- YouTube Music is rolling out new features to bring fans closer to their favorite artists
- The company announced it at its Made by YouTube 2025 event, as well as other upgrades for content creators
- Its series of new features are very similar to Spotify’s, which includes new music countdowns and artist video messages
It appears that all the top music streaming services are getting major upgrades recently. First it was Spotify Lossless, and now YouTube Music is receiving its own flurry of new features – but they’re awfully similar to functions that Spotify has had for a while.
At its Made on YouTube 2025 event, the video platform unveiled a series of improvements to its music streaming service that will be rolling out at the end of the year, and in early 2026. It also announced new upgrades across YouTube Shorts, as well as its YouTube Studio hub for content creators.
Over the past few months, YouTube has spent a lot of time overhauling its music platform with new features – including its playback progress function. Despite this much-needed TLC, there’s no denying that YouTube Music has been late to the party with certain streaming features, and this new wave of upgrades is taking even more inspiration from Spotify.
YouTube states that its aim is to allow “artists and their top fans to connect on a more personal level” – so let’s break it down.
New release countdowns
Coming later this year, YouTube Music subscribers will be able to view new music countdowns on album detail pages, artist profiles, and album shelf. You’ll also be able to pre-save upcoming albums and singles, and receive notifications to build the hype.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Back in May, Spotify launched its own Upcoming Releases hub which shows you two different lists. One is a carousel of upcoming albums based on your personal listening habits, and the other is a list of the top 10 most pre-saved albums globally.
Artist ‘thank you’ notes
When Spotify Wrapped 2022 was launched, it introduced artist videos to the platform for the first time, allowing users to receive ‘thank you’ messages from their top artists.
Similarly with YouTube Music, artists will soon be able to share their own ‘thank you’ videos to their top listeners, as well as behind-the-scenes videos and content reserved exclusively for fans. YouTube says these will be available early next year.
Exclusive merch
Spotify has integrated artist merch listings since as early as 2013, which appear directly in an artist’s profile. Now YouTube Music is finally playing catch up.
Starting as a US-only pilot program, listeners will be able to access their favorite artists’ merch directly from the YouTube Music app, giving them the opportunity to be first in line for exclusive offers. Earlier this year YouTube started testing exclusive merch offers, and has said it will keep subscribers updated on its plans for expansion.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
