Google meaningfully talks about new YouTube Music features for the first time in 2021 – 9to5Google

In recent months, YouTube Music has seen a slew of tweaks that refine the app but dont fundamentally change the experience. Thats par for the course at Google, but whats been incredibly odd is how the YouTube Music team has not meaningfully talked about any of these new features until last week.

YouTube Musics last major feature launch that warranted a blog post from the company was the addition of the Home feed activity bar and availability of personalized My Mixes in November. The last time YouTube actually talked about its Music streaming service was in mid-February when previewing upcoming features for the main video, TV, and Kids apps, as well as creators.

At that, the YouTube Music bullet point was mostly just a regurgitation of the November personalized mixes news while hinting at making user-created playlists more discoverable to others on the platform. That functionality eventually rolled out in April by having search distinguish between Featured and Community playlists.

That launch along with a slew of other enhancements to search, outline-style icons, and usability was never detailed in a public manner until last week. (The only exception is YouTube Music for Wear OS, though it was never really detailed in-depth before release.)

Last week, Google announced it was launching a bi-monthly roundup of product improvements on the YouTube Music Help Community.

Every other month, youll hear new updates directly from us with the hope that these posts keep you better informed about all the things were working on at YouTube Music.

The inaugural one for August 2021 covers May, June, and July, with the company seeking your thoughts on these launches and improvements as well.

Know that different members of the music team will keep checking these posts to see what YouTube Music listeners think of their launches, and may prioritize future changes based on your feedback!

Highlights are below, and this is a positive development from the YouTube Music team. The steady tweaks in recent months have indicated to users that the streaming service is still being developed with a focus on usability enhancements though some argue that there are no big features. While most are not expecting some radical update, the lack of communication threw into question Googles commitment.

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Google meaningfully talks about new YouTube Music features for the first time in 2021 - 9to5Google