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To celebrate its 10-year anniversary, YouTube Music is unveiling a slate of new features that double down on discovery, community, and fan connection.
From collaborative playlists to real-time concert alerts, the Google-owned platform is clearly eyeing Spotify’s turf of feature offering. Leading the charge is Taste Match, a social playlist that merges the listening habits of two or more users into one personalised feed. Think Spotify Blend, but with YouTube’s massive music video archive and algorithmic reach behind it.
Additionally, a new concert discovery tool has been thrown in the mix, built with Bandsintown, that pulls local tour dates straight into artist pages, Shorts, and even music videos. And for the superfans, loyalty badges like “Top Listener” and “First to Watch” now appear across profiles and comments, bringing a new social layer to the streaming experience.
“These updates are just the beginning of our next chapter at YouTube Music where we’re focusing on bringing fans even closer to the artists they love,” wrote T. Jay Fowler, Senior Director of Product, in a recent blog post.
With a library topping 300 million tracks and over 4 billion user-made playlists, YouTube Music’s latest moves arrive as an indicator of the platform’s readiness to play harder in the streaming wars.
