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YouTube Music takes over: Google Play Music transfer tool is out

You can finally transfer all your settings, likes, recommendations, taste profiles and everything else from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. Here’s how it works, and how it went for Iyaz — who’s been using Google Play Music since 2014 — when he tried it himself.

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You can finally transfer all your settings, likes, recommendations, taste profiles and everything else from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. Here’s how it works, and how it went for Iyaz — who’s been using Google Play Music since 2014 — when he tried it himself.

73 Comments

  1. Aarsh Parashar

    May 12, 2020 at 6:37 pm

    Waiting for Google Play Movies & TV death and it getting replaced with YouTube Premium.

  2. Russell Mondy

    May 12, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    Where’s RECENTS? Will the YouTube Music app “watch” my iTunes folder on my Mac? C’mon guys, if you’re gonna compare the apps, compare ’em.

  3. Paul Costa

    May 12, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    How does this interface with the Google Assistant and Google / Nest Hubs?

  4. Michael Orth

    May 12, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    YouTube Music shuffle feature is AWFUL

  5. Alex

    May 12, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    Still no casting to Sonos?

  6. Roger Clark

    May 12, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    It will not yet play in the background. Once you open another app, Youtube Music stops playing.

    • Solidcancer07

      May 12, 2020 at 9:44 pm

      Is this also true for music that is user uploaded?

  7. A Light

    May 12, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    🌟Am I going to be able to play my off line music under the lock screen just like the current Google Music?(iOS)

  8. Jose M. Leon

    May 12, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    We knew this was coming. So long ago 😭 I ditched GPM and got used to YouTube Music 😕

    • Jose M. Leon

      May 12, 2020 at 7:34 pm

      Still missing the feature that lets you look up a song playing.

    • Tranquility Base

      May 13, 2020 at 1:23 am

      The music identifying feature is still a Google function, it’s just a part of Google Assistant called Sound Search. If you have android you can separate Sound Search into a simple widget to place anywhere on your homescreen.

  9. Yahir Hernandez Flores

    May 12, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    Why don’t they make the 2 and call it Google musci

  10. Angel Isaias Araujo Cardenas

    May 12, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    Hi, I saw your video, and I heard that you talk with someone from YouTube Music, can I ask you something? Can you asking to that person form YM ¿why YouTube Music isn’t available in Puerto Rico in 2020? There’s a lot of people here waiting for that service, I hope you can help us here! Thanks

  11. jaheimRakim

    May 12, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    I haven’t got my email yet but as long as I can transfer my 5k song collection and keep my Playlists. I’m good.. I just wish they built in an EQ in YTM

  12. Bill Williams

    May 12, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    So, lemme get this straight. I can only do the transfer when I receive the email? I’ve checked the YouTube Music app settings and do NOT see the option to transfer music. Thanks!

    • Solidcancer07

      May 12, 2020 at 9:52 pm

      That seems to be the case, yes

  13. nuyou21

    May 12, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    Google Play Music to YouTube Music, it really doesn’t fill you with confidence for this either. Well, I guess that’s another failed Google project for their graveyard of shame. 🤦‍♂️😂

  14. iyaz akhtar

    May 12, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    FAQ on the move (answers directly from Google)
    Q: Can you bring your purchased music from GPM to YTM?
    A: Yes

    Q: Can you still download your purchases in MP3, 320 Kbps in a web browser?
    A: You can still do this from GPM, but for YTM the only option at the moment is to export all your purchases

    Q: Can you play YTM in the background without a premium charge?
    A: On smart speaker devices you can, but not currently on mobile devices.

    Q: Does it mix the thumbs up playlists from both together?
    A: Yes

    Q: Will YTM “spam our music with commercials and ads in between songs?”
    A: The YTM free tier does have ads in between songs, but if you are playing your uploads and purchases they will be played ad free

    Q: Will YTM bring back play counts?
    A: No plans for that.

    • Solidcancer07

      May 12, 2020 at 9:56 pm

      Cheers for the update Iyaz. I’m a bit peeved that I wont be able to play my own uploaded music in the background without premium 🙁 nor be able to individually download playlists for offline play it seems

    • Paltron

      May 13, 2020 at 12:36 am

      @Solidcancer07 I’m pretty sure if you’re just playing your uploads, you can do it in the background without premium

    • egc128

      May 13, 2020 at 5:25 am

      Only web uploads in youtube music is 👎🏼

  15. Jamie Dickie

    May 12, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    Has there been any mention of a Wear OS replacement for Google Play and when that might be expected. I don’t see a native Wear OS Youtube Music app.

  16. midwestmonstar

    May 12, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    All Of This Info Is Fake I Have Both Apps Long Time Google Play User And There Is Nothing In Either App That Says Transfer Music

  17. Ciborium

    May 12, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    YouTube Music is *really literally* HOT GARBAGE compared to Google Music. Every streaming music service in the world is better than YouTube Music. YouTube should be ashamed of what it is doing. YouTube should also be ashamed of YT Music.

  18. Zach Greeley

    May 12, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    Better question why do they want to take the name Google off their music app?

  19. James Allison

    May 12, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    I was super skeptical at first but I find YTM really grows on you.

  20. Geo Ramirez

    May 12, 2020 at 11:25 pm

    ok i been a og GPM user I upload all my own music almost reaching the 50k limit, so after I transfer ill still have all my own uploaded music ? will i be able to upload to YTM like i did with GPM ? Im just scared it will get erased or something. I also already pay for YT premium

  21. Paul Cotton

    May 13, 2020 at 12:02 am

    They are doing this because YouTube music pays artists less than google play music per stream. More of google bs.

  22. Justin Dufrene

    May 13, 2020 at 12:32 am

    I downloaded my GPM uploads to my PC and uploaded them to YTM a few months ago. A lot of them didn’t go through which sucked . I sure hope it doesn’t duplicate the tracks

  23. ErikTheRed

    May 13, 2020 at 12:45 am

    I hate you google with your cannibalistic nature. Every time I like an app you kill it.

  24. Owen Iozzio

    May 13, 2020 at 1:06 am

    Alter Bridge!

  25. Rd Bull

    May 13, 2020 at 1:22 am

    One issue I discovered when I recently downloaded YouTube Music. In Spotify, I have playlists of kids songs for my young ones that we listen to in the car. But in YT Music, I can’t save these songs to a playlist due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Even though I’m an adult, who pays with a credit card for a YT premium subscription! So for me, that’s one strike already,

  26. Slappysan

    May 13, 2020 at 5:36 am

    Not being able to play music I uploaded to GPM (free) in the background is a major no-no. So YTM is still awful.

  27. egc128

    May 13, 2020 at 5:44 am

    Youtube music is getting better but no upload manager for computer is bad. Supported file formats for uploads include FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WMA is good.

  28. Stefan Borisov

    May 13, 2020 at 6:38 am

    I’ve been using YouTube music since December of last year and it just keeps getting better and better 👍

  29. Goopy Le Grande

    May 13, 2020 at 7:21 am

    I can edit metadata and download uploaded mp3 files in google play music but I can’t do those things in youtube music…

  30. Nathan Donnelly

    May 13, 2020 at 7:31 am

    Will GPM users still get download music without a YTM premium subscription cause that’s what I liked about GPM

  31. Bryan Escalante

    May 13, 2020 at 8:15 am

    Main reason why I like about Google play music is the fact that I can listen to music without having to pay a premium and listen to podcasts and radio stations … And now that they’re killing it … Those features aren’t going to be transferred to YouTube music … Well it was fun while it lasted guess is going back to putting music on the memory card on my phone …

  32. Insatiable Woman- TAP ON MY PHOTO

    May 13, 2020 at 8:23 am

    i did not get that 💋 👆 🎈

  33. Sudipto Kumar

    May 13, 2020 at 11:13 am

    What will happen to the songs I brought for Google Play Store?

  34. Omar Zahran

    May 13, 2020 at 11:41 am

    I’ve really tried to get on board with YTM, but I’ve been on Spotify ever since Google announced that they would be sunsetting GPM. I want YTM to be great because of being able to get YT Premium as well, but Spotify just feels so much more polished and usable to me

  35. Rafael S

    May 13, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    O que estava procurando. Obrigado!
    Acho que é somente pra alguns países!

  36. Paul T Sjordal

    May 13, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    Why can’t they do this automatically for all Google play music users? Why makes us do this extra step?

    This reminds me of when Microsoft tried to get everyone to use Groove.

  37. Rafael S

    May 13, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    …Não gostei muito da última atualização, tá muito cara de spotfy.

  38. Dan Hammond

    May 13, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    What happens to the music and playlists already added to YouTube music previously before the transfer?

  39. Team Black

    May 13, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    Rip…

    4 years from now
    Google :YouTube Music is going offline

  40. lmnopaul

    May 13, 2020 at 2:54 pm

    I’ve had a ton of anxiety about this, but looks like I have nothing to worry about. thanks for your info!

  41. Cory Chang

    May 13, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    I played around with YouTube Music but it looks like unless you pay for the Premium version, you can’t play your music with the phone screen off, which seems strange.

  42. Mark

    May 13, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    youtube music cant even properly shuffle a playlist and they are gonna do this?

  43. Joedon Bean

    May 13, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    Do you have to pay subscription fees to access your downloaded music now?

  44. Mark Shellard

    May 13, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    I love Google play music. I’m having a terrible emotional reaction to the move. My least favorite thing is having my music searches show up on regular YouTube. I don’t want to see my music history on regular YouTube.

  45. Rashaad Lawson

    May 13, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    What?! Transfer to the YouTube music? Say isn’t so, Google!

  46. jody plank

    May 13, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    I can’t find that option to transfer in settings. I don’t have the option to update ytm ether. I only want this because there’s a few songs on ytm I can’t find on gpm 🙁

  47. GeekChic

    May 13, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    How do you delete playlists from YT Music without deleting them from your regular Youtube playlists????? I’ve taken the time to curate specific videos into playlists with corresponding themes in my regular YouTube app, but they’ve all shown up under playlists in YT music. You can’t play any of them cos they’re regular videos, which is fine, but i don’t want all of those alongside my music playlists, but when you delete them on YT Music, it also deletes them on your regular YouTube app 😡. I want my playlists on regular YouTube separate from the music playlists on YT Music. If this isn’t possible, buh-bye. I’ll just go to Spotify full-time.

  48. sshah93

    May 13, 2020 at 11:41 pm

    I have always hated Google Play Music, it likes to detect any audio file on my phone, even from whatsapp, which really messes up with its shuffle feature, because I end up having whatsapp spam interfere with my shuffled playlist. I willl try YT Music, but if it does the same, then F* it m done with any android music player.

  49. Richard Hay

    May 13, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    There’s still some problems with the app and streaming playlists. It gets confused and will play one song and then revert back to the previous playlist. Also, some albums and songs are missing from YTMusic that are on Google Play Music. Bryan Adams Reckless and SuperTramp Breakfast in America have tracks that are available

  50. Justin Greene

    May 14, 2020 at 1:34 am

    I can’t help but have unfounded fears of Content ID affecting my library. That doesn’t mean I’m worried because I have a bunch of pirated music. It means I’m worried about songs I bought on Amazon Music and uploaded to GPM. Or songs from OCRemix or songs I ripped from old vinyls.

    Thanks Iyaz.

  51. Darrell James

    May 14, 2020 at 4:10 am

    I’m guessing there is no podcast in YouTube music? So I guess I need to download the separate google podcast app?

  52. ALLAN garcia

    May 14, 2020 at 4:35 am

    Why isn’t there a option to see play count? I find it useful for seeing what my most played songs are 🙁

  53. Rebel-TM PSN

    May 14, 2020 at 5:23 am

    Looks like I’m one of those people that has to wait on this stupid merge.

  54. Gua

    May 14, 2020 at 8:25 am

    So my youtube playlists and music playlists will be in a same place?

  55. Ad Den

    May 14, 2020 at 9:13 am

    im still happy with my Sptify

  56. Robson Umdenstock

    May 14, 2020 at 9:44 am

    Need sleep timer on YT music

  57. Anand Ammathil

    May 14, 2020 at 9:50 am

    But i have a question. How to sort my playlist 👀 in yt music?

  58. Creative Dragon

    May 14, 2020 at 9:54 am

    I really don’t like YouTube music 🙄 wish they could just leave my google play music alone.

  59. N .A

    May 14, 2020 at 10:29 am

    This is terrible news!!

  60. buellreaucracy

    May 14, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    Started using GPM in 2011. Tried YTM last year and didn’t like it. Guess I’ll be using Spotify now.

  61. John Sprofera

    May 14, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    So just to be clear I’m not paying for any subscription now at Google when I transfer over to YouTube is this going to be free?

  62. Michael Sendelbach

    May 14, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    Why did Google not just update GPM app to YTM. Why the need for a back end transfer. Couldn’t the new app just access the same backend databases and display it differently? I must be missing something.

  63. summoner2100

    May 14, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    Ugh, this sounds terrible. It sounds like exactly what Apple did with iTunes and having your collection sync in with their store service. Why can’t we just have a player app that plays local and online without “sync”… I’ve got my music, I don’t want to sync it into any collection. This is why I loved the Groove music app from MS. I wish they hadn’t dropped the app at least. The service for buying I understand, but the app was brilliant.

  64. Marcus Young

    May 14, 2020 at 8:32 pm

    It’s taking them FOREVER to allow u to transfer music, what like 3 yrs now?! And I STILL can’t transfer

  65. LochNESSie Monster

    May 14, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    So I’m pretty old school, because I loved my CD collection and knew I wouldn’t be able to find a lot of it through music apps. I have almost 5,000 songs either from CDs and purchases from iTunes(which I am subscribed to) all of which are stored on iTunes on my laptop, also on my laptop is Google Music manager which works pretty seamlessly with itunes, then I have Google music app on my phone(which is Android) I have no paid subscription to Google music, it’s just holding all my music. Any time I got music on iTunes it immediately showed up on my phone which I loved. It doesn’t seem like I’ll have that with YTM. Will I have to buy a YTM subscription? I have so many more questions.

  66. Mike Zarka

    May 14, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    Not seeing a “transfer” button

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