If You're Already Watching You Tube Daily, This Subscription Swap Just Makes Sense

Overview

If you're already watching You Tube daily, this subscription swap just makes sense

Subscriptions are everywhere these days, and it feels like only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to paywall the air we breathe. On top of that, the prices just keep going up, with companies ratcheting monthly costs up as much as they can without causing mass attrition. Over time, it adds up, and subscription juggling is a fact of life for many consumers. You might pay for a month of Netflix to catch the last season of Stranger Things while putting your Disney+ on pause until The Mandalorian and Grogu hits the latter service.

Details

But there's one subscription some people might be able to cut, at least those who spend a good amount of free time watching You Tube. Google's ubiquitous video platform was once free, but charges a subscription these days in the form of You Tube Premium for users who want to avoid ads and gain access to a slew of user experience improvements.

What you might not have realized is that a full-fat You Tube Premium subscription, which costs $16 at the time of this writing due to a recent price hike, also includes unlimited access to the platform's music streaming solution, You Tube Music. What that means for at least some heavy You Tube users is the ability to ditch a separate subscription to Spotify, Apple Music or another music streamer.

The trade-off isn't right for everyone, though. Whether You Tube Music is fit for your needs depends largely on how much you value the features it lacks compared to the competition, as well as how willing you might be to let the platform logic of You Tube dictate the music you listen to. Here's how You Tube Premium with You Tube Music compares to your existing music service, and how to figure out whether that single subscription is a better deal for you.

The first thing you should know about You Tube Music is that it does not have a high-resolution library, even though that feature has become basic table stakes for the competition. Spotify, which dragged its feet on high-res for years, finally added its own lossless capabilities last year (it's not bit-perfect lossless, but if you're splitting that particular hair, You Tube Music isn't for you and you can safely stop reading this article). However, lossless audio is a relatively niche feature that you can't truly take advantage of without audiophile-grade playback equipment. If you listen to music on your Air Pods via an i Phone, you're not getting lossless playback in the first place.

You Tube Music tops out at 256kbps in resolution, which absolutely will be noticeable to some ears compared to the 320kbps other services offer before tipping into lossless quality. The bottom line is that, if you already listen to music on You Tube and haven't had an issue with the sound quality, You Tube Music will suit you just fine in that regard.

You Tube Music has niche features you can't get elsewhere

But the logic of You Tube gives You Tube Music one major edge: its user-uploaded library. In addition to most of the same major label offerings you'll find on pretty much any modern music streamer, You Tube Music is home to the largest user-uploaded collection of hard-to-find tracks in the world. That leaked single your favorite artist never officially released? You Tube Music has it. That set from Coachella you'd do anything to experience again? Don't bother looking on Spotify  — You Tube Music has you covered and it's no coincidence You Tube was the official streaming partner for Coachella in 2026. Speaking of the Drake and Kendrick beef, all of the songs from that kerfuffle went up on You Tube far in advance of their arrival on other streaming services as both emcees self-uploaded their disses to one-up each other in real time. The ability to add those kinds of tracks to your existing playlists is a structural advantage no competing service can match. Ditto for music videos because, you know, it's You Tube.

You Tube Music also includes a robust podcast library, including many audio-forward offerings that only exist on Google's platform in the form of user-created video essays and documentaries. Even among widely syndicated podcasts, a number of them can only be watched in video form on You Tube. That gives the platform an edge up over Spotify, although big green has put a heavy focus on bolstering its video podcast library in recent years, and an absolute win over Apple Music, as Apple users must get their podcasts from the separate Apple Podcasts app.

Because You Tube Music was born from the ashes of Google Play Music, it carries on its predecessor's functionality as a cloud player for your own, local files. Its two primary competitors also allow local uploads, but they'll lump your MP3 files in alongside streaming tracks in your library. You Tube music splits everything out, so you can isolate your uploads and browse just those songs by artist, album, and so on. If you're still in possession of a digital music library from the i Tunes or Napster days (how do you do, fellow kids?), You Tube Music is a great way to continue enjoying them without wasting storage space on your smartphone.

Swapping Spotify for You Tube Premium isn't right for everyone

If all you got with a You Tube Premium subscription was the platform's music service, it wouldn't be worth replacing your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But you're also getting a better experience on You Tube itself. Getting your money's worth from You Tube premium is easy if you're an avid user already. In addition to never seeing a pre-roll or mid-roll ad ever again, you can skip your favorite creator's sponsored segments using the Jump Ahead button that intelligently skips you over portions of a video that other users also tended to skip. Then there are perks like background play and offline downloads that let you take more control over where and how you enjoy You Tube videos.

It's that combined value which makes this comparison worthwhile. You Tube Premium is not cheap at its new price of

Key Takeaways

• If you're already watching You Tube daily, this subscription swap just makes sense

• Subscriptions are everywhere these days, and it feels like only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to paywall the air we breathe

• But there's one subscription some people might be able to cut, at least those who spend a good amount of free time watching You Tube

• What you might not have realized is that a full-fat You Tube Premium subscription, which costs $16 at the time of this writing due to a recent price hike, also includes unlimited access to the platform's music streaming solution, You Tube Music

• The trade-off isn't right for everyone, though