Tech

YouTube's music head sees 'great opportunity' in streaming, touts 'world's biggest catalog'

Key Points
  • YouTube's global head of music, Lyor Cohen, says he isn't focused on the competition but instead sees a "great opportunity" ahead.
  • YouTube announced Wednesday it will launch a new music streaming service, YouTube Music, next week.
  • "I don't think it's a winner-win-all category. YouTube music has the largest consumption of music around the world," says Cohen.
YouTube's Lyor Cohen: There's huge opportunity in front of us with music service
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YouTube's Lyor Cohen: There's huge opportunity in front of us with music service

YouTube's global head of music, Lyor Cohen, told CNBC Thursday that he isn't focused on the competition in the music streaming industry but instead sees a "great opportunity" ahead.

YouTube announced this week it will launch on Tuesday a new music streaming service, YouTube Music.

"I don't think it's a winner-win-all category. YouTube music has the largest consumption of music around the world," Cohen said in an interview with Julia Boorstin on "Power Lunch."

"We have the world's biggest catalog," he added.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is offering two services. YouTube Music, which has ads, will be available for free. YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership without advertisements, will be available at $9.99 a month. A third option, YouTube Premium, which is the new name for the YouTube Red subscription service and includes the new YouTube Music service, will be $11.99 a month.

When asked about the number of paid subscribers it hopes to get, Cohen said the company doesn't talk about numbers. Meanwhile, Apple Music just announced it has 50 million subscribers. Spotify recently said it has 75 million paid subscribers.

"I've never looked at my competition at all. I only focus on my own business and I think that we have just an enormous opportunity," said Cohen, a former music industry executive.