Youtube Premium

Google Music was my go-to music streaming service, then they turned it into Youtube Red, then they changed it to Youtube Premium. So for me, I pay for a great music service, and I just happen to never see ads on youtube.
- Same, there's more music than spotify and the max quality isn't too dissimilar and notably both max out above "CD quality", which is what 95%+ of albums are released at
  Also the recommendation algorithm (IMO, as this is where it gets subjective) is far superior to any alternatives - it's actually a really good deal especially when you use it a lot - I've averaged 3.3h of music per day for the past 3 years, so I have no issues whatsoever paying for it
  
  Back in the day I did a blind test between Google Music and Spotify and it wasn't even close. Google was significantly better. They also let me upload lossless files which is a great bonus.
  
  Yeah, youtube music is great especially if you like remixes and new EDM/Electronic stuff since all of that launches on youtube before any where else. I'm setting up a playlist for someone who uses spotify and I'm using a syncing tool. A bunch of times some songs couldn't sync because they don't exist on Spotify, that alone is a deal breaker for me on spotify.
- I switched from Spotify because their personalized mixes and radio stations stopped letting you thumbs down songs. I got sick of hearing the exact same crap on my mixes. And no matter how many times I fucking skipped it, my metal mix would always play Mother by Danzig early in the playlist. No matter what I actually listened to, my "personalized" mixes always had the same crap on it. Thumbs down a song on a mix or radio on YT Music? It goes away forever.
  
  Deezer also played the same few songs over and over. YT Music even has a mode to only play songs that i don't have in my likes. Awesome.
- When I got married I joined my wife's Spotify family plan so I cancelled YouTube Red (it was around the time they were killing Google music)
  After the first round of ads in YouTube I decided to keep my old subscription. They even let me keep my grandfathered plan since I only lapsed for a couple of day
  Also I travel a lot and download videos to watch while on the plane and I believe that's a premium feature
- Yeah, the people who had the music subscription are the winners in this situation since they get ad-free YT for just a fraction of the cost. If you were only subscribed to Premium to get rid of the ads, you now also have to pay the bundled music subscription you don't need, which sucks.
- They took away my grandfathered plan when I signed up for pixel pass. I regret my decision. Since they beheaded pixel pass like everything else.
  
  Everyone's grandfathered plans have been removed this year, so it would have happened either way.
  
  Fun fact:
  If you use a VPN to put your location in a less expensive country like India you can sign up for YT Premium at a significantly lower rate (like a dollar or two a month)
  You'll need to use a credit card you haven't used with Google before and look up a legitimate address for that country to use as the billing address.
  Once you've completed the sign-up you no longer need to use a VPN to fake your location and you can just use YT Premium as normal, but at a much cheaper price point
- Check out InnerTune or ViMusic

I've got it and like it AMA
- Do you think everyone not paying is poor or greedy or entitled?
  
  No.
- I just hate the idea of paying so much not because great features but Google having beaten me into submission by taking away free features and introducing shitty stuff to force me to pay.
  
  To be fair I never felt like Google beat me into submission. I pay for it because I consume so many hours of video that subscribing makes sense and gives some small amount to the creators I watch. That amount was zero before I subscribed, since I was blocking advertisements.
  That said I do see the frustration. I don't think they've gone about it in a great way.
- Would you still pay for it if at some point google were to decide to add ads, even if less intrusive than in the free version?
  
  If I have no way to remove ads I would block them. If payment doesn't remove ads, I'll unsubscribe and block them.
- What do you feel about giving your money to a company that truly doesn't deserve it and can fuck up its customers whenever they can? Even more when you can get YouTube Premium features easily for free with a proper adblocker on PC (I mean, it is possible yet), Revanced on an Android phone, and Smart Tube Next on an Android TV setup box or capable TV (just to name a few options, especially of my setup).
  
  Whether they deserve it or not isn't in the calculation. They provide a website I use and provide me with a way to bypass their god awful ad placements while still providing a small amount of funding to those who create content on the platform. It's not ideal, but it's the web environment we're in.
  Going the free route is of course possible, but this one "just works" and doesn't need anything more to than YouTube itself. Like I've said to another person: if there was no way to pay to remove ads I would just block ads. But my time is more valuable than my money. I don't look down on those who do not subscribe. It's what makes sense to me.
- No one cares
  
  No one cares that you don’t care
  
  That's a weird question!

I have YT Premium and I really don't mind paying. I watch a LOT of YT and making sure the creators I follow get paid for their work is important to me.
- People will say the amount they get paid is miniscule but I'd say it's better than nothing when you use an adblocker. Plus I also get YT Music.
  
  YT Music is the GOAT. Their client is a bit sucky tho.
- Patreon seems like a good alternative to support the creators.
  
  I do both.
- YouTube premium isn't the way to make sure the creators get paid, since you're sending that money to YouTube first. It's way better to donate them directly or buy their merch etc.

I have it and enjoy it. It pays the creators and I don't see ads. So don't speak for me, please. Also, you need a reality check on what actually matters in life.
- It's crazy how people advocate for a free (as in freedom) internet with as much privacy as you want, then in the same breath tell you how they're entitled to content without paying.
  
  A lot of channels exist as a natural extension of an already existing business. I'm not going to support Google and the mass dregs that create clickbait garbage and predatory content that takes advantage of the algorithm in order to make as much money from ads as possible.
  Not all content deserves to be monetized. Google isn't entitled to make money by simply hosting reaction videos and hyperbolic political commentary.
- I do the same. It's the main way I watch tv. Not just to support the content creators, but also as a way to aggregate all my "mainstream" interests in one place. From one app on my TV I can catch up on sports highlights, late night comedy clips, and my favorite music festivals, back to back ad free. And that was just last night
- Same, the value I get from it through YouTube Music is significant. It's also barely more expensive than Spotify in my region so it's a no-brainer.
  Though I still use ReVanced to get SponsorBlock and other UI fixes.
  
  Yeah, YouTube has issues (dislike removal, demonetization policies, etc) but premium is not as bad as people treat it.
  I would actually be even more bullish on it if premium disregarded any demonetization of videos (edit: in terms of paying creators for the view)
  Edit: also I would wish any data collected from premium users is limited to improving the user experience and not for improving ads
- No, it isnt pays. You pay to google with your data, and your money too. And later you will pay in same way for gmail, search, etc... shearing <--🐑🐑🐑🐑

Actually it's quite the opposite, some of my friends are considering buying YouTube premium and even people on the other social media sites are advocating it as the "only good subscription".
- Plus one. Switched to it from Deezer as i couldnt listen to everything i wanted.
  Am happy. Never had ads before but supporting the few youtubers i watch also feels good-er

Ever since I unsubscribed, I get at least 1 pop up a week begging me to come back.
If you wanted to keep me, Google, you should have done a better job of remembering what "grandfathered plan" means.
- If you use ReVanced, NewPipe or FreeTube you won't get these pop ups :)
  
  Tried to get ReVanced on my phone, but I don't really feel like giving up the features walled behind SafetyNet by going through the trouble of rooting, and for the non-root option I didn't want to have another background process always running only for it to sometimes not work anyways.
  My main use of YouTube is casting to my TV to watch videos in bed, so alternative apps aren't really viable either. If this were me 10 years ago when I actually had time and interest in tinkering around, I might be all for it. But these days, I just don't have the time or patience to play the cat and mouse game with Google to avoid ads. I just try to reduce my YouTube consumption instead.
- what was your grandfathered plan? I'm still paying $10/mo
  
  It's going up next month
  
  I was paying a family plan which was $15/month back when I subscribed during the Google Play Music days, with the guarantee from Google that my rate would not go up for being an early adopter.
  About this time last year, they sent emails saying "Hey, so we know we told you your rate wouldn't be going up, but...it's going up to $23/month. But as a 'we're sorry' gift, you can still pay the lower rate for two whole months after we increase it for everyone else first! See? You're still our favorite."
  I switched to Spotify out of pure spite and pay less now for a Duo plan.

I got it for the music streaming app and ad-less YouTube + some free movies. It's great.
Please don't ask me anything.
- Same we got it for music and the rest is just bonus
- I originally justified the cost of Premium by changing from paying for Spotify, which kept letting me down with playlist limitations--a playlist of 500+ songs would actually only shuffle about 60. YouTube Music also has issues with prioritizing an artist's popular songs, but is much better overall.
- Had it for nearly as long as it's been a thing. I only remember I have it when I get a new phone and haven't logged in yet.
- Yea I use YouTube a ton so it’s easily worth it for me
- Me too. The music app layout online and mobile are both absolute garbage. Kept Spotify anyway.

I was part of the Initial YouTube Premium (YouTube Red anyone?) So I havent had to see ads on any of my family devices in YEARS. Back when Google Play Music was included with it. Such a freaking bargin back then, bailed on Spotify immediately.
I realize that that stupid little choice has changed the way I consumed content. I don't watch traditional media nearly at all anymore. Same for my siblings and cousins who're on my family plan. I also like the fact it more directly supports the creators I come back to week after week.
The price increases have been a lot, and I'm fortunate to be able to pay for it. As my sole streaming platform I pay for, I find its worth the value. That DOESNT mean I agree with the scummy policies they've been implementing. It just sucks that with my conintued payment it sort of reflects the idea I am.
- I'm glad I'm not the only one. I get more value out of YT Premium than any other streaming service.
- I've also been with Premium since the YouTube Red days. It was nice to have peace of mind of no ads on my TV (didn't need PiHole) and mobile devices (iOS was wrestling with device adblockers for a while). I was grandfathered into the old pricing model until recently. It's still not that bad per person, but if they raise it too much more, I'm gonna bail.

Not gonna lie, I have cut a bunch of subscriptions but youtube premium is the one I tried to cut and couldn't fucking do it. Even before the ad block debacle. It was impossible to block ads on mobile (where I spend most If my youtube time) . I tried new pipe but that experience honestly sucked. THE ADS ARE FUCKING ABSURD. Like literally unusable fucking garbage. I've had premium for years and got spoiled I guess but if I couldn't afford premium youtube would go into the graveyard of the 2023 internet enshitification along with Netflix and reddit. Even $30 a month for my family is worth it. It is 90% of my entertainment now that reddit is gone.
It sucks because it is a synthetic, created need. That ad revenue doesn't go to creators, they have their own ads. The need for youtube premium is purely due to their extortion. But I submit, they win. Clicking a video you want to watch and seeing those yellow hash marks on the time bar makes me want to put my head through a wall and youtube premium makes all that anger just... not be.
- That ad revenue doesn't go to creators, they have their own ads.
  It does, over half of it in fact.
- I've been going with no ads on mobile for years and years now. It's been painless with Vanced and now its successor ReVanced. Unlike with YT Premium, ReVanced also has the added bonus of SponsorBlock. It just makes modern YouTube so much better and is entirely free.
  Downside is yeah it won't work on iOS... Tbh, it's one of the main reasons why I refuse to buy an iOS device. I can't fucking stand in video ads.
  
  Or Firefox with the uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock plugins.
  
  More and more I get tempted to get an iPhone (Pro) especially now they have USB-C, but until sideloading there becomes as easy as it is on Android, it's still gonna be a tough sell for me.
- It was impossible to block ads on mobile (where I spend most If my youtube time)
  Buy an android lol
  
  Is there a working ad block for the youtube app on android? Always been on android, never been able to block ads on YouTube. NewPipe and Using YouTube from a browser are both shit experiences.
- Try Youtube revanced it works just like the normal youtube app.
  Its a little more complicated to set up but its worth it.
- Newpipe is fine as the player, just a hassle for discovery.
  For me, it's now almost muscle memory to find a video in the YouTube app, click share - more - Newpipe sponsorblock.
  
  I watch most things on ReVanced but I use NewPipe for age gated things

- I have premium and have never seen this before
  
  The ad companies literally overabused it so much we learned mind-adblock anything that's not directly overlapping the content. That's why they need to be overabusing the pre- and mid- video ads so much now.
- YouTube Premium is actual cancer
- Those are not ads, they are just helpful product suggestions!
- Is this actually real? Wow.

"Oh, you're not interested? Let us increase our aggressive advertising and fight against ad-blocks to change your mind then"
- I haven't seen Louis Rossman's new video where the thumbnail claims their war on adblockers is backfiring, but i'm quite curious as i also found an adblocker for my smart tv that i'm going to try out when i get home from work.

Alternate caption: "You guys wanna stop stealing our server bandwidth?"
- The moment Google stops stealing my data I might consider using YouTube premium
  
  Legislation is stopping them, hence increasing upfront cost to offset
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation
  Okay, so how's that Premium consideration going?
  
  Hard to say they're stealing when you give consent by agreeing to their ToS
- when you start making youtube better instead of worse
  
  Lol you're the one contributing to making it worse. Google already loses money on operating YouTube and freeloaders only exacerbate that loss. They're going to make ads longer, unskippable, and take away your perception of a choice. They're going to kill every other option you have. Pay or stop watching.
- lol stealing
  
  Browsers that block data, Adblockers that block ad revenue, no interest in a subscription.
  You give nothing, take everything, then act entitled to do so. Yeah, stealing is an apt word for it. At least own what you are.

If youtube is ever able to completely make it so I can't block ads, I will stop using youtube. I've stopped using reddit and have never gone back. I will get by.

People pay for all the other streaming services, god forbid YT wants to have you as a customer instead of a product.
As long as it's a vote for Google to move away from ads (and they don't pull a hulu and start showing ads anyway), and it continues being one of the better ways to send money towards artists and creators, I'm down.
- oh, you are still a product, just paying for the privilege.
  
  Right, but the same applies to literally any other company that has graced modern earth. That's not a matter where you can still pick a candidate to vote with your wallet for, and I'm not pirating the content of honest artists and youtubers if there's an alternative.
  That it's currently a step away from the fiasco that is the ad-driven internet, is a bonus. Besides, for how long is collecting marketing data on people who'd rather pay to not to be marketed to, gonna be the profitable option?

Pay for no ads, still get spied on

Only reason I do it is because I use YouTube on platforms where I don't know how to install adblocks like smart TVs and stuff
- Then this is what you you are looking for https://github.com/yuliskov/smarttube
  
  Bummer that casting doesn't work like normal, if it did I'd switch immediately.
  
  It's such a good client

I would honestly would be willing to pay for third party app usage as long as it was private.
Maybe peertube will get more popular?
- Not sure if that's what you are asking, but there's https://grayjay.app/ (also https://futo.org/) connected with Louis Rossmann, that is meant to bundle multiple streaming service. If is meant to give power to creators, by not forcing them to YouTube.
  
  It ain't Foss so it isn't for me

- Or you simply don't pay anything at all for either service by downloading add-ons that unlock Premium
  xManager & Revanced on Android, literally the only reasons (+ Stremio) I will never buy an iPhone as long as these services exist. You save hundreds of dollars every year. Revanced has more options than YouTube Premium too, like automatically skipping sponsor sections.
- I'm all for paying for the media I consume, but I will never pay for YouTube. First and foremost, I don't think they pay artists enough, which is why I buy all my music albums individually on services such as Bandcamp.
  Second, I believe Google is working hard on turning the internet into a privacy violating walled garden riddled with unblockable ads, where all relevant technologies and standards are de facto controlled by them. I use uBlock and reVanced to block ads on YouTube and pay content creators through Patreon because I WANT to hurt Google financially by spending their compute resources without giving them ad impressions. I think everyone should do the same.
- This is the same comment the crops up every time a meme critical of YouTube premium pops up. I'm starting to think it's a copypasta.

Ublock Firefox on the computers, revanced on the phone, smarttube next on the TV, which is running FLauncher. Like an hour to set up once and no ads ever again. I'm a little confused by anyone agreeing to pay to unshittify a service made so irritating in the first place, and honestly how anyone puts up with ads at all when it's so easy to avoid them.

- Really? All of my old lossless Google Music albums are still there.
- Was your stuff on play music seriously your sole copy?
  There's plenty of good reason to be cautious with Google services, but this isn't one of them.
  While I'd consider data-loss unacceptable with an actual cloud storage platform like dropbox or drive, even there not having backups would 100% be on you. Play music never claimed to be that, all it advertised was being able to stream your music, not store it in perpetuity. The product was convenience, not security. (And didn't they offer take-out on your play music data? I coulda sworn that was a thing.)
  And do look into off-site backups, if you haven't already.

I'd consider subscribing to YouTube premium but their scummy policies they thrust on their creators is absolutely terrible. It must be hell trying to tip toe around their platform.
- The problem is that every other streaming service is fucking over their content creators too (part of the reason of both the SAG-AFTRA strike and the now ended writer's strike). So any service you're paying for has scummy policies in that department.
  
  It's a good thing I don't pay for any of them. Arrrgg me bucko

I took it for the summer because we move a lot with the kids and it's useful for them to be able to download videos. They've been harrassing me so much to get back on through ads that I finally installed an Adblock.

I recently signed up for YT premium. Don't get me wrong, I still used ad blockers and ReVanced like a mf, but considered it only fair seeing how much YT and music I have streamed.
- I have the official YouTube app on my phone and when I'm busy doing dishes or mopping the floor, I open it on autoplay and let it load its precious ads, so Google can be happy.
  
  That is possibly the most thoughtful thing I have ever heard!

I technically have it via Youtube ReVanced.
Emails are open; Calls are relayed to Kurt due to me being on vacation. I will make sure to look at new emails at least once every day.
- Did… did you include an away message in your comment? Or am I missing a joke here?
  
  Hey, thanks for contacting! I'm very happy to be able to tell you, that you were correct on both sides.
  The joke was that there was someone that has Youtube Premium and wants to do an AMA and then there was someone that didn't want to do an AMA. I have Youtube ReVanced which is kind of the middle ground between Premium and free and I made my availability the middle ground between 24/7 and 1/7 availability. Well, 'middle ground' in that case is kind of the wrong word since my availability actually is just 1/7.
  Thank you for considering us!
  Yours faithfully
  me :3

I thought about getting it (instead of Amazon Music), but now YouTube is already planning to raise the cost. So nah, I'm good.
- Just gonna add that Apple Music is raising prices as well in December
- This is the only thing that kept me from caving in and buying it

Honestly I hate the damn YouTube premium ads more than any other that I’ve seen on the platform.
Ok maybe not quite as bad as the freaking Genshin ads. Fuck you Natasha!

I was really interested in it when it came out on my region and still use it, better than acting like it's up to me to manually decide which content creator I bless with any sort of payment and which I don't.
If ads were the only reason, I know how to evade them in just about every platform I use.

YouTube premium still tracks you. They only way is third party clients

I wouldn't mind it if it weren't so insane on price. Does YouTube really get $168 of revenue per year from ad-supported users? Doubt it.
- I don't, running YouTube is expensive, and Google became a trillion dollar company mainly from ad revenue, it has to be making bank for them to not have killed YouTube
  
  YouTube was intentionally run at a loss for years in order to quell potential competition and set up a monopoly. Now, they got all the content on their platform and that won't change for a while, so they can do whatever they want. It was a marketing strategy, not magnanimity.
  A similar strategy was led by HP. They make no money from printers, but once you buy one, you are very likely to also buy their ink which is sold with a ridiculous profit margin, so that the loss of revenue from printers doesn't matter in the slightest. It's called "loss leading".
- You'd be surprised. Half the cost of premium goes to creators, and making $5-7 per user per month through ads is definitely doable. That equals pretty much exactly the cost of premium

I've had YouTube Music since it was Google Play Music. So I haven't had ads in about a decade or so.

Totally 0%

I honestly think that YouTube has to embrace something similar to what Twitch does with subscriptions to specific content creators where they get around 50% of the subscription cost. I personally don't value YouTube Premium because I know nothing goes to content creators except for the fact that it covers ad revenue income without showing ads.
- It sounds like you might be misinformed - a YouTube Premium subscriber watching your YouTube videos is worth, IIRC, 5 to 10 times more than an ad supported view for the content creator. I know a number of content creators have indicated as much for years - I wish I could cite a specific WAN Show episode from Linus Tech Tips who I'm certain has talked about it many times.
  
  I found this clip of Linus talking about it, but no concrete numbers: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MDsJJRNXjYI&t=420
- I personally don't value YouTube Premium because I know nothing goes to content creators except for the fact that it covers ad revenue income without showing ads.
  Uh. Half of the cost of premium gets distributed to the creators you watch, and it's a non-insignificant amount of money.
  
  That's actually awesome then. Sad it's still not transparent with this. And I believe many people consider this strictly beneficial to google.

I used to have it as part of a family plan until Google decided that I couldn't be a part of the family plan because I didn't live with the account owner, so I thought I would just sign up for it. So I did for quite some time until I realized that I could do the same thing without paying a dime and that's what I'm doing now. This was back when it was $9.99 or something like that. I don't know how much it cost now.
- They have ip tracking?
  
  Yes

I mean, for $2.50 a month… sure, why not?

I see how others make a point about other streaming services. But it is different with YouTube. Firstly the content is from peers not from production houses. Secondly it feels like an AH move to start out as a free service and then start charging after you know you have enough people hooked ( this is how drug dealers work too). It is not illegal but just feels immoral (not the drugs, just yt)
- Starting with a business model that was unsustainable is not a reason not to transition to one that is. YouTube didn't make enough money for it's creators even with ads, so creators got themselves sponsorships and direct fan-support.
  Now, I don't think the platform deserves a big cut of that, but it does need to cover costs, at the very least. Yet the status quo, is to give YT literally nothing (block ads, don't get premium).
  
  I'd be down to opt into non-intrusive banner ads. Not loud unskippable bullshit that disrupts my experience.
  
  I think for many people at this point it's just spite. I know it is to some extent with me. They removed so many things that I now have to use extensions to fix anyway (can't set a predefined quality preference, can't remove shorts, removed dislike) and you can't even get that stuff when you do pay for it. At that point I may just run the 5th extension to remove ads as well and have a better experience than if I were simply a paying customer.
  I think the higher Bitrate 1080p is the single biggest draw for me. But now I'm spiteful enough to avoid premium regardless. And don't even get me started on the constant "TRY PREMIUM WE PROMISE IT'S GOOD" popups. It should speak for itself.
- The problem with YouTube Premium vs other streaming services is that it feels like you are paying protection money vs paying for a service.
  YouTube has gone out of their way to throw ad upon ad on even the shortest videos and even ads on videos are that essentially 30s ads. They tell you if you pay a monthly fee, these ads will stop harassing you. What other benefits do you get? Hmmm maybe they'll let you continue a video with the screen turned off.
  Oh you want the old dislike system, no fuck you. You still only get a button that does fuck all.
  You don't like YTshorts? Fuck you again, you have no choice but to have it in your face every time you open the app.
  This is not a business to customer relationship. This is a protection racket to victim relationship.

If you're just a bit tech savvy it's useless, there's nothing of worth Premium offers that you cannot get for free (maybe 4k stuff? I don't use it personally). As for supporting content creators, I prefer to donate without YouTube getting a cut. I don't care if the platform dies, substitutes with better financing models will take its place.
- I could give each creator I care about $0.25 a year and it would be more than they would get if I watched ads.
  
  That's really just not the case at all. It's perfectly doable to get $5 a month per ad free user, so depending on how many creators and videos you watch they'd get that amount out of you every couple of weeks
  
  Probably yeah, it depends how often you watch videos. I would much prefer a tip-based system than shoving shitty ads on everyone and blaming the consumer for getting around them. They make enough money by stealing my data.