YouTube has finally launched its paid music subscription
service this week. The service has a little over 50 channels which offers exclusive
content after paying an apparently variable subscription fee starting at $0.99
per month.
Popular channels include UFC, National Geographic Kids, TNA
and Sesame Street. Moreover, some channels will offer yearly discounts and will
come in with a 14-day free trial. YouTube is currently calling the service as a
“Pilot Program” and will soon expand the channel line-up as they will be
rolling out the service in the coming weeks to qualified content partners.
Related Story: YouTube
Subscriptions Coming This Week
The paid subscription service is YouTube’s way of enticing
content makers to its platform aside from offering built-in advertising. At
present the available channels offered by the service are mostly unavailable to
most countries and are not that popular in contrast to those offered by other
forms of subscriptions.
But if YouTube plays its cards well, the service will not
only drive content to its platform but can even be used to combat piracy. If
the service can pull in big names in the television and video industry and sell
their content at a reasonable price, there might be chance that users won’t
have to illegally download TV series or other forms of video elsewhere on the
internet.
What do you think? Do you see yourself subscribing to a paid
YouTube channel anytime soon? Please do tell us by leaving a comment below.
