YouTube Premium supports switching profiles, and it is a total game change for music

One of the most common complaints that I keep reading from YouTube music users is that Google treats it and their regular YouTube experience as one and the same. If you like the songs of one artist, you are now also subscribed to their videos. If you listen or look for what music is listening, it is now also part of your YouTube recommendations. For the few people who only (or usually) use YouTube to view music videos, that’s fine. But most people have more varied interests than just music videos and end with a strange mix of two experiences that should not be merged.

Me? I don’t look at music videos at all, so seeing YouTube music contents in my regular YouTube feels like unwanted junk that I have to endure. Having my video subscriptions with artists and bands caused me that I had changed most of my beloved artists to music and then dump it all the way for Spotify’s more powerful feature set. Then I realized on a day when I was on the perfect remedy for that annoying YouTube overlap: multiple channels.

Subscriptions, playlists, settings, recommendations, watch history and search history are completely separated for each channel. Better yet, they contribute all premium benefits, so once you have to pay on your Google account, and all your channels benefit from the benefits of YouTube Premium. I don’t get advertisements, background play and smart downloads on all my profiles for the price of one.

I have been using this multiple profile trick for more than a year to separate my regular YouTube experience from my more sporadic experience. Any subject that I am temporarily and mild about goes to my secondary profile, every new purchase that I investigate, all crazy video friends send me that I want to check out, but fear can fall outside my usual interests – all these go into the secondary profile. I don’t want this in my watch or search history, and I don’t want to confuse the recommendations – algorithm with them.

I then realized that I could use the same trick to keep my YouTube music experience apart from my most important YouTube account.

I started making a channel specifically for music and switched to that profile in the YouTube music -app on my Android telephones, while holding my main profile in the regular YouTube app. This was the first step to completely separate the two YouTube events. One profile for my favorite music, one for videos – a good separation of state and church.

I then followed all the artists and bands that I followed on my first profile again. I don’t think there is a way to automate this process, so it was somewhat annoying, but I managed to complete it in about 20 minutes. I spent 20 minutes adding a number of albums that I held to my library. It was finally time to migrate my playlists, and this is where I hit a bit of a roadbump. I could use a third-party service to migrate from one platform to another and then return to YouTube music, but in the end I decided to go through YouTube immediately. I have added my new music profile as an employee on all my existing playlists, all the songs of each selected and added them to a new playlist under a similar name. Then I removed the playlist from my first account. It took another 30 minutes to go through all this.

Of course the disadvantage here is the transition, because this new profile is essentially a new account in the eyes of YouTube Music. If you start fresh, it will be much easier. If, like me, you have only used sporadic YouTube music, just like me, it is manageable. I welcomed it as a stimulus to clear my music profile and start with a clean slate. But if you have already collected dozens of playlists and refine your YouTube music profile and have adjusted the recommendations for your taste, it might be a bit difficult to go back to the beginning.

That is a major disadvantage of the process. Moreover, all the songs you have uploaded to YouTube music will not migrate (even in playlists under cooperation), so you have to upload them again. And for some reason the web versions of YouTube and YouTube music tend to put together their profiles, so it is impossible to change profiles into one without it switching into the other. Having two browsers or two browser profiles helps with this, but it is absolutely easier on mobile.

When everything is said and done, it cost a bit of work, but I like my new setup much more. There were times when I did not follow artists on YouTube music because I didn’t want them to show up and called my YouTube subscriptions. And grinding that I thought twice about what I was listening to, such as adding to my library because I didn’t want this to influence my YouTube algorithm. Not anymore. I can do what I want on my music profile, and it has no influence on my experience watching videos. As it should be from the start, if we are honest.

And yes, this new music profile has all the premium benefits that are linked to my account without paying again or creating a family account. I have playing background and no advertisements on both mobile and internet.

How to make new YouTube channels and switches to it

Follow these steps to create a new YouTube channel or profile under your account:

1. Go to youtube.com/account.
2. Click on Add or manage your channel (s).
3. Click on Make a channel. (You may be asked to verify your account before you do that.)
4. Choose the name and handle of your channel. This is only important for your personal organization; You can always change it later.
5. Select a photo or leave it empty.
6. Click Make channel.

Switch between different YouTube channels on desktop:

1. Click on your Avatar image at the top right.
2. Pick Switch account.
3. Choose the desired channel.

And on YouTube Music Mobile:

1. Tap your profile photo at the top right.
2. Tap the name of your current profile/account.
3. Choose the profile you want to switch to.