YouTube is already well known as a place to find all the music one could ever ask for. Between lyrics videos, the “anime music video” concept and those like it, and remixes, finding a song on YouTube (News - Alert) is in many cases as easy as putting the song title in the search bar. But YouTube is reportedly looking to launch a new kind of premium music service by the end of the year that will require subscription, but also capitalize on YouTube's greatest asset: video.

The service is said to be geared toward the mobile listener, which is a fairly large chunk of listening in general. Once launched, the service will offer—in much the same way many other services do—a free component and a paid premium component. The premium component is said to have access to the same things that Google's (News - Alert) All Access subscription music service boasts, along with the ability to remove advertising and to cache music for later listening. But the free tier won't be a terrible bargain, either, as the free tier is said to offer unlimited access to full tracks, and not discriminate by platform.

It seems to be, essentially, a way to drive more users to YouTube in general as a way to keep the platform in mind as a great place to buy advertising. Though as some have noted, the idea of having a paid component in the mix can give YouTube more options in terms of how the package is presented. When thrown in with other Google developments--like the increasing number of smartphones around, as well as tablets, and the Google Glass system—new possibilities emerge, possibilities that Google can take advantage of.

YouTube, and by extension Google, are keeping comparatively quiet about this service overall, particularly in regard to when it will actually launch. But it's been suggested that a launch could arrive by the end of this year, and that would beat Beats Music to the punch. Since Google already holds licenses too much of the music involved in such an affair, YouTube's ability to launch rapidly should be well in hand.

Of course, YouTube looking to offer a premium music service is already something of a challenge as it sits. Official music video releases are easily found on YouTube, uploaded by the companies that hold the rights. VEVO is still a major presence on YouTube, despite recent diversification on its part, and going beyond that shows plenty of other avenues to find not only videos but also songs. So getting the user base to step up and pay for something that said user base is already getting for free is going to be a bit of an uphill battle. Some have suggested expanding the offerings to include entire albums, which would be possible, and also potentially get more interest in the service. Some have even suggested redesigning the YouTube mobile app to make for easier playlist making and a simpler interface overall.

No matter what it ends up looking like, with some extra features, it's a safe bet that YouTube will be able to get at least some of its massive user base to go premium. After all, premium videos have seen some impressive uptrends in the past, so a premium experience just about anywhere is likely to draw some users. Just how successful it is remains to be seen, but banking on YouTube's success has commonly ended well in the past.