What is YouTube Music? Google goes toe-to-toe with Spotify and Apple Music with new streaming service

"Music isn't just what we listen to, it's who we are." This is Google's hypothesis, as laid out in marketing materials for YouTube Music – a revamped streaming service it hopes will rival Spotify and Apple Music. And who knows who people really are better than Google? Through its blanket dominance in everything from email and search, to maps and calendars, Google knows its users' location, habits, tastes and future plans. By accessing the vast amounts of data swept up by these digital services, Google wants to offer a new type of personalised music streaming service. Combining this personal knowledge with the AI-powered Google Assistant, YouTube Music should in theory be able to offer listening suggestions suitable to whatever the situation – be it falling asleep or a morning commute.