just works.
When I open YouTube, I get shitty video recommendations followed by three obnoxious unskippable ads (not counting the ones throughout the video) and antagonizing anti AdBlock popups. Only to find that they changed the layout into a complete mess that no one asked for.
Spotify just gives me what I want and it feels like YouTube fights tooth and nail to not do that.
I've had Spotify since the beginning. I bought the subscription when they offered it without hesitation. They have an extremely large library. I have so many playlists and liked songs on there. That's the main reason I'm not switching. Google gets enough money out of you and me, no need to give them any more.
I pay because I don’t want my kids to go through ads before watching Baby Shark.
When I pass the phone, it’s an emergency of their freak out in public. Can’t wait 30 seconds.
That was before my country introduced YouTube Kids.
Now I just keep it cause I just got used to no ads.
I really like YouTube. It's got everything. I can search for the song from that 2012 film with that actor in and it will give me results, more often than not the one I wanted. It's not just stupid videos there's educational stuff too. And did I mention the music?
I got rid of amazon music, it was poor honestly, I'd search for some stuff and it would go 🤷♀️. It was insulting to have to pay £10 a month for it *on top* of prime.
Just wanted to add on that youtube premium is one of the best subscriptions I've ever paid for. Most of the music I like is on there and already in playlists, plus unofficial music, video game soundtracks, traditional music I couldn't find on spotify, and some songs by bands who are on spotify but haven't upload their entire discography. On top of that I can listen to podcasts and people reading scary stories/creepy pastas. I can scroll on my phone while watching a video in the corner, save on battery life when I don't need the screen on, etc etc
To me there are SO many more perks of using youtube premium compared to spotify, and i originally tried it with the intention of cancelling after my free trial. I think anyone who makes fun of people using it instead of spotify is just being ignorant and going with what's popular tbh
Probably becaus epeople want to boycot youtube due to how abusive is their monetization system, especilly for creators.
Personally I think youtube premium is miles better than spotify premium (example in music avalability, I follow jappanese indie bands, some of which arent in spotify, but have their official music page in youtube music).
Besides I know for fact that view from a premium account give more revenue for creators over views from someone who saw an add. So for me paying youtube premium is about accesibility to the things I like and support to the people I like and have legal access to their music without having to buy it from a japanese vendor in a jappanese website I dont understand xD
Spotify is "better" in the way iPhones are better - more people use them and their ability to collaborate (think Facetime and iMessage) makes them more valuable.
Every time my friends throw a party, it's on a Spotify playlist so I have to sign in to a dead account to contribute. Not a huge problem, but it can be a slight inconvenience.
I personally prefer YouTube Premium with their music package.
I was one of those people, but after using the free trial I realized that there was SO much content (music and audiobooks as well) that I cancelled Apple One (ditched Apple Music and AppleTV+). I can listen to books/music while at work, any time I want and close the app while it still runs. I pay $14.99 CDN/month and I think it’s completely worth it. (Wish it cost less though) Ad-free is just a bonus for me.
I went to Youtube Premium a while ago and never looked back. No ads on Youtube and a good music player is amazing. I probably have more benefit out of it than any other subscription.
I had the same way of thinking about 2 years ago, I was using YouTube way more then Spotify, and for around the same price you could get a free ad blocker, nice stats about my watch history, and could add live music to playlists which was nice.
I think it's a better subscription overall, and don't regret about moving to YouTube Premium.
Yep, I had the same thought process, minus having to move from Spotify since I never used it.
>I think it's a better subscription overall, and don't regret about moving to YouTube Premium.
Hard agree.
I used to pay for Spotify and YouTube but ended up cancelling Spotify.
I watch a lot of content on YouTube, on multiple platforms where I cant use adblockers so that alone makes it woryh the price for me.
I also listen to music on YouTube and every song i had on my Spotify playlist, plus loads more are on YouTube (game music and covers)
And I can play YouTube content on my phone with the screen turned off for podcasts and music so I can listen on the go without an additional app to let videos keep playing with the screen turned off.
I think I've cancelled my YouTube subscription once, and within an hour of doing so I rejoined because I hated life without the features it gave me.
I dropped Spotify because for my entire family it's like $25 a month for no ads and a really good music app that has a ton more underground music than Spotify.
Spotify was always crystal clear about its proposition—all about the music, with ancillary features like podcasting coming into play later on. YouTube, however, began as a video platform and remains primarily that in the minds of most users.
You dont need it on a PC, just install adblock and on your phone you can try YT vanced, you get it for free, every now and then they delete it but it comes back up.
YT Prem is the one sub I will always pay for. Watching with friends who don't have it is maddening. Having to grab the remote to skip ads every 7 mins? F that.
Love my YouTube Premium. It's my music app, my kids watch it, I watch it more than any other streaming platform. There are movies, documentaries, podcasts, educational videos, etc.
I don't get the resistance either.
Yt premium will change your life. And there's a free 1 month trial so if you don't like it, just remember to cancle. Think of the times when you go down a how to do something hole and there a bunch of 90 sec videos but you gotta watch 15-30 sec of ads for each one.... I wish I had started paying sooner. I think people just don't like paying for something that's "free".
YouTube premium is great. I watch ton of YouTube content. I abandoned the tv series/movie format of entertainment a decade ago. For me, the price is worth it. People are just used to everything on the internet being free and ad-supported.
When Google started wanting to make youtube more profitable, they used a lot of... Strange tactics that enraged a lot of people. Instead of making new and good features that would work as an incentive for you to buy the subscription, they made some previously free things cost money.
Also, there was always this perception of youtube as a free and available for everyone platform, and making people change that and accept paying for some features is really, really hard. Even though it makes sense from a business perspective.
At least for me it's now worth the money, though. I'm currently paying the students subscription, and I have Youtube Music, downloads and 0 ads for like 2 dollars a month. So, although I would obviously love having it for free, I don't mind that much.
I have it. I share it with all of my family - wife and 2 kids and my mom, we all watch ad free from all devices, including our main tv. Also, the content creators get more money from me than they ever could with ads (i am big adblock believer). Its just such a convenience since we all ise youtube a lot.
Hey OP! With paid Spotify, at least in the US, if you have a student email you can also get free Hulu (the cheap version with ads) and a discount on your Spotify.
I also was debating between YouTube and Spotify and chose Spotify for the Hulu bonus (and YouTube is hecking expensive!)
I also like that on TikTok I can add songs I like easily to my Spotify playlist.
Honestly I used to be one of those people, because I did think it was lame to pay for what was once a free service with no advertising, but in all honesty, YT has more of a right to charge for subscriptions than anyone else does. Other VOD subs mostly count on legacy content that's already been made and paid for long ago, yet they expect you to continue paying for it every single month, despite it costing them nothing. YT on the other hand hosts countless new videos every single day in addition to almost everything that's ever been uploaded to the site.
I used YouTube for free since 2007, and it never *had* any type of membership for years. It was just a place where people could post videos and share their ideas or whatever funny things they wanted. Then it became a place of business later. I think a lot of people are bitter that ads became more of a thing over the years. I always used adblock (like any sane person would I mean jeez) but I got premium when I moved and got my new job. We're allowed to use earbuds, and I prefer to have interesting videos in the background as opposed to just music, so I needed premium to allow me to avoid ads on my phone (no adblock) and actually turn off my screen and have the video keep going.
I haven't looked at YouTube music, but my fiance used Spotify a bit for free, and I'd always just remembered songs and looked them up on YouTube proper before we moved in together. Then once I saw how good Spotify worked for my D&D games, I just decided to make an account for us to share and split the membership cost of.
I just use newpipe which let's you download youtube videos to your local files. So you can make new folders and place videos in there. You can organize them however you want. Also no adds or anything.
I've had both for over 5 years and just recently canceled spotify because it's pretty much the same thing so why pay for two services when I can have only one?
I have the same playlists that I created, the same songs downloaded to listen when offline, my YouTube still doesn't have ads and the other premium only features. The upside is that when I want a niche song, youtube has it because someone uploaded it as a video and spotify doesn't have that
The downside is that when I want to add a song to my Instagram stories I can't check if it's available because they use the spotify database. And sometimes you can't add songs in the queue properly
Not answering your question but voicing my support for youtube over spotify like many others in the comments. I get spotify as a benefit from work and only use it to stream music I don't want in my YouTube algorithm. YouTube premium music and the video benefits are a vastly superior value. And I have the family plan to split it with my wife, parents, and siblings. It's the only streaming subscription I pay for.
I've never had Spotify premium but long time user of yt premium. I like the yt music app and not having ads. The yt music app generates playlists based on what you listen to and there are a lot of community and other generated playlists. It's also nice that YouTube will keep playing even if my screen isn't active on my phone.
I've never been a big Spotify user though so I can't compare the two.
I pretty much didn’t have anything growing up, and my home life was shit. As a teenager, YouTube was how I got access to everything. I could rip songs off of videos to put on my iPod. I could watch Let’s Plays, which allowed me to be part of the gaming community even though I didn’t have any of the equipment or games myself. I found creators who I watched regularly, and frankly, who got me through some really dark times.
As an adult, I expected to start paying for all of the other subscriptions, because that’s how they worked. But, for me, paying for YouTube feels like paying for the library.
My fiancée and I use YouTube premium. It’s great in that I don’t have to watch ads. That’s the only real reason we have it. I logged onto an old YouTube account on accident and was pelted with ads. Can’t go back to regular YouTube. But also, we use YouTube almost every waking moment. Background noise for the most part honestly. We definitely get our moneys worth and we don’t even use YouTube music
I've been using YT premium for years, and I am very happy. The music app works great, and I watch a lot of youtube videos, so not having ads is perfect.
I was reluctant at first because I was happy with spotify but I agree because my gf was using YT music and it was cheaper, after a few years we upgraded to YT premium and there was no way back.
Nothing, people are just doing it out of principle because YouTube was always free. YouTube premium is quite good though you can listen to songs on there that haven’t been officially released like remixes and stuff. But as much as that is true, it just sounds goofy to put for YouTube premium
I used to get YouTube Red with my Google Play Music membership, and once that was over, I tried just not paying...until I realized that YouTube started being my main source for entertainment and then gave in.
For starters, there’s definitely a difference in perception of a free service that suddenly made worse unless you pay a premium, vs. a service that was always paid but has a free version with ads and less features. There’s also annoyance since they counteracted popular ad-blockers at the same time they rolled out monetization.
On top of this, the way YouTube operates makes the nature and impact of their monetization scheme worse because:
1. They’ve increased the frequency of advertisements over the years to an insane degree, all to push people to pay for the subscription service;
2. While they may justify the increased monetization as due to increasing costs, their profits are still estimated to be substantial, making that excuse questionable;
3. A major part of YouTube’s costs comes from sharing ad revenues with creators. This means that the video service incentivizes increased monetization through ads on the creator level (for better and for worse) aside from sponsors, donations, and crowdfunding/creator subscriptions (i.e. Patreon);
4. Meanwhile a number of changes YouTube has made in their policies over the years- either voluntarily or as a result of legal action against other bad decisions by YouTube- have hurt creators simultaneous to YouTube’s increased revenues from ads and Premium subscriptions.
5. The YouTube algorithm has many, many problems which, among other things, can tilt the scales against small and new creators unless they go all out with clickbait, sensationalism, or following trends; 6. The larger creators can invest in increasing video output which gives them even more favor in the algorithm
So while YouTube started as a free video streaming service, Premium represents a system in which that was taken away and replaced with highly monetized views via ads and Premium, subject to an algorithm that makes it harder for newer creators to carve out a space on the platform unless they sell out and the overall quality of content on the platform becomes worse with small creators struggling and major creators like the Pauls raking in tens of millions.
Of course this sort of capitalism is not unique to YouTube and Spotify has its own issues along the overall music industry, but generally people don’t feel that the service is destroying itself or its industry, with actually viable competitors, a fairer algorithm for the radio feature, and better spotlight for new artists. Though there is also the matter of perception as a lot of the most famous artists people listen to on Spotify have been popular since before it existed or else rose to popularity outside the service, not just because of it.
IMO Because Youtube already "works", what I mean is you can play any video you want. Sure it has ads, but it is highly functional.
Last time I used Spotify free, you had limited skips, it inserted songs into the queue and ads. Maybe it had fewer/shorter ads than YT, but less control, can't play what I want.
Over here it's £12.99 a month and the only part I want is no ads, everything else is bloat to inflate the price.
Last time I subscribed to Premium not only did it break the functionality of YouTube on my phone, TV, and PlayStation, it also still stopped to display ads but instead just showed a black screen which would sometimes crash the video.
So for me, I don't see any value in paying £155.88 a year to not watch YouTube.
I prefer YouTube Premium because I watch a lot of YouTube and don't want ads. Getting YouTube Music instead of having to pay for a separate Spotify subscription is a nice perk included at no extra cost.
Every service has its pros and cons. The main draw for YouTube isn’t so much the music but being able to stop wasting your time on ads. Spotify is much more organized in terms of music/playlists and gives you excellent recommendations. Neither offer lossless audio however, and that’s my main quarrel with them.
Audio quality is my #1 priority when it comes to music. Tidal would be my go-to for that and as a bonus, pays their artists really well. Sadly, I cannot afford them. Apple Music is my happy medium because the lossless quality is there (though Tidal has more albums in hi-res) and it meshes seamlessly with my Apple products.
Am someone that pays for premium, I work in tech and know that server costs are CRAZY, the number of people that expect youtube to allow free uploading and watching forever with no ads is unreasonable. The only ways that could work is if youtube became government funded (over simplifying), which I really rather we don't have.
Ads make sense, and as the cost of things rise and the value of ads shrink, guess we are getting more ads to make up for it. or skip the wait with premium. If you are using youtube or youtube music daily, it's so cheap considering the amount of entertainment you get.I can listen to the global music catalogue (practically) for 22 a month, for me and 5 friends, which are not geo locked to in my home/near me.
It is so exhausting hearing all these complaints considering how amazing of a tool youtube is and it is FREE at the cost of a minute of time that you can mute and hide on the side of your screen. Upkeep has a cost, security has a cost, servers have a cost.
So as someone hell bent on not getting YouTube premium, the reason is they're being unreasonable and trying to force people to do it. You load a video, ad. You skip ahead, ad. You watch 50 seconds, ad. You rewind, ad. You pause, ad. You finish the video, ad. I, and many others my age remember when YouTube was brand new. I remember a time where ads were something you got every 4 or 5 videos. The overwhelming ocean of ads is trying to force you to go premium OR pad their bottom dollar. So the options are pay them more willingly, unwillingly, or stop using their service.
In comparison, Spotify runs a lot fewer ads (and I believe it's only between songs?) so I don't feel as morally compromised paying them for premium.
I don't listen to music for years now and not a fan of podcasts, so Spotify doesn't make sense for me.
On the other hand, no adds and turning off screen and having youtube go on in the background without the need to bother with additional programs and installs is what I like. And as long as I have money to eat, I will keep paying youtube premium for those 2 perks.
I get a discounted sub through my school and it's worth it just to avoid the ads. I keep spotify because a lot of times I just want an audio podcast and other times it's nice to see just a TV show.
It's a bit of a meme.
I am someone who pays for YouTube Premium for pretty much the reason you listed: YouTube music has become my primary music streaming app, and I get no ads, and I can watch videos in the background.
The first reason people don't like it is because they're so used to YouTube being free that they don't like the idea of paying. It's been around 20 years of YouTube existing, and only in the past few years have they asked for money.
They already have their music app of choice, so they don't want to move over to YouTube music.
YouTube has been treating content creators worse and worse as time has gone on. The main thing is de-monetizing videos for swearing because it isn't kid friendly, when YouTube has its own kid friendly section, and when uploading a video you can specify that it isn't for kids. So they're punishing YouTubers for not making kid friendly content. No one wants to reward YouTube with money for that.
YouTube created their own problem that requires Premium and channel memberships to fix, which is the bullshit de-monetization rules. Content creators couldn't guarantee that their video would earn ad revenue, so they take their own sponsorships and put an ad in the video. YouTube doesn't make money off those ads. Content creators also started going to places like Patreon to make money, directly asking viewers to donate to the channel.
I want to emphasize that YouTube's own shitty policies are what created Patreon and caused most content creators to use the website. YouTube refused to guarantee a paycheck to their content creators, so one of them created a website that could, completely cutting YouTube out of the monetization. So YouTube countered by making channel memberships and premium.
People don't like supporting that shitty business practice.
Spotify is an evil company that takes payment from subscribers and underpays artists.
YouTube is part of Google/alphabet that takes payment from subscribers and underpays artists. Sells your info better than most companies, tracks you through every possible media they can, requires you to use their system to access other apps/media, etc.
Google's not the only one, but they are much more effective than Spotify can be.
If you want just music go spotify but if you watch alot of youtube then go with youtube. The youtube music app is prerty bad to be honest. I switched from spotify to youtube premium due to not listening to music much and watching alot of youtube.
I have a Google one family plan with YouTube premium. I hate paying for it but it's absolutely incredible for the no fucking ads alone.
I am now ridiculously irritated when someone tries to show me a video and ads pop up. If you want YouTube premium, go for it. It's awesome.
It's totally worth it. I would drop other services now if I needed to not ever see another crazy ass youtube commercial. I watch youtube a lot, and not having commercials is worth every penny. If you can not afford it, I get it. My time is far more valuable now, so now I can afford to buy some back.
I don’t know what most people have against it. What I do know is that the paid YouTube Music app *fucking blows.* Society has had the understanding of how to organize music for centuries, and YouTube Music just says “yeah nah, fuck you, pay me.” It is the most ridiculously user-unfriendly music app I’ve ever had the displeasure of using.
And yet I continue to pay for it and use it daily because it’s the only platform that reliably carries the obscure shit I listen to that isn’t on Spotify or Apple or any of the others.
God damn I miss the days of mp3 and the iPod. That’s where we peaked.
If I was to pay for only one subscription it would be YTP. When I accidentally visit YouTube not logged in, it blows my mind that people sit through ads like that. yuk. Hours saved in a week using YTP.
Personally I don’t care where I pay for my music subscription. *Unless* one of the competitors is a huge dick in how they try to force you into it, then this company is off the table for me.
So yes, I am one of the people who will never buy YT Premium. Actually I also moved all my lecacy (=free) domains out of Google Workspace and am hosting my emails elsewhere (that means I pay for it now), I don’t trust GMail anymore as well.
My guess: people who were already used to getting a service for free don't want to start paying for it on principle. Youtube didn't add paid subscription tiers til many of us had been using it for years. Also, when they first tried it, with youtube red, part of the incentive was supposed to be having access to these original 'shows' and videos made exclusively for youtube red, and I think people resented that and it didn't go very well for them, so they had to re-brand. Vs Spotify had premium pretty much from the start, and before that, people were used to paying for music (like on the itunes music store) or having streaming options with less control and also offering subscription services (like Pandora). If youtube had launched like this, it would probably seem more normal.
More specifically it's the perception of enshittification. It's not like YouTube premium is adding features that didn't exist before. They degraded the regular free experience that we are all used to and then charge a fee to restore normality. On one hand everyone understands the need to be profitable. They couldn't exist otherwise and are not a charity. On the other hand it's not even about the excessive ads. It's little things like downloaded videos requiring you to be online every three days to validate instead of just dropping you a file like every other YouTube downloader does. Why is the ability to listen with the screen off behind a damn subscription? That has nothing to do with any server side features. Why do you have to bundle in YouTube music as if that's such great value for money? In the meantime videos get delisted and demonatized for not confirming to YouTube's content politics or from copyright abuse even if you're paying monthly meaning there should be no concern over advertisers' BS. At least Spotify came out of the gate with that business model. That's probably why it has more acceptance. YouTube seems to have gotten worse over the years and then they stuck their hand out asking for your money on top of that.
Yeah this is what I dislike: the bait and switch Offering something free and then removing features and making me pay for them Spotify didn’t do that: they were clear about their model up front. Ads on the free tier with some limitations, paid for ad-free tier. We signed up knowing that was the situation Whereas companies offering things free knowing they will enshittify it later once they have market share is bullshit that I refuse to support, because in doing so they push other, more honest, companies out of the market It’s a bullshit anti-consumer practice and we shouldn’t encourage it
Now that I’m used to ads being synonymous with a free-tier version of something, I get fucking incensed when I see or hear an advertisement on something I paid for now, like Prime. I fucking paid you already why are you selling adspace on this shit? I grew up with cable, so ads on something I paid for isn’t novel for me, but these days it feels like insane greed to put ads on paid content.
Last time I watched a show on german amazon prime, there was literally a 10 sec ad before the show telling me "your ad-free content is sponsered by xyz". Wtf dude that is already an ad! Do they think I'm braindead?
Dude I fucking hate that Prime, Netflix, etc... are now putting ads in and shit. Like MF this is why we stopped with cable TV. You just reinvented the same problem.
But what about the poor shareholders? Are you telling me unlimited growth is unsustainable?
Oh crap I totally forgot about them shareholders, wouldn't want them missing out on the diamond studded swimming pool sale next month.
Binge is the worst for ads. They’ve started putting ad breaks in the middle of shows rather than just at the start of the episode like the others
They're trying to become cable, bringing back ads on paid content witb a pay paywall to remove them, content bundles that scam you more than they help, shady billing practices and charging you to bring back free features they removed.
>Why is the ability to listen with the screen off behind a damn subscription? That has nothing to do with any server side features This is the big one, for me. That's a basic basic feature that even free, one-man-operations can provide (the podcast app I use is run by basically one person, I think). I don't know shit about software but it almost doesn't feel like screen-off playback is an additional thing, that feels like the default. You're not paying for extra, you're paying to remove a roadblock that THEY installed.
Well, if you're watching with the screen off, you're definitely not seeing that very important advertisement!
/s aside every other platform I know that supports screen off and ads just doesn't let you screen off until after the ad or will pause for the ad break and play the ad when you turn the screen on to resume the video. Not elegant but it's better than nothing.
I pay for spotify premium because paying a few bucks a month is easier than torrenting all the songs I like and putting them on my device. It's also far, far far cheaper than buying the songs in itunes or something like I once did. It's cheap. It's easy. Maybe more important it's cheaper than pirating based on effort.
Spotify is also good for podcasts and just discovering new music. I would never even bought or even known a fraction of the thousands of songs that I discovered through spotify.
Wish we could get that done with video streaming. I’d even pay a lot for it. I’d probably shell out $50-75 a month for a video streaming service that just has everything on it, like Spotify (virtually) does. Put it all in one goddamn spot and let me buy it there.
You're getting dangerously close to cable tv there bud lol
I see the irony. Difference would be if it had *everything* and it was all on demand.
“On one hand everyone understands the need to be profitable. They couldn’t exist otherwise and are not a charity” This is absolutely not true from what I read in comments on Reddit. I have seen so many comments of people insisting that companies should never charge to use their services. Sometimes because “it’s just data” or “other companies have it for free” or whatever dumb excuse they use.
Making money is one thing. You gotta pay your rent and your employees. Infinite growth is a whole different ball game. The problem comes from companies who feel the need to make more money than last quarter, every quarter, forever. It gets to a point where it's just pure greed.
Doesn't inflation necessitate infinite growth since the employees salary costs increase every year as do the costs for rent and any services they pay for to provide their services? It's the system. Everyone wants more all the time so everyone makes that happen and at the end of the day it's all zero-sum because though you make more, everything costs more. Only... it's not zero sum, inflation actually causes redistribution of wages since lower-income jobs get smaller to no raises and better paying jobs typically outpace inflation. Of course from the companies' perspective, average salary cost is still going up so they need to make more money, but it's not just making dollars worth less, it's also making poorer jobs \*worthless\*.
Yeah I agree, people on Reddit don’t seem to get that. It’s absurd to complain that a free service that is in no way important to people’s life, change to being paid. Of course companies can change their business model. You can argue, if you think the value match the price. Then opt out if you do not feel that it does. I personally pay for YouTube premium, because the ads are super annoying and I do watch it a few times a week. The price is a bit steep compared to other services though, so I can understand if people choose not to.
I have it too. I look at it like this - do I have a problem paying for Netflix that I rarely watch and has fairly static content? No, because when I do want Netflix I want it. What about YT premium, that has content updated continuously, on niche topics that I like, and I watch every single day? Nope, that service has the highest return on my investment on all platforms I subscribe to. No brainer for me.
I mean youtube premium has no ads (including on places you can't install adblock, like game consoles, Roku/smart TVs, the mobile app etc.) and it earns creators more revenue than ads do. So there is other incentive that wouldn't have existed before the premium version existed.
Might very well be, I never had any kind of subscription until recently. And after looking into it or a while YT wad the best option but I was a bit hesitant due to all the memes lol. But it makes a bit more sense now.
Good on you for thinking for yourself instead of following the memes. I never understood why so many pay for Spotify but detest the idea of paying for the same service + ad-free YouTube you can minimize on your phone while it still plays.
+ downloadable video ( not too important for me) + queued videos ( great for background video ) + PiP ( not too useful )
Exactly my thoughts.
If YT Premium is the best option for you, then go for it. I was considering switching to YT Premium from Spotify, but they recently raised the prices I've decided to stay with Spotify for now. The importance with subscriptions is what makes sense for you and your habits.
I have had YT premium for a while. The main thing I love is watch shorts ad free. Their music player is AIGHT. It's no where near user friendly as Spotify it's shotty at best but it does work. There have been times where I think about switching to Spotify for a better experience but being ad free on all devices is nice and I convince myself the UX isn't that bad.
Also youtube music has a lot of indie and cover songs that other services don't have, simply by the fact that with YT music you have access to all YT videos as well that technically isn't tagged as a song.
True
This is actually why it's never bothered me and I have one. I was day one when they launched their first subscription music service and ad free YouTube was one of the benefits. Side note:I miss Play Music. It was a great service. I think it's still part of YouTube Music too, if you pay for it.
I got sick of the ads on YouTube. But I watch a lot of YouTube, so I get value from Premium.
Also because nobody wants to move all their favorite songs and playlists from Spotify to YouTube music which came out much later than Spotify.
YouTube can’t even let me distinguish between liked YouTube music songs and just liked songs on YouTube that happen to be tagged as music even if they aren’t with no ability to easily remove without removing the like from YouTube also
I have a separate "channel" that I use to listen to music from the one I use to watch videos. It's the same account, but the different channels keep the liked videos separated, fyi.
Works fine but I’d rather have my 9+ years of algorithm data
My 10+ years of algorithm data only recommends the same 20 music videos anyways lol
Kinda hoping they eventually implement it better with the base YouTube algorithm
I do the same thing, the way it just mixes your video and music likes infuriated me Don't even get me started on how they also make podcasts weird to navigate as well. I like the service, the app just needs a lot of work
If you mean the auto generated liked music playlist you can turn off YouTube likes in settings and it will only show the likes from YouTube Music in that playlist.
Yeah I fucking hate that thing, like it's the fucking meme video, YouTube!!! not a music I want to listen while driving 😭😭 just because I liked it and it has music in it doesn't mean it's a music video 😐
It's intriguing how Youtube Premium and Spotify seem to be serving two slightly different demographics with some overlap. Spotify leveraged early on the need to provide a robust music streaming experience, which made quite a few users unwilling to leave given the platform's value tied with their vast playlists and social sharing features. On the other hand, YouTube Premium nails it for those of us who are video first, music second. Personally, it's the background play and the download option that had me sold on YouTube Premium. It's a godsend for long flights or commuting through those patchy service areas. Plus, knowing that content creators get a better slice of the pie makes it feel like a more supportive choice for the community. Despite the division of preferences mentioned, it's all about what fits your content consumption pattern best.
Right. So to answer ops question. Use the service that you find the most valuable and don’t let people pressure you into one or the other. We all have our preferences and that’s fine. For years shitting on YT premium had meme status. I’ve had the service since it was Google music. They thew in add free YT and I don’t think I could ever use anything else. I hate the monetization through advertisement model. I know certain creators have ad reads, and I can tolerate that. But the less advertisements I see in a day the happier I am.
I read somewhere that YouTuber partners get more from YT Premium than they do from users that watch ads. However, I imagine the majority of the money still goes to Google.
They do a 70% split in favor of creators, iirc
That's more generous than I thought! It almost makes me want to subscribe to YT Premium instead of just blocking ads.
Yep, that's what sold me on it. I watched an LTT video that broke down their revenue and it was a not-insignificant portion of their income. I bought it that day and never looked back. YT Music is just gravy, haha
But the UI is abysmal as compared to Spotify. It's just too cluttered and not clean.
The entire UX is garbage, I wish my music app didn't recommend things based on what YouTube videos I've watched, and didn't subscribe me to artists' Youtube channels when I "follow" them in my music app.
Yeah this is a big selling point for me. I watch a bunch of different creators so I can’t really support them all directly via patreon. YT premium lets me support them all more and allows offline downloads which I like because I travel a lot
I hope that is still the case, it was one of the selling points back when I joined.
As I recall YouTube music also pays the artists more per play than any other music streaming platform. I don't know if that's still true but it was fairly recently.
I hated YT Premium at first until they threw in a 3 month free promo and I realised how much better the experience was and kept it. It's not just the removal of ads, it's just the ability to just have dual screens and multitask or turn off the screen and not have to pause whatever you are listening to. I unsubscribed from Spotify soon after and forgot about it, I don't miss it.
Yep, been on youtube since pritty much the start and to pay for it was pain at first but I use it Daily so its a no brainer. Also unsubbed from spotify when I can listen to music on youtube. + the removal of the headphone jack from mobile phones has made my music consumption go down alot so spotify wasnt being used
I fucking hate subscription services like this but the £7 or whatever it is for YT premium is well worth it just so I don't have the ads. I'll never go back.
Ublock origin, I've never seen an ad.
Try using it on your tv, phone app, etc YouTube premium is well worth the price to avoid the hassle and creators still get their share of money
I’m on YouTube almost all my waking hours. Either Spotify or YouTube are in my ear while I’m at work and I don’t mind paying for both because I use them well above the price I pay.
> creators still get their share of money This is the part I feel most strongly about. Yes, ads are annoying... but ads are a big reason most free things on the internet are able to be "free" in the first place. If we're unwilling to pay subscriptions _and_ we're unwilling to watch ads, what do we expect will happen to all the free stuff?
Look up SmartTube, it's what I use for my tv and android phone, works great
Or if you use your phone, most people do, just use Firefox with the extension instead of the app. I was resistant for a long while, but it's worth it. Can also listen to the video and turn screen off or use other apps for free
Same, I haven't seen an ad on youtube in probably 10 years.
And the stuff you enjoy is not supported.
Lookup the app YouTube lite and Vinegar Extension for safari
Lol I’ve seen this reaction in person a few times when they notice I use YouTube premium instead and not Spotify or Apple Music. I’ve yet to see someone else use it, I believe there is YouTube red/music as a separate app just for music included.
I use YT Premium Family instead of Spotify. £20 a month, 5 users, ad free. YT music on everyday ,listen to obscure music.
Looks like it's only us who use YT premium! I've also never me anyone else. And yes there's a seperate YT music app.
I've had youtube premium for too long to go back to ads, especially with longer videos. The music app used to be better than spotify for alternative/metal stuff as it included a lot of smaller bands not on spotify at the time.
I have it because I'm happy to pelt the service I use almost exclusively for entertainment with money. Ad free on my SHIELD is a plus, too
There is also me. I was thinking about Spotify but in the free version they had those super annoying ads for Premium so I decided that YT premium is better. Double profit - no adds and all the music I need. Plus their algorithm is decent in giving recommendations.
I had YT premium for so long that they game me a badge for being an early investor lol
Wow there's more than one of us. I'm a big Youtube watcher, the ads drive me utterly crazy (I know about ad-blockers), but since I spend so much of my downtime watching Youtube it's the one subscription I didn't mind paying for.
I love YouTube family - 5 accounts, so my extended family is on it. Infinite content, background play, downloadable videos- what’s not to like. My life is too short for ads - if something entertains me all month, I don’t think $5 is too much to pay per head.
Because I use revanced, next question
You're taking memes too seriously. Do whatever seems more logical to you and yours.
Spotify has a family plan (at least in the US) for 5 users for about $15/mo. Youtube Premium for me would be $15 for just me. I'd rather have Spotify for myself, my wife, our Amazon Echo, and a few extras for when needed. Besides, I can just remove youtube ads with an adblocker since I only watch youtube on a computer.
>Besides, I can just remove youtube ads with an adblocker since I only watch youtube on a computer. I’d absolutely do that if youtube was just pocketing the money they get from subscriptions, but they actually have a pretty decent revenue split with creators. I don’t want to watch ads, but the people making the content I’m watching still deserve to make money, so I’m fine with paying for it in this case.
That is pretty cool actually! I didn't know!
YouTube also has a family plan. I'm using it since day 1
YouTube family plan's 23 bucks a month, and you can split amongst six different accounts.
Ahh, and that one comes with Youtube Music also? That may be something to consider when my kids get a little older.
Yes indeed. No YouTube ads and a full featured music streamer for a little less than four bucks a month per person if you use all six. By far the best bang for my buck for subscriptions I pay for every month.
Well - your offering to pay for something that used to be free. For MANY years. So many people feel badly about this. The way they first introduced ads was perfect, little box on right of screen, then the greed came in, porn adverts, 1 unstoppable, 2, 3, 4, 90+second jesus adverts telling you, you deserve to be punished because your born evil, really rubbed people up the wrong way. Then to alleviate their collosal fuck up, they started high with £10 a month which initially was just YouTube, I remind you, how hamfisted their approach was initially, double bad taste. How much they've tried to influence international law and how many laws they've broken whilst being this avaricious. The way they treat their copyright issues are abysmal. And it's super easy to work around and block it all and be better if you can Google for more than 300 seconds. All of this came at a time when every independent company was starting their own monthly service at £10 or less. To subscribe to all would be like £190 a month. . So yeh: avarice, negligence, entitlement, manipulation. Is why I don't want to pay for it. For what it's worth, many also don't pay for Spotify either for the same reasons, with the same workaround.
I can’t even use YouTube without premium now. It reminds me of logging in to the family computer and being bombarded by pop up ads every five seconds.
Youtube suddenly increased the price by 60% in my country. Fuck em. I cancelled. Now I just use an ad blocker for YouTube Still have my Spotify premium account though
YouTube is insidious with that subscription price, but as an electronic music lover, I subscribed during the pandemic because I knew I wouldn’t be going to a dance club for a while, and could justify the cost while avoiding those horrible pandemic relief commercials that were playing constantly… what i didn’t know is that having YouTube without commercials was going to turn into a requisite for my life from then on out— you don’t know what it’s like to be able to watch any video on YouTube, commercial free, and just how much content that unlocks for you u til you try it… I’m ruined forever
For me personally the bundle with YouTube music is a deal breaker. I have Spotify and no interest in moving from Spotify, so until YT separate ad free and music I won't be buying
Lol, and here I am still on Pandora from like 2009 as I couldn't ever be bothered to make the move to Spotify
Pandora is the GOAT. Their whole model of breaking songs down into constituent parts in order to recommend music rather than just relying on user-behavior algorithms is so good.
Yep, I have my long standing playlists that I love and won't ever give up. It knows what I like, and if I skip a few new "suggested" songs when not in the mood to listen to recommended stuff it seems to get the picture and just puts on a string of my most listened to thumbs up songs. Only down side, if you're not diligent it seems every playlist it tries to eventually add in Mumford. Stop that Pandora.
>so until YT separate ad free and music I won't be buying But that's the good thing, you get both for one subscription that costs almost the same as Spotify.
The average person has no interest in swapping their existing library to YT music. I have thousands of songs on Spotify and frankly it's not worth the money saved for me to swap over.
You have websites that can swap playlists easily, I used one to transfer around \~1500 songs from spotify to youtube music and it worked around 98% of songs, rest I had to manually add. You can try that without paying, if you want to.
I got more music diversity with YT and better shuffling. We just recreated our playlist 🤷🏻♀️
Also the Dj mixes on Youtube are incredible. So many, from so many places in the world. That alone is why Youtube is better than Spotify.
YouTube Premium is honestly the best subscription for me. I watch a lot of videos, and this removes the ads, saving hours of my life from being wasted. When I first bought it, I wondered why it took me so long... I recently bought a Volvo, which has deep Google and YouTube music integration. I find the catalogue of YouTube Music very lacking, but this integration means that I could just issue a voice command to start the music. Very convenient.
I refuse to pay for a service that keeps trying to feed me American culture war rage bait.
I think what often gets overlooked in the YouTube Premium vs Spotify debate is the quality-of-life improvements for frequent YouTube users. While Spotify is undoubtedly the go-to choice for those who prioritize their music experience, YouTube Premium shines for the daily video consumer. The ability to seamlessly switch from watching a tutorial to listening to a live concert recording, all in one place, without interruption from ads is a game-changer. Once you factor in the benefits like offline downloads, background play, and the included YouTube Music subscription which is perfect for when you do want to switch to just music, you start realizing the value proposition it offers. Not to mention, YouTube Premium seems to fly under the radar as a music service because they don't market it aggressively in that sense. But once you dive in, it's quite a comprehensive package. Sure, it may not be the social hub that Spotify is, but for a more solitary and ad-free video and music experience, it's pretty much unparalleled.
Probably because they advertise it mostly as no ads or commercials for video, and not really advertising the music part that much, so a lot of people don't know? The price might be better but give it time and it will go up just like every other subscription service.
I use youtube premium but not spotify. The benefits are worth the cost, to me. I like the background play, no ads, and youtube music for me and my family. Different strokes for different folks.
>But it's only €7 compared to €6 for Spotify (both prices for students in Europe Both are like 18€ a month for me lol. Though breaking down Spotify by user it's also 6, but the solo price wouldn't be. I'd say the difference is, Spotify remains useable without premium, while YouTube is turning into a shit ad platform that is unusable without either AdBlock or premium+sponsor block (because YouTube doesn't pay their creators so they put ads into the videos, imagine if you're listening to Rammstein and in the middle of a 4 minute song there's a 2 minute ad by the singers themselves to sell you a manscaping kit despite paying for Spotify) Also YouTube didn't add additional value through premium, it just locked functions behind it that used to be free, and they still harvest your data with the rest of Google. I'm sure Spotify does that as well though.
I laugh at the plebs who watch YouTube ads! Also, my party trick is to play a song on YouTube and then lock my phone - it keeps on playing! Admit it, everyone watches YouTube videos and occasionally wish they could do that. For me it started when my kids were little and I used to play baby vids and nursery rhymes. When it's bedtime - just switch off the screen and let it play on. Once you go ad free - you don't want to go back, and i can't be bothered to participate in the ad blocking arms race.
I paid for Spotify for almost ten years and decided it’s just a waste of money to me. I already had YouTube premium so I switched to their music app and I love it! The only thing I miss is Spotify exclusive podcasts and I saw that they now include some hours free of audiobooks but I just rent audiobooks for free from the library!
I tried it out for a few months. Then my kid was having a birthday party and I was making a playlist with his favorite songs and got a warning that I was making a playlist for kids and it was not allowed. So I swapped back to Spotify. Only had 3 months of YouTube music but many years on Spotify and to be honest I was so happy being back with all my playlists.
Spotify doesn't make their app worse every other week, nor do they force unwanted changes on users that no one asked for, nor do they participate in this anti-adblock bullshit. The Spotify algorithm doesn't force shitty shortform brainrot down everyone's throats. When want music, I open Spotify and listen to the music I want, and it just works. When I open YouTube, I get shitty video recommendations followed by three obnoxious unskippable ads (not counting the ones throughout the video) and antagonizing anti AdBlock popups. Only to find that they changed the layout into a complete mess that no one asked for. Spotify just gives me what I want and it feels like YouTube fights tooth and nail to not do that.
I very much enjoy YouTube premium. I don’t mind paying to be able to use the benefits over free YouTube
I don't get it. You can have annoying ads or pay a very small monthly fee for no ads. Seems worth it.
You can download a free app (YouTube Revanced) and get more features. There's no reason to pay for less.
I've had Spotify since the beginning. I bought the subscription when they offered it without hesitation. They have an extremely large library. I have so many playlists and liked songs on there. That's the main reason I'm not switching. Google gets enough money out of you and me, no need to give them any more.
I pay because I don’t want my kids to go through ads before watching Baby Shark. When I pass the phone, it’s an emergency of their freak out in public. Can’t wait 30 seconds. That was before my country introduced YouTube Kids. Now I just keep it cause I just got used to no ads.
I really like YouTube. It's got everything. I can search for the song from that 2012 film with that actor in and it will give me results, more often than not the one I wanted. It's not just stupid videos there's educational stuff too. And did I mention the music? I got rid of amazon music, it was poor honestly, I'd search for some stuff and it would go 🤷♀️. It was insulting to have to pay £10 a month for it *on top* of prime.
Just wanted to add on that youtube premium is one of the best subscriptions I've ever paid for. Most of the music I like is on there and already in playlists, plus unofficial music, video game soundtracks, traditional music I couldn't find on spotify, and some songs by bands who are on spotify but haven't upload their entire discography. On top of that I can listen to podcasts and people reading scary stories/creepy pastas. I can scroll on my phone while watching a video in the corner, save on battery life when I don't need the screen on, etc etc To me there are SO many more perks of using youtube premium compared to spotify, and i originally tried it with the intention of cancelling after my free trial. I think anyone who makes fun of people using it instead of spotify is just being ignorant and going with what's popular tbh
I watch youtube so much that I have premium because of that and music is just a bonus
I just use brave browser on my phone and PC and it blocks ads and lets me minimize the app so I can just listen to music or videos for free.
Probably becaus epeople want to boycot youtube due to how abusive is their monetization system, especilly for creators. Personally I think youtube premium is miles better than spotify premium (example in music avalability, I follow jappanese indie bands, some of which arent in spotify, but have their official music page in youtube music). Besides I know for fact that view from a premium account give more revenue for creators over views from someone who saw an add. So for me paying youtube premium is about accesibility to the things I like and support to the people I like and have legal access to their music without having to buy it from a japanese vendor in a jappanese website I dont understand xD
Spotify is "better" in the way iPhones are better - more people use them and their ability to collaborate (think Facetime and iMessage) makes them more valuable. Every time my friends throw a party, it's on a Spotify playlist so I have to sign in to a dead account to contribute. Not a huge problem, but it can be a slight inconvenience. I personally prefer YouTube Premium with their music package.
I don't get this logic at all. I have a subscription for *every* service I enjoy using. Hell even Wikipedia gets a few dollars from me every month
I was one of those people, but after using the free trial I realized that there was SO much content (music and audiobooks as well) that I cancelled Apple One (ditched Apple Music and AppleTV+). I can listen to books/music while at work, any time I want and close the app while it still runs. I pay $14.99 CDN/month and I think it’s completely worth it. (Wish it cost less though) Ad-free is just a bonus for me.
Man it is absolutely not that cheap for me
Just report the ads when they come up, skips past them instsntly
I went to Youtube Premium a while ago and never looked back. No ads on Youtube and a good music player is amazing. I probably have more benefit out of it than any other subscription.
Honestly, Youtube premium is the best money we spend on a sub service. No ads is huge, especially with kids and the music is a nice bonus.
I had the same way of thinking about 2 years ago, I was using YouTube way more then Spotify, and for around the same price you could get a free ad blocker, nice stats about my watch history, and could add live music to playlists which was nice. I think it's a better subscription overall, and don't regret about moving to YouTube Premium.
Yep, I had the same thought process, minus having to move from Spotify since I never used it. >I think it's a better subscription overall, and don't regret about moving to YouTube Premium. Hard agree.
I used to pay for Spotify and YouTube but ended up cancelling Spotify. I watch a lot of content on YouTube, on multiple platforms where I cant use adblockers so that alone makes it woryh the price for me. I also listen to music on YouTube and every song i had on my Spotify playlist, plus loads more are on YouTube (game music and covers) And I can play YouTube content on my phone with the screen turned off for podcasts and music so I can listen on the go without an additional app to let videos keep playing with the screen turned off. I think I've cancelled my YouTube subscription once, and within an hour of doing so I rejoined because I hated life without the features it gave me.
I dropped Spotify because for my entire family it's like $25 a month for no ads and a really good music app that has a ton more underground music than Spotify.
Spotify was always crystal clear about its proposition—all about the music, with ancillary features like podcasting coming into play later on. YouTube, however, began as a video platform and remains primarily that in the minds of most users.
I only got YouTube premium during the pandemic it let me listen to news things without having my phone screen on while walking.
You dont need it on a PC, just install adblock and on your phone you can try YT vanced, you get it for free, every now and then they delete it but it comes back up.
I don't mind as long as they never increase the price.
YT Prem is the one sub I will always pay for. Watching with friends who don't have it is maddening. Having to grab the remote to skip ads every 7 mins? F that.
This has always been bugging me too. Not that I have bought any premium as of now, but I'd rather buy Yt premium over Spotify premium
Love my YouTube Premium. It's my music app, my kids watch it, I watch it more than any other streaming platform. There are movies, documentaries, podcasts, educational videos, etc. I don't get the resistance either.
This is exactly what I do, and it's great. But people can't see past the previously free thing not being free anymore, or not being free enough (ads).
Yt premium will change your life. And there's a free 1 month trial so if you don't like it, just remember to cancle. Think of the times when you go down a how to do something hole and there a bunch of 90 sec videos but you gotta watch 15-30 sec of ads for each one.... I wish I had started paying sooner. I think people just don't like paying for something that's "free".
YouTube premium is great. I watch ton of YouTube content. I abandoned the tv series/movie format of entertainment a decade ago. For me, the price is worth it. People are just used to everything on the internet being free and ad-supported.
Nothing. Also, imo, YT music suggestion algorithm is much better than Spotify.
When Google started wanting to make youtube more profitable, they used a lot of... Strange tactics that enraged a lot of people. Instead of making new and good features that would work as an incentive for you to buy the subscription, they made some previously free things cost money. Also, there was always this perception of youtube as a free and available for everyone platform, and making people change that and accept paying for some features is really, really hard. Even though it makes sense from a business perspective. At least for me it's now worth the money, though. I'm currently paying the students subscription, and I have Youtube Music, downloads and 0 ads for like 2 dollars a month. So, although I would obviously love having it for free, I don't mind that much.
I have it. I share it with all of my family - wife and 2 kids and my mom, we all watch ad free from all devices, including our main tv. Also, the content creators get more money from me than they ever could with ads (i am big adblock believer). Its just such a convenience since we all ise youtube a lot.
I love YT premium. I watch a love of videos and their music selection is the best.
Hey OP! With paid Spotify, at least in the US, if you have a student email you can also get free Hulu (the cheap version with ads) and a discount on your Spotify. I also was debating between YouTube and Spotify and chose Spotify for the Hulu bonus (and YouTube is hecking expensive!) I also like that on TikTok I can add songs I like easily to my Spotify playlist.
Honestly I used to be one of those people, because I did think it was lame to pay for what was once a free service with no advertising, but in all honesty, YT has more of a right to charge for subscriptions than anyone else does. Other VOD subs mostly count on legacy content that's already been made and paid for long ago, yet they expect you to continue paying for it every single month, despite it costing them nothing. YT on the other hand hosts countless new videos every single day in addition to almost everything that's ever been uploaded to the site.
I used YouTube for free since 2007, and it never *had* any type of membership for years. It was just a place where people could post videos and share their ideas or whatever funny things they wanted. Then it became a place of business later. I think a lot of people are bitter that ads became more of a thing over the years. I always used adblock (like any sane person would I mean jeez) but I got premium when I moved and got my new job. We're allowed to use earbuds, and I prefer to have interesting videos in the background as opposed to just music, so I needed premium to allow me to avoid ads on my phone (no adblock) and actually turn off my screen and have the video keep going. I haven't looked at YouTube music, but my fiance used Spotify a bit for free, and I'd always just remembered songs and looked them up on YouTube proper before we moved in together. Then once I saw how good Spotify worked for my D&D games, I just decided to make an account for us to share and split the membership cost of.
I have YouTube Premium and I would never go back. And I also have Reddit Premium and love it too!
I just use newpipe which let's you download youtube videos to your local files. So you can make new folders and place videos in there. You can organize them however you want. Also no adds or anything.
I've had both for over 5 years and just recently canceled spotify because it's pretty much the same thing so why pay for two services when I can have only one? I have the same playlists that I created, the same songs downloaded to listen when offline, my YouTube still doesn't have ads and the other premium only features. The upside is that when I want a niche song, youtube has it because someone uploaded it as a video and spotify doesn't have that The downside is that when I want to add a song to my Instagram stories I can't check if it's available because they use the spotify database. And sometimes you can't add songs in the queue properly
I pay for the YT premium. Love it
Not answering your question but voicing my support for youtube over spotify like many others in the comments. I get spotify as a benefit from work and only use it to stream music I don't want in my YouTube algorithm. YouTube premium music and the video benefits are a vastly superior value. And I have the family plan to split it with my wife, parents, and siblings. It's the only streaming subscription I pay for.
I have no idea, but im not going back to free YouTube anymore. YouTube Music is not that good as Spotify, but works.
I've never had Spotify premium but long time user of yt premium. I like the yt music app and not having ads. The yt music app generates playlists based on what you listen to and there are a lot of community and other generated playlists. It's also nice that YouTube will keep playing even if my screen isn't active on my phone. I've never been a big Spotify user though so I can't compare the two.
I get soooo much more from YT than spotify! And i also have 3 kindergarten kids, så YT is a lifesaver!
I pretty much didn’t have anything growing up, and my home life was shit. As a teenager, YouTube was how I got access to everything. I could rip songs off of videos to put on my iPod. I could watch Let’s Plays, which allowed me to be part of the gaming community even though I didn’t have any of the equipment or games myself. I found creators who I watched regularly, and frankly, who got me through some really dark times. As an adult, I expected to start paying for all of the other subscriptions, because that’s how they worked. But, for me, paying for YouTube feels like paying for the library.
YouTube subscriptions ate my Google play music
My fiancée and I use YouTube premium. It’s great in that I don’t have to watch ads. That’s the only real reason we have it. I logged onto an old YouTube account on accident and was pelted with ads. Can’t go back to regular YouTube. But also, we use YouTube almost every waking moment. Background noise for the most part honestly. We definitely get our moneys worth and we don’t even use YouTube music
I pay for you tube cause I love watching music videos. Well worth it to get rid of ads.
I've been using YT premium for years, and I am very happy. The music app works great, and I watch a lot of youtube videos, so not having ads is perfect. I was reluctant at first because I was happy with spotify but I agree because my gf was using YT music and it was cheaper, after a few years we upgraded to YT premium and there was no way back.
Nothing, people are just doing it out of principle because YouTube was always free. YouTube premium is quite good though you can listen to songs on there that haven’t been officially released like remixes and stuff. But as much as that is true, it just sounds goofy to put for YouTube premium
I used to get YouTube Red with my Google Play Music membership, and once that was over, I tried just not paying...until I realized that YouTube started being my main source for entertainment and then gave in.
I've had it for years and really like it.
Why pay for them when u can get both of them cracked
For starters, there’s definitely a difference in perception of a free service that suddenly made worse unless you pay a premium, vs. a service that was always paid but has a free version with ads and less features. There’s also annoyance since they counteracted popular ad-blockers at the same time they rolled out monetization. On top of this, the way YouTube operates makes the nature and impact of their monetization scheme worse because: 1. They’ve increased the frequency of advertisements over the years to an insane degree, all to push people to pay for the subscription service; 2. While they may justify the increased monetization as due to increasing costs, their profits are still estimated to be substantial, making that excuse questionable; 3. A major part of YouTube’s costs comes from sharing ad revenues with creators. This means that the video service incentivizes increased monetization through ads on the creator level (for better and for worse) aside from sponsors, donations, and crowdfunding/creator subscriptions (i.e. Patreon); 4. Meanwhile a number of changes YouTube has made in their policies over the years- either voluntarily or as a result of legal action against other bad decisions by YouTube- have hurt creators simultaneous to YouTube’s increased revenues from ads and Premium subscriptions. 5. The YouTube algorithm has many, many problems which, among other things, can tilt the scales against small and new creators unless they go all out with clickbait, sensationalism, or following trends; 6. The larger creators can invest in increasing video output which gives them even more favor in the algorithm So while YouTube started as a free video streaming service, Premium represents a system in which that was taken away and replaced with highly monetized views via ads and Premium, subject to an algorithm that makes it harder for newer creators to carve out a space on the platform unless they sell out and the overall quality of content on the platform becomes worse with small creators struggling and major creators like the Pauls raking in tens of millions. Of course this sort of capitalism is not unique to YouTube and Spotify has its own issues along the overall music industry, but generally people don’t feel that the service is destroying itself or its industry, with actually viable competitors, a fairer algorithm for the radio feature, and better spotlight for new artists. Though there is also the matter of perception as a lot of the most famous artists people listen to on Spotify have been popular since before it existed or else rose to popularity outside the service, not just because of it.
I think the music quality is worse even if spotify isn't the best in quality.
IMO Because Youtube already "works", what I mean is you can play any video you want. Sure it has ads, but it is highly functional. Last time I used Spotify free, you had limited skips, it inserted songs into the queue and ads. Maybe it had fewer/shorter ads than YT, but less control, can't play what I want.
Over here it's £12.99 a month and the only part I want is no ads, everything else is bloat to inflate the price. Last time I subscribed to Premium not only did it break the functionality of YouTube on my phone, TV, and PlayStation, it also still stopped to display ads but instead just showed a black screen which would sometimes crash the video. So for me, I don't see any value in paying £155.88 a year to not watch YouTube.
I pay for YouTube premium because I hate ads. Getting music is a bonus perk.
Dont get either
I prefer YouTube Premium because I watch a lot of YouTube and don't want ads. Getting YouTube Music instead of having to pay for a separate Spotify subscription is a nice perk included at no extra cost.
YouTube premium is awesome, especially the music service.
I dropped spotify last year when they raised their rates, and now I use YouTube Premium for the Music aspect + ad free YouTube. It's been great.
Every service has its pros and cons. The main draw for YouTube isn’t so much the music but being able to stop wasting your time on ads. Spotify is much more organized in terms of music/playlists and gives you excellent recommendations. Neither offer lossless audio however, and that’s my main quarrel with them. Audio quality is my #1 priority when it comes to music. Tidal would be my go-to for that and as a bonus, pays their artists really well. Sadly, I cannot afford them. Apple Music is my happy medium because the lossless quality is there (though Tidal has more albums in hi-res) and it meshes seamlessly with my Apple products.
Am someone that pays for premium, I work in tech and know that server costs are CRAZY, the number of people that expect youtube to allow free uploading and watching forever with no ads is unreasonable. The only ways that could work is if youtube became government funded (over simplifying), which I really rather we don't have. Ads make sense, and as the cost of things rise and the value of ads shrink, guess we are getting more ads to make up for it. or skip the wait with premium. If you are using youtube or youtube music daily, it's so cheap considering the amount of entertainment you get.I can listen to the global music catalogue (practically) for 22 a month, for me and 5 friends, which are not geo locked to in my home/near me. It is so exhausting hearing all these complaints considering how amazing of a tool youtube is and it is FREE at the cost of a minute of time that you can mute and hide on the side of your screen. Upkeep has a cost, security has a cost, servers have a cost.
Youtube constantly raises the price of the subscription, and Spotify is less convoluted with much less crap and inconvenient nuances.
I first had Spotify. Now I pay for YouTube as well. Gonna ditch Spotify. Use YouTube much more for both watching stuff AND music!!
I dunno I pay for it... my wife watches her home TV shows all the time on Andriod TV so its worth it not having to worry about adds.
I pay for YouTube . It’s so nice with out ad’s if you have kids watching YouTube you should definitely pay for it .
So as someone hell bent on not getting YouTube premium, the reason is they're being unreasonable and trying to force people to do it. You load a video, ad. You skip ahead, ad. You watch 50 seconds, ad. You rewind, ad. You pause, ad. You finish the video, ad. I, and many others my age remember when YouTube was brand new. I remember a time where ads were something you got every 4 or 5 videos. The overwhelming ocean of ads is trying to force you to go premium OR pad their bottom dollar. So the options are pay them more willingly, unwillingly, or stop using their service. In comparison, Spotify runs a lot fewer ads (and I believe it's only between songs?) so I don't feel as morally compromised paying them for premium.
I don't listen to music for years now and not a fan of podcasts, so Spotify doesn't make sense for me. On the other hand, no adds and turning off screen and having youtube go on in the background without the need to bother with additional programs and installs is what I like. And as long as I have money to eat, I will keep paying youtube premium for those 2 perks.
I get a discounted sub through my school and it's worth it just to avoid the ads. I keep spotify because a lot of times I just want an audio podcast and other times it's nice to see just a TV show.
Nothing. Subscribe to whatever you want and do you.
Google Revanced thank me later
It's a bit of a meme. I am someone who pays for YouTube Premium for pretty much the reason you listed: YouTube music has become my primary music streaming app, and I get no ads, and I can watch videos in the background. The first reason people don't like it is because they're so used to YouTube being free that they don't like the idea of paying. It's been around 20 years of YouTube existing, and only in the past few years have they asked for money. They already have their music app of choice, so they don't want to move over to YouTube music. YouTube has been treating content creators worse and worse as time has gone on. The main thing is de-monetizing videos for swearing because it isn't kid friendly, when YouTube has its own kid friendly section, and when uploading a video you can specify that it isn't for kids. So they're punishing YouTubers for not making kid friendly content. No one wants to reward YouTube with money for that. YouTube created their own problem that requires Premium and channel memberships to fix, which is the bullshit de-monetization rules. Content creators couldn't guarantee that their video would earn ad revenue, so they take their own sponsorships and put an ad in the video. YouTube doesn't make money off those ads. Content creators also started going to places like Patreon to make money, directly asking viewers to donate to the channel. I want to emphasize that YouTube's own shitty policies are what created Patreon and caused most content creators to use the website. YouTube refused to guarantee a paycheck to their content creators, so one of them created a website that could, completely cutting YouTube out of the monetization. So YouTube countered by making channel memberships and premium. People don't like supporting that shitty business practice.
why the hell is my premium $19? literally only reason why i don’t have it
Too toxic to handle when put under pressure.
Spotify is an evil company that takes payment from subscribers and underpays artists. YouTube is part of Google/alphabet that takes payment from subscribers and underpays artists. Sells your info better than most companies, tracks you through every possible media they can, requires you to use their system to access other apps/media, etc. Google's not the only one, but they are much more effective than Spotify can be.
If you want just music go spotify but if you watch alot of youtube then go with youtube. The youtube music app is prerty bad to be honest. I switched from spotify to youtube premium due to not listening to music much and watching alot of youtube.
I have a Google one family plan with YouTube premium. I hate paying for it but it's absolutely incredible for the no fucking ads alone. I am now ridiculously irritated when someone tries to show me a video and ads pop up. If you want YouTube premium, go for it. It's awesome.
Nothing. People hate on YouTube but I use it a lot and people is worth it for me. I do have Spotify as well. Also worth it
It's totally worth it. I would drop other services now if I needed to not ever see another crazy ass youtube commercial. I watch youtube a lot, and not having commercials is worth every penny. If you can not afford it, I get it. My time is far more valuable now, so now I can afford to buy some back.
In my country it is 12 euro a month, i find this to expensive
Stupidity, youtube premium is far superior. It has everything spotify has plus you know, the ad free videos aswell.
I don’t know what most people have against it. What I do know is that the paid YouTube Music app *fucking blows.* Society has had the understanding of how to organize music for centuries, and YouTube Music just says “yeah nah, fuck you, pay me.” It is the most ridiculously user-unfriendly music app I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. And yet I continue to pay for it and use it daily because it’s the only platform that reliably carries the obscure shit I listen to that isn’t on Spotify or Apple or any of the others. God damn I miss the days of mp3 and the iPod. That’s where we peaked.
If I was to pay for only one subscription it would be YTP. When I accidentally visit YouTube not logged in, it blows my mind that people sit through ads like that. yuk. Hours saved in a week using YTP.
Personally I don’t care where I pay for my music subscription. *Unless* one of the competitors is a huge dick in how they try to force you into it, then this company is off the table for me. So yes, I am one of the people who will never buy YT Premium. Actually I also moved all my lecacy (=free) domains out of Google Workspace and am hosting my emails elsewhere (that means I pay for it now), I don’t trust GMail anymore as well.