YouTube Music rolls out new digital DJ feature to build custom playlists on demand

Back in July, references for something called “Ask for Music” were found in the code of a YouTube Music patch. The potential feature was initially believed to be an upgrade for the service’s search function where you could use “natural language” to look up songs. But a recent update shows the feature is much more than that.

9To5Google, in a recent report, reveals the platform is rolling out a new “Ask Music” feature to a select group of users. The feature functions similarly to Spotify’s DJ tool. You can command Ask Music to create a playlist based on a given prompt, or as YouTube puts it, “turn any idea into a custom radio.”

Also: Apple Music lets subscribers transfer playlists to (and later on, from) YouTube Music

Ask Music appears “as a purple card in the Home feed”. Tapping the card opens a full-screen chatroom, with a series of pre-made prompts at the bottom. Users now have a choice. They can choose one of the pre-made selections or enter a custom prompt through the text box or a voice recording.

Pre-made prompts include melancholy indie, 80s-inspired indie, and dream synthpop. There’s even a Surprise Me option. Once you’ve chosen, YouTube Music takes a few seconds to create a playlist. It’ll shorten the query down to a brief title with an accompanying text description.

The first song plays automatically by default. You do have the option to save Ask Music playlists to your account at any time. YouTube also gives people a way to provide feedback in case one of the songs in the collection doesn’t match the prompt.

There are some important details you should know about the feature. You need a YouTube Premium membership to gain access, which is currently $14 monthly. Ask Music is reportedly only available on Android in English across the US, Canada, and Australia.

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There’s no word on whether the new tool will roll out to iOS or other countries. However, 9To5Google points out that Google once said it has plans to expand Ask Music’s availability. Seeing how the feature has started appearing on mobile, a widespread launch could happen soon.