Music Key update: launch delay, and All Access bundling

Music Key web promo splash canvasIn an initiative marked by repeated long delays, it is perhaps unsurprising that Music Key, YouTube’s new music subscription service which was supposed to start today, has been pushed back to tomorrow. What’s one day, after 13 months of waiting since the news first broke as a rumor last October? The first official affirmations of the new plan had it launching in the summer.

In other Music Key news, it is widely reported that a rumored subscriber connection between Music Key and Google’s audio-only subscription service, All Access, will indeed happen. All Access subscribers will automatically be in the first wave of Music Key users, as the service gradually rolls out in beta mode. Some All Access users reportĀ receiving Music Key invitations by email — but not everyone, yet. It could be that those emails are going out incrementally, and only a portion of All Access subscribers will be included in the Music Key launch on Tuesday.

As we reported and reviewed last week, a free version of Music Key is now universally available on the YouTube website and mobile apps. It carves out a music-only experience within YouTube, and introduces genre playlists in addition to personalized recommendations.

Brad Hill