News - 13/11/2015

Vevo vs YouTube Music: let the battle of the apps begin

Vevo vs YouTube Music: let the battle of the apps begin

This week saw the release of both YouTube’s highly anticipated music app and - in a well thought-out coincidence - of Vevo’s own revamped app. 

YouTube’s app is simply called YouTube Music and its main goal is to make the experience of finding and browsing music easier for the consumer. Searching for a track brings up the original version when available (which is 99% of the time these days), but below that YouTube is featuring both live versions by that same artist or cover versions by other artists, YouTubers, fans, providing an organised way to browse the vast amount of content available.

This is all driven by a complex algorythm and presumably YouTube’s recommendations will be linked to a video’s popularity and ratings, making it unlikely that you’ll find a drunken Karaoke version, unless it’s very, very funny. 

The new app features an ‘endless playback’ feature so it will keep playing music along the lines of that just played, and for those who subscribe to the new YouTube Red service, it features background playback - the video portion can be stopped and resumed at any time without interrupting the song - as well as the ability of caching music videos to view offline. 

For non-subscribers to YouTube Red, the app lacks those extra functionalities and has adverts, but it will allow users to try out the Red experience for two weeks free of charge.

Vevo’s redesign is giving it a distinct Snapchat and Tinder feel design-wise, favouring full-screen pictures and simple, easy-to-grasp functionality. After logging in the app asks you to identify artists you like. The list is pretty much restricted to megastars of the pop persuasion, but that’s where Vevo’s strength lies. From those inputs, a feed is formed showing users videos from those artists. Vevo is working hard on creating original content that will set it apart from YouTube, and this is necessary since the underlying catalogue of official blockbuster videos, especially given the launch of YouTube Red, is the same.

Vevo however currently has a distinct advantage in that YouTube Music is not available outside of the US, whilst the Vevo app is available internationally. There is no set date as of yet for YouTube Red's and by proxy YouTube Music's international launch. 

 

(Andrea Leonelli) 

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