|
 The service will be offered at $9.99 per month, in line with
major rivals, and it will offer a competitive catalog of songs,
the sources said. Amazon <AMZN.O> is finalizing licenses with
labels for the service, which likely will be launched in late
summer or early fall, the sources said.
Amazon, which offers a free streaming music service with a
limited catalog to subscribers of its Prime shipping and video
service, did not respond to a request for comment about the new,
full-fledged music plan.
Although it will be a late entrant to the crowded streaming
space, Amazon believes a comprehensive music service is
important to its bid to be a one-stop shop for content and
goods, the sources said.
The new music offering also is intended to increase the appeal
of the Amazon Echo, its home speaker, which searches the
Internet and orders products from the retailer with voice
commands.
“A music service will further increase the daily interactions
between Amazon and its customer base,” said former music
executive Jay Samit when told about the company's plan.
The new Amazon effort will compete directly with Apple Music and
Spotify, which boast more than 30 million songs. Apple launched
its service last year in one of the highest profile signs that
listeners wanted subscription services, rather than paying for
individual songs or albums.
The service also will diversify Amazon's subscription
offerings and be another step away from a single, annual
subscription. Amazon recently began allowing subscribers to
Prime to pay monthly, for instance.
[to top of second column] |
Silicon Valley titans such as Apple <AAPL.O> and Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O>
Google have muscled into music streaming in recent years, aiming to
weave themselves more tightly into their customers’ daily routines
and drive device sales.
Amazon similarly hopes its new service’s tight integration with the
Echo will help it stand out and reinforce the speaker’s appeal, the
sources said.
Released broadly last year, the Echo has become a surprise hit that
rival Google is now seeking to emulate with a speaker of its own.
The move suggests that Amazon will increasingly offer basic media
options through Prime while selling additional subscriptions for
consumers who want to go deeper. The company recently launched a
standalone video service.
The new music service is unlikely to steal many customers from
Spotify, but it could pose a threat to other players, said David
Pakman, a partner at Venrock who headed early Apple music efforts,
when informed of the move.
The Amazon service, which he called "inevitable," “might take a
little oxygen out of Apple’s potential pool of paying users,” he
said.
(Reporting by Julia Love, editing by Peter Henderson and Cynthia
Osterman)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
