Amazon.com unveiled a standalone music-streaming service for $7.99 a month for Prime members, undercutting rivals Spotify and Apple on price while significantly boosting the catalog of songs available for instant gratification from its Echo speakers.
The Music Unlimited subscription from Amazon will be available for $9.99 a month, in line with offers from Spotify and Apple, but Prime customers would pay $7.99, or $79 a year, Amazon said in a statement Wednesday. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant plans to offer a family-subscription plan later this year.
The new offer will give Prime members access to a catalog of tens of millions of songs, up from about two million previously, Amazon said, and thousands of hand-curated playlists and personalized stations. Listening to music through the Echo voice-activated speaker was already one of the most popular features of the device. The new expanded selection, including features that allow listeners to search by lyrics, artist, decade and more, will likely only tighten bonds between users and the Echo’s voice recognition technology, Alexa.
Amazon is also offering an Echo-only subscription plan for $3.99 a month, providing access to all of the music catalog on a single device.
Amazon is betting that a stand-alone music streaming service will enhance Echo’s appeal to non-Prime members, ultimately whetting their appetites for further offerings from the online retailer.
