Amazon is reportedly working on a full-fledged streaming music service
Look out, Spotify and Apple Music? Another big player is coming
Amazon Prime Music is a solid little perk for Prime subscribers, offering a mix of old and new albums from an array of artists, but the selection is minuscule compared to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
But Amazon may be on the verge of creating its own full-bodied subscription music service to battle those notable rivals, according to a report from the New York Post. The paper says that Amazon has been in discussions in recent weeks to begin licensing larger libraries of music from labels to start up its own standalone streaming music service.
If all pans out, the service would be available later this year and offer up a comparable selection of music to those streaming giants – and at a likely subscription fee of US$10/month (probably £10/month, then). This new service won’t be a Prime perk anymore, although we have to wonder if there will be some sort of discount or broader selection available free to Prime members.
In any case, Amazon reportedly plans to use its streaming service as a Trojan horse to get more Echo personal assistant devices into homes. The Post says that Amazon is considering offering a $3-4/month discount for Echo buyers, and we’d have to guess that the company will effectively give away its profits for the chance of pulling you even further into its ecosystem with the Echo.
And given the recent rumours of a cheaper, portable Echo model on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how Amazon positions this service with its hardware – and how compatible the service ends up being with rival devices. According to the Post, the launch is planned for autumn.
[Source: New York Post]
Andrew Hayward
Freelance Writer 
