According to a report from recode, Amazon wants to launch a music subscription service that would work the same way services from Apple, Spotify and many others work: $10 a month, for all the music you can stream, anywhere you want to stream it. But Amazon is also working on a second service that would differ in two significant ways from industry rivals: It would cost half the price, and it would only work on Amazon’s Echo hardware. Industry sources say Amazon would like to launch both services in September, but has yet to finalize deals with major music labels and publishers. One sticking point, sources say, is whether Amazon will sell the cheaper service for $4 or $5 a month.
Prime subscribers know that Amazon already offers a streaming music service with a fairly extensive catalogue available on Echo speakers. The Prime Music offering means that members of Amazon’s annual subscription shipping and perks package can basically ask Alexa to play whatever artist they like and Echo will deliver right away. Its main limitation is that it doesn’t offer anywhere near as extensive a catalog as the competition, which is something the new service would look to correct, according to Techcrunch’s Darrell Etherington (@etherington).
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