​YouTube Music needs to avoid its Play Music mistakes with podcasts​

YouTube Music makes sense in a world where computers decide what we can do for fun. After all, YouTube has long been associated with fun online activities and a spot where people listen to music and find new acts. Using this strong name for a specific music service made sense, even if it meant getting rid of Google Play Music. But Google made a lot of mistakes during the move.

​YouTube Music needs to avoid its Play Music mistakes with podcasts​

The Rise of Podcasts

First, let’s talk about podcasts. The renowned platform of Podcasts covers various topics, including news and comedy. A study from Edison Research says that almost half of the people in the US regularly listen to podcasts. Over a hundred thousand people are just in the US.

In 2003, one of the earliest podcasts was released by Doug Kaye with a show titled IT Conversations. The idea behind it came from RSS feeds posted on a blog, much like how the New England Patriots run their internet radio show. While IT Conversations was similar to other shows, episodes could be downloaded to an iPod, which made them a completely different type of media.

In 2005, Apple established a distinct Podcast category on iTunes, a move spurred by the concept’s popularity as additional episodes emerged. Since then, podcast trends have seen a hike in their growth.

Google Play Music

Keep Google Play Music in mind. It was an excellent, steady music streaming service that was easy to use. When we initially started using streaming services at the start of 2012, we uploaded all of the MP3s to it. The original concept for the service was to provide a cloud-based location to save all of your music files, making them accessible from any device. You may compare it to an iPod in the cloud from that era, except for the podcasts.

The service quickly grew when Google Play Music All Access came out in 2013. You could access a vast library of millions of songs, playlists, and records with this $9.99 a month plan. Google tried to make a music streaming service like Spotify, and it was great because it had great suggestions and a beautiful interface.

Google added podcast support to the service in 2016, just three years after the first launch. People learned about it only because it was hard to find podcasts in the library’s menu. Google was trying to hide that it had included podcasts in the service. The Google Play Music app didn’t get me to listen to podcasts. There were a lot of better apps out there for podcasting.

Then, in 2018, Google released Google Podcasts. Two podcast applications wereGoogle suddenly acquired, but only one made it evident that it was created for podcasts. With the launch of YouTube Music in 2019, it was sure that Google Play Music could not compete with YouTube Music. It was because YouTube Music kept talks and music separate. First, we must discuss the unfortunate changeover from Play Music to YouTube Music.

What went wrong with the Google Play Music Transition

Google Play Music was announced to go away simultaneously as Google launched YouTube Music. Diverse opinions were voiced. An older version of YouTube Music had a significantly smaller collection of features still there today. People who made the transition had to get used to a new navigation system, fewer artists to choose from, and a too tight integration with YouTube (via shared history and playlists). Your uploaded music exists independently of the streaming library, which continues to make accessing it more difficult even in the current day.

The service appears good now, but many users believe Google hurried the switch and only provided much-needed enhancements to YouTube Music after it became impossible to ignore the app as a prior Google Play Music customer. Most people already used Spotify at that point, and Apple Music was taking a big chunk of the streaming market. But it was hard for some people who had been using the service for years and had shared songs and their whole music library.

Google Play Music does not meet the standards. Although the well-known Google Play Music All Access membership used to let you listen to music ad-free, it now charges extra to let you watch music videos on YouTube. Using Google Podcasts was entirely free. You can choose between three apps if you use Google and want to listen to music or other audio content. Many people have good memories of Google Play Music, which is a concern. It’s mainly because Google needed to improve at handling the change.

Google treated podcasts as if they were a stepchild all that time. The rapid rise in popularity of podcasts, despite their existence for almost a decade, surprised the corporation. The company needed to learn how to handle them because they hid them in Play Music and then made a different app. Many podcasters also posted episodes to YouTube so listeners could listen to them there. However, listening to an RSS podcast on YouTube was previously impossible.

Lessons for YouTube Music podcasts

Smooth Transition Process:

An Android phone’s music home screen, as seen through a clay pot.

Google has said that Google Podcasts will no longer be available and will move to YouTube Music in September 2023. In April of 2024, the standalone podcast app will be discontinued. A more successful YouTube Music podcast could be possible if Google learns from Play Music’s and Google Podcasts’ mistakes.

One thing the business needs to do is make sure the transfer goes quickly. When Google Podcasts finally goes down, its listeners will still have access to all the great features and controls in the Podcasts app. Power-user features like choosing a specific podcast’s playback speed are part of this.

The consistent flow of updates suggests that YouTube Music is moving correctly. However, some functions don’t need to be made available. There are few customization choices for things like listening speed, automated quiet trimming, marking episodes as viewed, downloading levels, and direct RSS feed subscription (though the latter is on the way). Google has a limited amount of time remaining to address them all.

Exploration and Personalization

The most important part of the user experience has to be finding another. It is something that Spotify excels at for a lot of people. But YouTube Music is going up against something other than Spotify. Many separate podcast apps have clean interfaces and superb search features. Interestingly, Google Podcasts is one of the smoothest and most organized. The accessibility of podcasts on YouTube Music should be prioritized by Google, along with all of their other services, including Google Podcasts. They won’t work if buried in a mess, like with Google Play Music.

Differentiating Podcast Interface from Music

It is why music on YouTube Music and podcasts on the same platform require distinct user interfaces. Pictures on the cover of a song or mix can give you a general idea of its kind of music. A thumbnail makes it easy to decide whether to listen or scroll down. On the other hand, podcasts are unique. Many go into great detail about challenging, historical, technological, or politically charged problems. A brief explanation and space for their titles are required.

YouTube Music seems to rely on the podcast episode’s title to get me to listen. It was far more practical when the previous Google Podcasts program allowed a few lines of text to accompany each episode.

Spotify’s Evolution

You can always find new podcasts on Spotify. Captions that run across the bottom of many thumbnails now play videos and give you an idea of what the show might be about. There’s also a short piece of writing next to the radio episode. If Google were to use any of these concepts for their YouTube Music podcast area, I wouldn’t be upset.

Long-term Commitment

Google also needs to do it, but it may not be. Google must show us that YouTube Music is here to stay, including podcasts. Because Google has let us down so many times. Some of these are Reader, Google+, and Stadia. People are leaving their music app for YouTube Music, but Google needs to show it’s serious before people do that.

Conclusion

YouTube Music could beat Spotify and other big players with podcasts, but Google needs to show it’s serious and learn from its mistakes. It will be necessary for YouTube Music’s reputation and long-term success in the changing streaming market that they can successfully navigate the podcast environment. Time will tell if Google can turn YouTube Music into a severe competitor after suffering past failures.