YouTube Music celebrates 10 years with new options that assist it compete with Spotify

YouTube is celebrating 10 years of its YouTube Music app on Thursday with the launch of new features that bring it closer to rival Spotify and others. The app will now include “Taste Match” playlists, which are playlists that combine multiple users’ overlapping interests, similar to Spotify Blend. The app will also start notifying users of upcoming releases, merch, and concerts, and is partnering with Bandsintown to help fans discover concerts when watching videos and Shorts on YouTube itself.

The additions will help YouTube catch up with Spotify in some areas, while others, like the addition of badges and support for commenting, will extend the social networking features of YouTube to the music service.

The company also shared new stats about YouTube Music’s catalog, noting it now has over 300 million tracks, including studio recordings, live performances, remixes, and covers. Spotify, for comparison, touts a catalog of over 100 million tracks. Plus, YouTube says its music service offers over 4 billion music-focused user-generated playlists, 1.8 billion of which are public.

With the new Taste Match playlists, YouTube Music users can combine their interests into a single playlist that updates daily, featuring tracks that are based on the music tastes of everyone who joins.

In addition, YouTube Music users will be able to leave comments on albums and playlists directly, to make listening more of a social experience. Fans will be able to earn loyalty badges like “First to Watch” or “Top Listener,” with others still on the way. Artists and bands, meanwhile, can work toward music video watch milestones, like 100,000 views, 1 million, or even 1 billion views.

YouTube’s Music service continues to grow, having gone from 100 million users in February 2024 to over 125 million across YouTube Music and YouTube Premium combined as of March 2025, including trials.

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