How To Transfer Your Playlists From Other Streaming Services To YouTube Music

Once you've amassed yourself a library of content on streaming services, music especially, it can seem impossible to switch to others. Playlists, favorite tracks, listening history — all of the important elements usually don't transfer, so you're basically starting over fresh if and when you do switch. For someone with years of history on a service, that can be a real deal-breaker for trying something new. But depending on the tools available, it may actually be possible to make a relatively seamless swap. At least, that's certainly true of YouTube Music Premium.

If you are a YouTube Premium member, you can transfer playlists at no extra cost through a third-party tool called Tune My Music. You can also use alternatives like Soundiiz or Free Your Music. That means if you were previously using Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Pandora, or any number of additional services, you can transfer content to YouTube Music. That way, you can swap to or try the new service, but you're not actually starting over. You can do the opposite as well, if you've grown tired of dealing with some of the disadvantages of using YouTube Music over other options.

For the most part, the tools are intuitive and work the same. You log in to your accounts, like Spotify and YouTube, select the playlists or content you want to transfer, ensure you choose the appropriate destination service — in this case YouTube Music — and off you go. There are premium plans or tiers available for most tools, with restrictions on free transfers, so keep that in mind. But given that there are many reasons to switch to YouTube Music over other services, and you're likely paying a monthly subscription fee anyway, the premium cost of the transfer tools is likely worth it.

There is a difference between the free and premium tiers for most of these tools. They tend to limit how many tracks you can transfer at a time, sometimes per playlist, and they withhold access to certain useful features, like automatically syncing connected services, so you never have to manually update them.

TuneMyMusic is free for YouTube Premium subscribers, but if you're not one, you can transfer up to 500 songs for free, or spring for the premium plan at $2 per month billed annually ($24) or $5.50 per month. The premium plan offers unlimited transfers, auto sync for services, and a few other additions. For quick comparison, Soundiiz allows up to 200 tracks per playlist to be transferred on the free tier, but for $3.25 per month billed annually ($39) or $5 per month billed monthly, you get premium with unlimited transfers. Soundiiz also offers bulk or instant transfers for premium, plus management tools to edit and adjust albums, artists and tracks individually. Free Your Music allows you to move up to 600 songs or a single playlist for free, no credit card needed. From there, it's $4 per month ($50 per year) for unlimited transfers, auto sync, cloud backup, and more. Free Your Music also has quarterly and one-time lifetime payment options.

These tools also work in reverse if you want to transfer your music to them from YouTube Music or another service. It's good to know that these tools support transferring content from most, if not all, major music streaming services. You're never stuck with just one platform. Other notable music services supported include Deezer, Amazon Music, Qobuz, SoundCloud, iTunes, Yandex, and more.