Amazon will also be offering the limited service for free to its prime members. Other streaming services, such as Spotify and iHeart Radio, also work with the Echo, but there are features that are exclusive to Amazon Music Unlimited.
Echo is a device launched by Amazon that provides information based off normal voice requests.
“While Amazon Music Unlimited’s impact on the current music landscape is unknown, given Amazon Prime’s massive scale, it’s reasonable to assume it could take share”, Blackledge wrote. Non-Prime members will pay $10 a month, the same monthly fee charged by Spotify and Apple Music. In addition, if you have an Amazon Echo, you can enjoy Music Unlimited for only $4 a month.
The service is available starting Wednesday in the US and in the U.K., Germany and Austria this year. Now, along with resetting thermostats (on goal or inadvertently), playing the news headlines from NPR, reordering detergent and starting a auto, the Echo will pull up some tunes on Amazon’s own service. AMU has a catalog of around 30 million songs that can be heard on any device, including smartphones. It offers recommendations for new music depending on your preferences, creates playlists and more. “Plus, customers are going to love Amazon Music’s all-new app for iOS, Android and desktop”, said Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO.
It’s also possible to have Alexa play a “song of the day”. A user can request a song using his or her voice by asking for a specific title or album. Steve Broom of the company states that Music Unlimited will make “tens of millions” songs available for it’s users at any and all times.
According to Amazon, Alexa will get smarter as more people will use the service.
Music Unlimited is priced like everyone else, but does include a special Echo plan. More tracks with commentary from more artists will gradually be released.
The new service is a big price breakthrough for music junkies, but it could be bad news for other on-demand streaming services out there.
