Amazon launches $8 per-month music streaming service for Prime members
E-commerce giant Amazon is set to give Spotify and Apple Music a run for their money, following the unveiling of its highly-anticipated, on-demand music streaming service.
Amazon Prime members will be charged just US$7.99 per month for the Amazon Music Unlimited service -- or US$79 if prepay their music subscription for an entire year.
For that price, Amazon Music Unlimited will grant users unlimited on-demand access to "tens of millions" of songs, in addition to hand-curated playlists and personalized stations; with the company also introducing a special tier for consumers who only want to access their music subscription on Amazon's Echo speaker (US$3.99 a month).
Echo users will be able to call up songs by saying things like "Alexa, play the song that goes, ‘I was doing just fine before I met you'" and Alexa will play, "Closer" by The Chainsmokers," the company outlines.
Consumers who want to access the full scope of Amazon's service without subscribing to Prime will be charged US$9.99 per month -- on par with the price that Spotify and Apple Music are currently charging their paying members.
According to Amazon, a new "For Family" subscription plan is also set to launch later in the year, which will allow up to six family members simultaneous access to Amazon Music Unlimited for US$14.99 per month or US$149 per year.
Additionally, the company confirmed that Amazon Music Unlimited will be made available for customers in the UK, Germany and Austria this year.
