YouTube's subscription service delayed to 2014

If you’ve been waiting to see how YouTube’s subscription music service was going to function, the wait just got a little longer for you. Reports have suggested that the service that was rumoured to hit town by the end of this year will not be breaking on to the scene any time till 2014.

AllThingsD has reported that the paid service by YouTube has been delayed to next year. Now even while there is no specific date set for the launch of this service, you can expect to see it sometime in Q1 of 2014, if all goes according to the plan. The report suggests that while YouTube and Google have all the requisite licenses ready for the service, the company seems a little dissatisfied with the product itself.

Oops!

The delay seems to be a new development, it has been suggested, with nearly everyone associated with the subscription-based model of YouTube believing that the paid service would go live by the end of this year. The most interesting bit about this is that YouTube has still not acknowledged that such a service exists or is on its way. “We’re always working on new and better ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving partners more opportunities to reach their fans. However, we have nothing to announce at this time,” a spokesperson said.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

However, traces of the subscription service coming soon have been found scattered all over YouTube’s mobile app for a while now. Repeated APK teardowns do confirm that the app is all but on its way now. Recently, hints of a “Music Pass” too were found in the Android version of YouTube, fuelling rumours about a service that provides “no ads on millions of songs,” background playback and offline syncing.