Amazon Prime Expands Its Music Offering to 100 Million Songs
Prime tier upgrade also includes ad-free podcasts from Wondery, New York Times and CNN
A January report from Midia, a research and consulting firm, placed Amazon Music as the third-most popular streaming service in the world, after Spotify and Apple Music.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is beefing up the music and podcast streaming offerings for its Prime subscribers, expanding access to 100 million songs from 2 million previously.
That number of songs was only available in the company’s Unlimited Music plan, which starts at $9 per month. There’s a catch: Music on Prime can only be played in shuffle mode, or through playlists, some of which are personalized to users’ tastes and can be downloaded for offline listening. Subscribers to the Unlimited plan can select specific songs.
The expansion comes as Prime member growth stagnates in the US, per a July report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, a Chicago firm that tracks Prime members through consumer surveys. Amazon raised its annual membership price by $20 in February and had about 172 million members as of June 30, the same as six months earlier, according to the report. Amazon Prime costs $15 a month and includes free shipping and access to the company’s movies and TV shows.