YouTube Launches Premium Music Service, Challenging Spotify and Apple
*By Alisha Haridasani*
After a series of stops and starts, YouTube will launch a music streaming service later this month to compete directly with Spotify and Apple Music.
The ad-supported YouTube Music will be available to users for free, and an ad-free version, YouTube Music Premium, will cost about $10 a month. There will be a mobile app and a desktop player designed to stream pre-programmed playlists, personalized music suggestions, live performances, and music videos, according to a [statement](https://youtube.googleblog.com/2018/05/youtube-music-new-music-streaming.html) from YouTube.
To consolidate its various video and music products, Google will include access to YouTube Music Premium for Google Play Music subscribers at no additional cost.
In addition to the standalone music product, YouTube is re-branding its music and video YouTube Red service as YouTube Premium. The ad-free subscription service will go from $10 to $12 a month, but it includes the new ad-free premium music service.
YouTubes official entry into the premium music streaming business has been a long time coming: More than 1 billion users a month already use YouTube to “discover new music.” A [study](http://www.ifpi.org/downloads/Music-Consumer-Insight-Report-2017.pdf) published in 2017 estimates that YouTube accounts for 46 percent of time spent online listening to on-demand music.
The leading premium music streaming service, Spotify, has 75 million paid subscribers and is expected to hit 96 million by the end of the year. Rival Apple Music [reportedly](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/apple-music-hits-50-million-subscribers-1112018) has 50 million paid and free users.
GM exceeded earnings expectations, yet still felt the chip shortage squeeze. Baron's Senior Writer Al Root discussed GM's segue into the electric car car world despite its struggles.
The freight industry has its newest unicorn. Flock Freight recently reached the $1 billion mark after recently raising $215 million dollars. It comes during a watershed moment for the global shipping and freight industry, with the pandemic and other issues leading to the ongoing supply chain crisis.
Flock Freight and its shared truckload service may be a solution. Flock Freight CEO Oren Zaslansky joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Cannabis tech company Dutchie raised $350 million in Series D Funding in October, and Ross Lipson, CEO and co-founder, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about how the funds will be used to grow the business. He noted that attracting the best talent, research and development, and expanding the brand's international reach are among the top priorities with this latest round of funding. Lipson also provided a breakdown of how his company "powers a dispensaries operations" through point of sales and e-commerce transactions.
Cloud data management company Informatica made its market debut on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol INFA. Shares ending the day even after opening at $27.55. with shares priced at $29 apiece.
This is the second time the company has gone public after being founded back in 1993. Informatica then went private in a $5 billion deal in 2015. Now, the company is reentering public markets as a subscription business with a push to the cloud. Cheddar News welcomes CEO of Informatica, Amit Walia, to discuss.
It's no doubt that the pandemic has been tough on the job market. According to the Labor Department, a record four million people quit their jobs in April. Now, a new survey from Oracle is touching on mental health and how employees are demanding more from their work lives. Juergen Lindner, SVP of global software for SaaS at Oracle, joins Cheddar Wellness to talk about the findings.
