If you own Google Home speakers, or any other Google Assistant-powered speakers, then you can now access free ad-supported YouTube Music on it. In response of Amazon launching a free, ad-supported music streaming service for Alexa-powered devices, Google launched free YouTube Music for its speakers yesterday. The service is available in select markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and Australia.
If you already own a Google Home, you can enjoy this free service through account settings, and choosing YouTube Music as the default music player. From there, you can easily say “Hey Google, play techno” (or whatever mood or genre you’re looking for). Unfortunately, this free service does not allow you to request specific songs, albums, or playlists. Instead, the free version of YouTube Music will play a station based on your requested mood or genre.
As always, if you already subscribe to a premium YouTube Music account, then your streaming services are on-demand. This free YouTube Music tier is meant to compete with Amazon’s free ad-supported music service on their Echo devices and with more established services, such as Pandora. Looks like the music streaming business just got a little more competitive.