YOUTUBE TO LAUNCH STREAMING MUSIC SERVICE

YouTube is expanding from video to music with a new service called Music Key, which is expected to challenge Spotify, Pandora Beats Music, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services to become the leading online music provider as well as complement Google Play Music All Access, also operated by YouTube parent Google. Google said today (Thursday) that it will offer the service to a select group of heavy music users for a six-month trial — it’s calling it a "beta" — in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. "We want YouTube to continue to be the best place for fans and artists to connect. We want fans to be able to connect with more of the music that they enjoy, and artists to have more opportunities to connect, as well as more revenue," YouTube’s music content partnerships boss, Anjali Southward, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper. The service will provide higher-quality audio than YouTube’s current music service and will be free for those willing to listen to advertisements and $8 a month for additional features — including no ads. But analysts have expressed doubt that the service will attract many paying customers.