Google Play Music Will Be Totally Phased Out Later This Year

The app is scheduled to be replaced by YouTube Music in December

BY Allie GregoryPublished Aug 4, 2020

In an ongoing effort to merge its music streaming entities, Google has announced the official end of Play Music — its current music streaming app — in favour of YouTube Music. Play Music is scheduled to meet its end this winter, with streaming capabilities slated to be killed off "in the coming months."

While the merger to YouTube Music won't officially happen until December, Play Music users will begin to see changes to their streaming abilities as early as September, according to a statement from earlier today.

"For Google Play listeners that have not yet started the transfer process over to YouTube Music, now's the time," the company warned.

"Starting in September 2020 in New Zealand and South Africa — and in October for all other global markets — users will no longer be able to stream from or use the Google Play Music app," the company wrote. "But don't worry, we will be holding onto things like your playlists, uploads, purchases, likes and more until December 2020 to make your transfer to YouTube Music easier."

Subscription prices won't be affected, but it remains unclear how services will change on the new platform. Additionally, while Play users will have the option to transfer their libraries to the new platform using a "transfer tool," Google has yet to release a statement concerning the fate of free user libraries.

That said, it's probably in your best interest to make sure that your "Charter Boat Fishing" tracklist is backed up somewhere in the meantime. 

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