South Africa among first countries to lose Google Play Music

Google has announced the phase-out plan for Google Play Music — with South Africa being one of the first countries that to lose access to the music streaming service.

The phase-out is part of Google’s replacement of Google Play Music with YouTube Music.

Starting in September, users in South Africa and New Zealend will no longer be able to stream from or use the Google Play Music app, the company says.

The rest of the world will see this phase-out start in October.

YouTube Music will fully replace the music streaming service by December 2020.

Part of the phase-out starts in late August, however. Users will no longer be able to purchase, pre-order, upload, or download music using the service.

How to transfer from Google Play Music

For users who want to keep their playlists, Google has introduced a transfer option that will be available until the end of December.

The transfer option lets you move your music libraries, including purchases and uploads, to YouTube Music.

At the end of 2020, users will no longer be able to access their Google Play Music libraries.

You can access the transfer tool on the YouTube Music website. While logged in with your Google Account, you can transfer your library, liked and disliked songs, music recommendations, and stations.

Depending on the size of your library, this can take a few hours.

If you don’t transfer accounts, Google will cancel your subscription at the end of your billing cycle, the company says.

Some users may prefer to move to another music streaming service, in which case there are a variety of streaming services to try out locally.

These include Joox, Deezer, Apple Music, and Spotify, among others.

Recently, Dolby even introduced a streaming app for musicians.

Feature image: Google