Andrew Heinzman
Be careful what you wish for! YouTube Music is now available on Android TV, but it doesn’t have a dedicated app and can’t play music in the background. No, if you want to jam out to YouTube Music on your TV, then you gotta do it through a tab in the YouTube app.
As you might already know, Google is slowly dissolving Play Music and transitioning its users to YouTube Music. It’s a neat idea, especially for hardcore YouTube users with perfectly curated recommendations. But the transition is bumpy as all hell, and every step forward (such as Android TV support) comes with a caveat.
The problem here is that YouTube Music doesn’t have a dedicated app. YouTube on Android TV doesn’t let you browse while watching videos, so you’re stuck admiring album art while listening to music. And again, you can’t play music in the background while using other apps or staring aimlessly at the Android TV homescreen. (Pssstt….you can cast background audio to your Android TV from your phone).
But hey, maybe this is the fastest way to bring YouTube Music to Android TV. Ben Schoon at 9to5Google notes that the YouTube app on Android TV is nearly identical to what you find on Roku, game consoles, and smart TVs. Google is probably working on a dedicated You Tube TV app now, right? We’ll have to wait and find out.
Source: Google via 9to5Google
