YouTube Music Adds Discovery, Personalisation Features to Gain an Edge Over Spotify, Apple Music

YouTube Music’s three new features: Discover Mix, Release Mix, and Your Mix Additions aim to improve the streaming platform’s functionality and convenience.

Almost three years after launching YouTube Music and 18 months after revamping the service to compete with Spotify and Apple Music, Google is now replacing its default Play Music app with the YouTube Music app on new Android phones. The move is to improve the streaming platform’s functionality and convenience. While most of the apps do the same basic things, playing unlimited ad-free tunes on a long list of supported devices for a monthly fee, it appears that advance music discovery features and personalised playlists are helping Spotify and Apple Music stand out from the crowd.

Now, YouTube Music looks ready to cover lost ground with Discover Mix, New Release Mix, and Your Mix additions. The tools are a part of the platform’s brand new version, outlined by Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, at a conference in San Francisco. However, the New Release Mix feature has been available for many users for quite some time now, while Discover Mix started rolling out a couple of weeks ago in a public beta testing. According to Mohan, all three playlists will be widely available in the coming weeks, aiming to put a whole lot of great music for users.

Instead of manually searching for new music, premium YouTube Music subscribers will be able to visit an enriched “Mixed for You” section of the app where these three tools are featured. Discover Mix will combine tracks from artists you already like with similar tunes from singers and bands you may have never even heard of. On the other hand, New Release Mix will focus on new songs and albums that you might enjoy based on your listening habits and history. Your Mix, on its part, is a combination of the other two playlists, with both new and old stuff from well-known and lesser-known artists.