Amazon does already offer a music streaming service as part of its Amazon Prime membership, Amazon Music. However, it is not quite in the same league as the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music All Access and the rest of the pack. Instead, this is a more stripped down service with a limited selection to choose from. However, that it something that is expected to change in the near future. There has been rumors developing over the last few months that Amazon is going to launch a different kind of Amazon Music service and now today reports are emerging that the rumored service is due to launch very soon.
The latest information on this comes from Reuters and “two people with knowledge of the matter” and suggests the service will arrive in “late summer or early fall.” Essentially, in the next few months which does suggest that the service is in the final stages of being readied for the market. According to the details, the new service will be very much in line with the likes of Spotify and Google, with Amazon’s service said to be priced at $9.99 per month. At the moment, there are no details on whether there will be any ‘family plans’ (like you can find with the other providers) or any other linear or shared pricing structures.
While Amazon’s offering will be coming very late to the game and will be directly competing on price point, it seems Amazon is not that worried about actually competing with Spotify, Google or Apple. Instead, it would seem that Amazon is approaching this service with the bigger picture in mind. According to the details, Amazon is planning on this service being more in line with their other services like Amazon Echo and offering more of an environment, then just separate products. Due to the success of Echo, the close integration is one area which is said to be a driving force behind this latest project. As a result, it would seem that the already-existing Amazon Music service will still be available and largely unchanged, offering Prime customers a selection of subscription-included content. The only difference will be that those interested in a more premium and Echo-intuitive subscription service, will be able to get one.