YouTube Music and YouTube Premium launch in the Middle East at Dubai event

At an Middle Eastern celebrity filled event, which took place at The Rotunda, Caesars Palace, Bluewaters, Dubai on Tuesday evening, entertainment platform YouTube announced that YouTube Music, a new music streaming application and YouTube Premium, a paid subscription which provides an ad-free experience on YouTube, are both now available in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar.
YouTube Music, with its impressive musical catalogue, is designed to offer you the music you love and help you discover new songs and artists. Music is the second most popular category on YouTube in the Middle East after entertainment.
"For over a decade, millions of people in the Arab world have come to YouTube to watch, learn and listen. Music is the second most popular category on YouTube and it continues to grow. We're excited to launch YouTube Music which will give our users access to the massive YouTube music catalogue, helping them find the music they love, from new releases to iconic classics and from viral covers to live performances," said Tarek Abdalla, Regional Director of Marketing at Google Middle East and North Africa. "We're also excited to launch YouTube Premium, an ad-free subscription service that allows our users to watch all videos on YouTube without ads including offline viewing, background play and other amazing features" he continued.
YouTube Music subscriptions start at Dhs19.99 and YouTube Premium at Dhs23.99. Both services will roll out to all users in the coming weeks, starting September 10.
Some of the music labels and music partners who will have their content available on YouTube Music.
"As Qanawat, being the largest Digital Music Company in MENA region, YouTube always played a key role in our journey. With YouTube Music, we believe, Arabic music will be more global, more engaging and have more exposure with all users worldwide. The service offers a great new experience for avid music listeners" Ahmed Nureni, Vice President of Business Development at Qanawat.
"We congratulate the YouTube leadership, one of the most popular platforms in the world, on their step to launch YouTube Music. This will be a transformative change that will support the industry, music producers, and artists as well as users. This will help them get to the music they love in an easier and more interactive way through mobile and desktop. YouTube has helped create new standards of success in the music industry, helping artists rise and spread their music to countries all over the world. YouTube is also an important tool to discover emerging talents looking for real opportunities to showcase their art. The platform has also diversified revenue streams for music labels, and we are excited to see how users will receive YouTube Music," Mohsen Gaber, President of Mazzika Music Label.