YouTube has announced a major shakeup in its premium subscription and music streaming services, ditching the YouTube Red brand and making a push to offer both paid and ad-supported versions of its offerings across the board.

On Wednesday, May 23, the Google-owned video giant will introduce a revamped YouTube Music in Australia, a new streaming service to challenge Spotify and Apple Music. Taking the form of both an app and a desktop player, the service features thousands of curated playlists and will make suggestions based on your tastes and location.

In addition to the library of albums and artist-specific radio stations, you'd expect from Google Play Music — which this service seems destined to replace — YouTube Music will, of course, offer countless official music videos as well as cover versions, live recordings and remixes direct from YouTube.

There's also a feature utilising Google's AI assistant that lets you find songs by entering some lyrics or a vague description.

The service will be available for free, but a premium version of YouTube Music will cost $11.99 per month, removing ads and allowing users to download tracks to their devices. You'll also need to subscribe if you want to continue listening on your phone in the background while you look at other apps or turn the screen off.