Right now, the state of Google's music streaming services is a bit of a mess. Google Play Music is the company's most notable player, but you can also listen to tunes and watch music videos via YouTube Red. If you're on mobile, you can separately download the YouTube Music app that also comes with a Play Music/YouTube Red subscription. This jumble of services isn't the easiest to understand, and to fix this, Google might replace them with YouTube Remix.
This is a rumor that first popped up back in December, but according to a new report from Droid Life, it's said that Google will shut down Play Music following the launch of YouTube Remix. It's unknown how quickly the domino effect will happen, but users will reportedly be forced off of Play Music by the end of the year.
It's unclear at this time if playlists, liked songs, and saved local files will transfer over to YouTube Remix, but I've got to imagine Google's got some sort of system in place for making the transition as seamless as possible.
If YouTube Remix replaces Play Music, what'll happen to YouTube Red?
YouTube began signing deals with record labels for Remix towards the end of 2017, and just before this year's SXSW, a representative from the company confirmed the service was in the works but wouldn't launch in March (which it clearly didn't).
If YouTube Remix will replace Play Music, does that mean YouTube Red will stick around? What about YouTube Music? I personally think Google's best bet would be to kill off the YouTube Music app entirely and just house Play Music and YouTube Red's offerings under the new YouTube Remix branding, but they could also choose to go an entirely different route. This is Google we're talking about after all.
Google I/O is set to begin on Tuesday, May 8, and in my eyes, that's as good a place as any for Google to officially unveil what it's been working on.
