When Google started selling music back in 2011, it was a pretty big deal. A lot of changes have happened since then, many of them involving branding. Google Play Music is preparing to be shut down as YouTube Music takes over the reigns as Google's default music streaming platform. It looks like another major step in the transition has taken place today: the music store on Google Play is officially gone.

As the company has said before, songs you've already purchased should show up in YouTube Music once you transfer your library, although the best way to ensure a complete backup of all your music is probably to use Google Takeout and download a full archive. Google says that any Play Music data that is not transferred or downloaded will eventually be deleted.

Before streaming services took off, we used to buy each individual song from an online platform like iTunes or Google Play (legally-speaking, at least). Now that option is no more, as Google makes good on its plans to get away from the music download market entirely — in 2020, Google is going all in on streaming.

The GPM app itself should be going away before the end of this year, so there's no better time than now to make the switch to YouTube Music or a competing product that isn't subject to the whims and fancies of Google.

Source: Google Play

Thanks: Carson, Jeffrey, and Taylor