AMAZON DIVES INTO
THE STREAM

Amazon has just announced details of its music streaming service, which turns out to be three-tiered, with varying degrees of ad-free premium.

Amazon Music Unlimited offers a $9.99-per-month tier, just as Spotify and Apple Music do, and with similar bells and whistles. Then there’s a version of the same tier that’s available only to those paying $99 a year for Amazon Prime, who’ll be charged $7.99 per month or $79 per year. The third tier is just $3.99 per month, but it only works with the Amazon Echo. And a family subscription option for Amazon Music Unlimited is reportedly coming soon; that is expected to allow up to six members and be priced at $14.99 per month or $149 per year.

Also, not unlike it's competitors, Amazon is looking to provide the service with exclusive, artist-driven content. A feature called "Side-by-Sides" presents the latest music from select artists, who also have provided detailed, BTS commentary. The Chainsmokers, Jason Aldean, Lindsey Stirling, Sting, Norah Jones, OneRepublic and Kongos are apparently among the contributors so far.

All that said, at the end of the day, will it be possible for a new service to compete with the already established giants? Only time will tell, but one should keep in mind that Amazon boasts more than 300m registered customer accounts (and 60m+ Prime members) worldwide.