They need to know you’ve actually paid for the content. Its the norm with streaming apps, even if the music is on your device it still needs to be authorized to actually play it. Otherwise you would be able to download as much content as possible within one billing period, cancel your subscription and enjoy hundreds of dollars worth of music for one monthly fee.

Their paid offerings suck in more ways than this sadly. Youtube search sucks balls even if you pay for premium. They constantly ask you to watch their “shorts”, and small creators sometimes have a very hard time staying monetized because of bullshit that youtube makes them go through. It is partially our fault tho, collectively we watch the dumbest shit. Logan Paul had shitloads of subscribers and made a fortune because thats what normal prople like to watch.