YouTube Music at 10 wants to make fandom more interactive

Just yesterday, we dug through the YouTube Music app and found evidence that playlist comments were coming. Less than 24 hours later, YouTube has announced the feature. We’ll let you decide if that’s a coincidence or not, but it was the tip of the iceberg in terms of the anniversary updates.

In a blog post celebrating 10 years of YouTube Music, the company confirmed that you’ll soon be able to leave comments directly on albums and playlists, among other fan-focused updates. That means, as well as streaming someone’s carefully curated mix, you’ll be able to chime in, debate, or maybe regret sharing your hot take on their tracklist.

That’s only the start. YouTube is rolling out “taste match” playlists, which are automatically refreshed each day based on the combined listening habits of everyone who joins them. The company is also expanding its partnership with Bandsintown, so you’ll see more concert info baked into YouTube and YouTube Music. Artist pages, Shorts, and videos will soon surface nearby tour dates, and you’ll even get notifications when new shows, merch, or releases drop.

And for superfans, YouTube is adding more ways to show off. New badges like the recently introduced “First to Watch” and “Top Listener” are on the way, giving you more ways to flex your loyalty, while video milestone alerts highlight when an official music video is about to hit big numbers so you can help push it over the line.

With over 300 million tracks and four billion playlists already in the wild, YouTube Music is calling these updates the start of its next chapter. It’s not uncommon to see apps becoming more of a social platform these days, and we’ll be keen to find out what regular users think of these additions.