Amazon announced that its $139 yearly Prime membership fee now includes access to Amazon Music's entire library of music and podcasts without advertisements, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Prime members can now listen to up to 100 million songs, the same complete library on premium streaming audio services. Previously, Prime members could access only around 2 million songs they could listen to for free.
According to WSJ, the e-commerce tech giant effectively gives its Prime subscribers access to Spotify's free tier minus the annoying advertisements. Users on the free tiers can only listen to shuffles of albums, playlists, and artist's archives, while those on the subscription tiers may choose any song on demand.
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Amazon Music App
Amazon Music has significantly profited by being included in the company's Prime membership program. This program provides access to other services beyond just online shopping, such as grocery delivery, video game streaming, and movie streaming.
Analysts and executives believe that the success of Amazon's Prime membership and voice-activated Echo speakers has helped the company become the third biggest music provider in the US by subscribers, after Spotify and Apple Music.
The Music app is a full-service on-demand subscription that costs $9.99 per month or $8.99 per month for Prime members. The tech firm now offers a single-device plan for $4.99 per month, which grants access to Amazon Music on a single Echo or Fire TV device, in addition to the standard family and student subscriptions.
According to media data firm Midia Research, via WSJ's report, Amazon's music membership base is among the fastest-growing because of these varied subscription programs.
The Ongoing War for Customer Loyalty
For retailers like Costco and Walmart that offer membership programs, Amazon's new Prime features signal a new front in the ongoing war for customer loyalty.
Walt Disney, for one, has plans to add theme park and retail promotions to the Disney+ app, which is part of the entertainment industry trend of combining additional services into its flagship apps.
This announcement of additional music and podcasts for Prime members is also a direct challenge to Apple Music, which already hiked its monthly membership charge by $1, and to Spotify, whose CEO Daniel Ek warned this week that the company will likely boost rates in 2023.
Analyst Mark Mulligan of Midia Research believes that Amazon might overtake Apple Music as the second most popular music streaming service in the coming year based on the number of paid subscribers.
Brief Background
Amazon launched into podcasting two years ago and has played catch-up with Spotify and Apple by producing unique exclusive shows.
It spent $300 million to buy Wondery - a podcast network known for its chart-topping gritty, narrative-driven shows like "Dr. Death" and "Dirty John" - and to purchase exclusive rights to "SmartLess," the popular interview show that feature Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett.
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Written by Trisha Kae Andrada
