YouTube Music is now available in South Africa for R59pm

YouTube Music is now available in South Africa, this after Google confirmed the news in a press release late Tuesday.

The service was first teased in late 2017, when it was dubbed “Remix”. It officially launched in May 2018 under its current moniker, but failed to debut in any African countries.

YouTube Music is the company’s latest answer to Spotify, offering a free ad-supported tier and “hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube”.

And like its green Scandinavian rival, YouTube Music also has a Premium tier, which allows users “background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience”. This will fetch R59.99 per month — the same as Spotify. A Family Plan will cost R89.99.

And as for features, the service employs a number of previously used design elements from Google Play Music, including dynamic playlist recommendations based on time of day or location and specific mood-related playlists.

Read more: Here’s why Google thinks doubters will love YouTube Music

Google also mentions a new “Offline Mixtape” feature which “automatically downloads songs you love just in case you forgot to”. We’re not sure how this will work with South Africa’s mobile-data using public.

Additionally, there’s also a Smart Search feature available which Google claims will find any track “even if they can’t remember what it’s called”.

“Users can search for descriptions, lyrics and even emojis to find the tracks they want to listen to. Smart Search is available in most languages, including indigenous South African languages such as isiZulu and isiXhosa,” it adds.

For now, Google Play Music and YouTube Music will remain separate apps and separate services, but those currently paying for the latter will receive Premium access to the former.

“Eventually we plan to replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music but not before we support key [Google Play Music] features,” Mich Atagana, Google South Africa’s PR head, tells Memeburn in an email.

YouTube Music is now available to download on the Play Store for Android and App Store for iOS.

Feature image: Google/YouTube