YouTube has announced that YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music by the end of 2020.
In a blog post, YouTube said that YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music by December 2020. Users will have the opportunity to transfer their music libraries from Google Play Music to YouTube Music in that timeframe.
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. However, YouTube will still keep playlists, uploads, purchases, likes, and more until December 2020. Users who wish to transfer their music libraries (via the YouTube Music app) from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, can do so through December 2020, after which their Google Play Music libraries will no longer be available.
Starting in late August, users will no longer be able to purchase and pre-order music or upload and download music from Google Play Music through Music Manager.
To ensure users don’t lose any of their content, they’ll need to use a transfer tool to migrate any purchases over to YouTube Music or use Google Takeout to export data and download their purchased and uploaded music. Once the Music Store is no longer available, users will continue to be able to upload any tracks purchased elsewhere to YouTube Music.
Users will also have the option to delete their Google Play Music data and will be notified before they lose access to their Google Play Music library and data.
