YouTube Music app adds useful new feature for Android, iOS music fans

If you like music, you probably use the YouTube Music app often. You can go to the app and find the song you want using the app's search tool, or you can ask your digital assistant to play a specific song by a specific artist (for example, "play Revolution Number 9 by the Beatles on YouTube Music"). You might be asked to unlock your phone first. Besides its vast library of original performances, YouTube Music has a wide selection of covers which allows the app to recommend a selection of them along with alternative takes, live versions, and more.

Depending on the song, while you are playing the tune, directly from the Now Playing screen you can find a list of covers for the song you are currently streaming. Again, let's use the Fab Four for this example. So you're listening to Come Together and you are curious to listen to alternative versions of the song. From the Now Playing screen, tap the Related tab on the bottom right of the screen.

Scroll down to Other performances and you'll see cover versions of Come Together from the likes of Ike and Tina Turner (!) and Jennel Garcia. There is also a live version sung by the late John Lennon (who of course wrote the tune and recorded it with the rest of the Beatles). Speaking of the latter, there is also an alternative take recorded by the Liverpudlians included in this list.

The covers, live performances, and alternative takes listed under Other performances will change each time you look it up as you can see from the embedded screenshot included in this story. That list of covers for Come Together includes one performed by the unlikely trio of Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper, and Marilyn Manson

Scrolling down past the Other performances reveals a carousel titled Similar artists. Below that, the More From carousel lists additional songs available from the same artist or group. That is followed by a biography of the artist or group listed under About the artist. According to 9to5Google, some YouTube Music users spotted the new features as early as a month ago while other iOS and Android users are just getting them now.

You can load the YouTube Music app on your phone from the Google Play Store for Android handsets, and the Apple App Store for iOS.