According to several sources familiar with the change, the product teams working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being combined into a single unit. Nothing will change for users right now, and both apps will continue to exist independently for now. But the move is likely to pave the way for a single unified music app from Google.

The business development teams behind these two apps actually combined last year. That made it simpler for Google to negotiate deals with labels and artists. And subscribing to YouTube Red already gave you access to both services. The rational behind producing two distinct apps has always been a little muddy to me. Here’s what I wrote when YouTube Music first launched:

“The fact that YouTube Music…

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