Say goodbye to Google Podcasts, you’ll be forced to use YouTube Music by 2024
Google has announced that users of the Google Podcasts app will have to migrate to Youtube music later in 2024, as part of the broader efforts to transition users and listeners to the new all-in-one app.
Google has previously stated its intention to help podcast creators through its YouTube service, revealing plans early March 2022. This includes a dedicated podcast section on the video and streaming site, complete with thumbnails, timestamps and various playlists. There’s also the option to integrate RSS feeds for podcasts, with users able to upload their own feeds to YouTube by the end of 2023.
To ease the migration, Google stated that it would make YouTube Music “more of a destination for podcast fans with features focused on discovery, community, and switching between audio podcasts and video,” according to TechCrunch. This is similar to Spotify’s own efforts to support video podcasterswhich started in 2022.
This feels like a repeat of what happened Google Play Music, which was permanently closed in favor of YouTube Music in December 2020. Users had a limited time to transfer uploads, purchases, added songs and albums, personal and subscribed playlists, likes and dislikes, curated stations and personal taste preferences before the old app was closed for good.
Why YouTube Music is a smart and anti-consumer service
Google is clearly trying to make YouTube one of the most important best android apps on the market. While this push for YouTube Music seems anti-consumer to me, Google clearly has plenty of financial incentives to do this.
For example, Edison states that “approximately 23% of weekly podcast users in the US say YouTube is their most used service, compared to just 4% for Google Podcasts.” It makes sense to fully convert that last percentage of users into a revenue source for the new service, and make this step as attractive as possible by offering new features and tools.
Of course, the same functions and tools could also have been offered in the previous app4.
As a former Google Play Music user, I remember discovering after switching to a new phone that I would no longer have access to a digital album I bought in 2011 unless I switched to YouTube Music. But unlike Play Music, YouTube Music doesn’t have a free tier, which meant I had to pay Google to access a product I purchased.
Being forced to switch to a service that requires a fee is great for business, but not so great for users.