https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/10/youtube-music-continues-glacial-development-pace-adds-background-playback/

October marks the first anniversary of the death of Google Play Music, leaving only the sad shadow of a replacement music service, YouTube Music, in Google's ecosystem. YouTube Music is showing just how far behind the streaming music wars it is with the announcement of a new feature: background music playback. Previously, playing a streaming song on the ad-supported YouTube Music app would only work if you had the app open—navigating to something else on your phone would stop the music. Now, five years after the service's launch and one year after the shutdown of Google Play Music, you can use YouTube Music like—well—a music app without paying for YouTube Premium.