YouTube, which is owned by Google, has announced that its long-awaited music streaming service, YouTube Music Key, will launch in beta on Monday.
Like Spotify and other music subscription services, YouTube Music Key will allow paying subscribers to enjoy music and videos ads-free, both on and offline. Non-subscribers can listen to music for free with an Internet connection.
The beta version of YouTube Music Key is invite only, and early subscribers will pay only $7.99 per month. Everyone will pay $9.99 per month when the service expands early next year.
The new service will compete directly with Spotify -- which already boasts 10 million paying subscribers -- but has had to contend with some artists who say its compensation plan is inadequate.
Taylor Swift made headlines earlier this month when she pulled her catalog from Spotify, telling Yahoo that "everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment."
"And I'm not wiling to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music," she said.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek argued that streaming music services help prevent rampant illegal downloading that has plagued the music industry for years.