YouTube signs up over 50 mn paid subscribers for its music service

YouTube has signed up more than 50 million paid subscribers to its music service, a major milestone for Google’s video site that has long been criticized by record labels and Hollywood studios for giving away their work for free.

That 50 million figure includes people paying for YouTube Music, customers for YouTube Premium, who get music as part of their subscription, as well as customers still on a trial basis. The company didn’t disclose how much revenue it was generating from its subscriptions, nor the average price the users paid.

Google has experimented with charging for music for the last decade, cycling through several different products and names without much success.