Product or service · Media and entertainment

Google Play Music, Google’s music before YouTube Music (2011–2020)

On November 16, 2011 Google launched the Google Music store in the U.S., inside Android Market, keeping free storage for up to 20,000 of the user’s songs. In August 2020 YouTube announced its replacement by YouTube Music: purchases and uploads stopped in late August, streaming ended in September in New Zealand and South Africa and in October elsewhere, and libraries could be transferred until December 2020.

The only image in the official end announcement is a looping animation; the museum avoids animations that cannot be paused.

November 16, 2011

Google Play Music

Product or service · Media and entertainment · Replaced

sources · timeline 2010–2014

Interpretive reconstruction · Unification Early-2010s conventions: a dark top bar, flat white surfaces, solid red and blue buttons. Does not reproduce any Google page.

Dates

November 16, 2011 Launch · exact date [1]
August 4, 2020 Announcement · exact date [2]
December 2020 End · approximate date [2]

What the sources say

Claim	Record	Confidence	Sources
Free storage	Up to 20,000 of the user’s songs	3 · Secondary source	[1] secondary
End by market	September 2020 in New Zealand and South Africa; October 2020 elsewhere	2 · Single primary source	[2] primary
Migration	Transfer tool to YouTube Music and export via Google Takeout, until December 2020	2 · Single primary source	[2] primary

What the confidence levels mean

Historical captures

No archived capture has been located for this record yet.

Sources

Google Announces Launch Of Google Music - MP3 Store, Free Cloud Storage, Music Sharing, And Artist Hub — David Ruddock — Android Police, November 16, 2011. Source secondary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive
YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music by end of 2020 — YouTube, August 4, 2020. Source primary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive

What still needs documenting

2011 beta phase (Music Beta)
Rename to Google Play Music (2012)
Arrival in Brazil

On GD

GD has followed Google since 2006. Search GD for “Google Play Music” (in Portuguese)

How to cite

"Google Play Music, Google’s music before YouTube Music (2011–2020)", Google Museum (GD), https://gd.eurisko.com.br/museu/en/collection/google-play-music/, CC BY 4.0. Reviewed on November 2, 2026.

ID: google-play-music · Reviewed on November 2, 2026