YouTube releases invites to Music Key Beta

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

YouTube releases invites to Music Key Beta

Following up on the release of an update to the YouTube app on Android this week that added access to the new Music Key service, Google is now issuing invites for people to be part of a Beta of the paid version of the service. Although some thought Google Music All Access subscribers would be the first users to get invites to the Beta program, it appears Google is spreading the invites around to other YouTube users.

The Beta program is a chance for users to get a taste of the features available when paying for a subscription to Google’s new YouTube based music service. Beta access will last until January 3, 2015 when Google will fire up the service in earnest. It is not clear what will happen to users who receive an invite when that date rolls around. Presumably they will have to go ahead and sign up for a subscription to maintain access.

If you don’t get an invite to participate in the Beta, you can still give the YouTube Music Key a try by signing up now for a subscription that runs $7.99 per month. You will get access to the service for free until January 3rd when billing will commence.

The subscription service will provide three primary benefits to users:

Ad-free music videos – for those users who enjoy watching music videos, they will be able to do so ad-free. If you get an invite and participate in the Beta access program, you will notice YouTube replaces the red note logo with an ad-free banner.

Music video downloads – if you frequently find yourself without Internet access but still want to enjoy music videos, or at least the music, the new subscription service will let you download videos for viewing when offline. Depending on how important the video part is to you, it is possible to choose a lower resolution so as to not have to download a large file.

Background listening – finally, users will be able to access a new “Background Listening” feature in YouTube. This lets users continue listening to the audio portion of videos even after their screen turns off.

If you are one of the lucky ones to get an invite to try the new Music Key beta, you will see an offer when you fire up YouTube after getting the update. Anyone out there receive an invite and giving Music Key a try?