Spotify and Pandora shares fall as YouTube announces new music streaming service

Video platform plans to offer a free, ad-supported version and a paid for ad-free one, similar to rivals

The service will roll out in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea first (Reuters)

Shares in music streaming businesses fell as US markets opened on Thursday after YouTube announced plans to launch its own streaming service.

Shares in Spotify dropped more than 2.5 per cent, while Pandora fell 2 per cent. Apple, which offers Apple Music, dipped more than 0.4 per cent. The Google-owned video platform will introduce YouTube Music on Tuesday 22 May.

“The days of jumping back and forth between multiple music apps and YouTube are over,” said Elias Roman, a product manager for the platform.

“Whether you want to listen, watch or discover, it’s all here. YouTube Music is a new music streaming service made for music: official songs, albums, thousands of playlists and artist radio plus YouTube’s tremendous catalogue of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos that you can’t find anywhere else – all simply organised and personalised.”

The group is planning to offer a free ad-supported version of the service, while a paid membership of YouTube Music Premium will cost $9.99 (£7.40) a month – the same price as an Apple Music or Spotify subscription.

The service will roll out in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea first, and expand over the coming weeks. There are plans to launch in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Plans for YouTube’s streaming service were first announced last year, when it emerged that the group was in talks with a number of major record labels seeking support for the new venture.