Amazon has launched a new music streaming service to rival the likes of Spotify.
Prime Music was debuted in the US today, giving those who have an Amazon Prime subscription access to over 1 million songs. An Amazon Prime subscription (which gives Amazon users next-day delivery on every item they purchase for no extra cost, along with streaming TV and access to a library of e-books) costs $99 per year, and Amazon hopes to raise its number of paid subscribers by including Prime Music in the bundle.
Similar to a paid Spotify subscription, songs can be streamed on Prime Music without any advertising, though its music library is much smaller than its competitors. While 1 million songs sounds like a vast amount, in comparison with the 30 million that Spotify boasts, it’s a mere drop in the pond.
Prime Music also suffers from a lack of current music, with it focusing upon the back catalogs of artists rather than their newer output. On the plus side, it launched with premade “Prime Playlists” created by the Amazon editorial team, that each revolve around a specific genre and/or theme, i.e. pop, heavy metal and rap, along with ‘Work’, ‘Study & Reading’ and ‘Happy & Upbeat’.
The music streaming business is extraordinarily overcrowded at the moment, so it’s uncertain whether this new addition to Amazon Prime will court many new users. However, it’s certainly a nice new addition for existing users.
Amazon Prime Music is available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac devices, along with Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets.
