If you own a Google Home speaker (or any of the other Google Assistant-powered speakers) you can now listen to YouTube Music for free. You will have to put up with ads, and you won't be able to request specific songs, but it's still better than nothing.

How to Use YouTube Music on Google Home

Until now, Google Home users who wanted to listen to YouTube Music through their smart speaker had no other option but to subscribe to YouTube Music Premium. Now, this free, ad-supported version of YouTube Music gives them a simple way of streaming music.

Unlike YouTube Music Premium, you can't ask Google to play a specific song. Instead, you can ask Google to play music belonging to a certain genre or to match a particular mood. The example given on the YouTube Blog is, "Hey Google, play Latin vibes".

If you buy a new speaker, just choose YouTube Music as the default music service when setting up your Google Home. If you already own a Google Home, open the app, go to Account Settings > Services > Music, and select "YouTube Music".

YouTube Music is now available on smart speakers in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Netherlands, and Austria. YouTube is promising it’ll be available in more countries soon.

Upgrading to YouTube Music Premium

This is a good move by Google, but there's a reason behind it. The whole point is to get you used to using YouTube Music in the hopes you'll upgrade to YouTube Music Premium. Especially when you get frustrated by the limitations of this free version.

YouTube Music is just one of a number of music streaming services available. Fortunately for you, we have pitched Spotify vs. YouTube Music, comparing the two to see which is best. You'll have to read the article to see which one we declared the winner.