How to move from Google Play to YouTube Music

Earlier this year, Google announced it would be retiring its Google Play Music service, replacing it with YouTube Music. The transition will be complete by the end of December 2020 so there’s not long left.

This means that if you want to keep using the music streaming service, you’ll need to transfer your account to the new platform. We show you how to quickly and easily do this so that you retain your playlists and existing library of tunes.

How to transfer your Google Play Music account to YouTube Music

Google has made it a very simple process to move your account to its new service. In fact, the whole thing can be done with one or two clicks. The company also states that the following content, details and settings will be preserved;

• Your Google Play Music library, including any purchases, playlists, uploaded songs, plus all the albums/songs in your current collection.
• Like and dislikes will also be transferred, so your recommendations won’t go back to square one.
• All your payment details move with you too, so there’s no need to cancel direct debits and set up new ones if you have a Premium account. Your Google Play Music Premium account will simply become a YouTube Music Premium one.

You’ll still be able to use both apps and services for as long as they exist, but the days are most definitely numbered for Play Music, so we advise you to try out YouTube Music.

How to transfer Google Play Music to YouTube Music on a PC

In a web browser, go to https://music.youtube.com/transfer, ensure you’re logged into the right Google account, then click the Transfer button.

Alternatively you can click on your profile picture and select Settings > Transfer from Google Play Music > Transfer from Google Play Music.

YouTube Music will now automatically do the heavy lifting, transferring all your details and music from one service to the other. Depending on the size of your library this can either take a few minutes or a few hours.

How to transfer Google Play Music to YouTube Music on a phone

The process is slightly different on mobile devices, but just as easy. Open the YouTube Music app (you’ll need to install it first from Google Play or the Apple App Store) and log in with your Google account.

Then tap the profile picture in the top right corner and navigate to Settings > Transfer from Google Play Music > Transfer from Google Play Music.

The process should start immediately moving all of your content and details from Google Play Music to its new home on YouTube Music. How long this takes, depends on the number of albums and songs in your library.

So, if there’s thousands of tracks to deal with it might be worth starting the process just before you go to bed, then hopefully it will be completed by the morning.

Of course, if you choose instead to use this as an opportunity to see what some of the rivals have to offer, you can take a look at our guide to the best music streaming services.