That’s not the usual evil corp BS they pull.

Yes it is. Then why do they force you to pay for YT Music if all you want is an ad free experience? I tell you why: people will come to the realization that it is stupid to pay for two music streaming services at the same time, so they will cancel their Spotify subscription. It will be extremely hard for other services to stay competitive. It’s no longer enough that their app is perhaps slightly better, or that their algorithm is better, no one will pay the extra 11 € per month for just that. So eventually, these competing music streaming services will die (maybe with the exception of Apple Music and Amazon Music). Once YouTube has the monopoly on the music streaming market, they can raise the prices again.