Reports suggests that Amazon has initially offered to pay some record labels per stream and if all goes well Amazon could introduce the service as early as next week.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Amazon offers Prime Music as a part of its Prime subscription service.
- Amazon is planning to introduce a free version of Prime Music.
- Amazon could offer its free music service via its Echo smart speakers.
Up until now music lovers could access Amazon's vast library of songs only by subscribing to paid subscription service. The Seattle-headquartered company offered its music subscription service -- the Amazon Prime Music - as a part of its Prime subscription, which costs Rs 129 a month or Rs 999 a year in India. But that might be about to change as new reports suggest that Amazon might launch a free version of its music streaming service soon.
According to a Billboard report, Amazon is in talks with music labels to introduce an ad-supported free version of Prime Music soon. The company is likely to offer its free music service via its Echo range of smart speakers and it would offer a limited catalogue of music as a part of its free service.
The report further states that to faciliate its plans, Amazon has initially offered to pay some record labels per stream. This means that if all goes well, Amazon could introduce its free music streaming service in the US as early as next week - a move that is not only likely to intensify competition against other music streaming giants including Spotify, which boasts nearly 96 million paid subscribers and a total of 207 millions subscribers including the free users, and Apple Music, which has nearly 56 million paid users, but also provide a boost to its own streaming service and hardware sale.
Amazon hasn't commented on the matter yet. And we will have to wait and watch if the e-retail giant introduces a free-music service in its homeland and whether such a service makes its way to India.
Meanwhile, a report last week revealed that apart from Amazon's virtual digital assistant, Alexa, thousands of Amazon workers too get to listen to some of users' private conversation. As per an investigative report by Bloomberg, thousands of Amazon workers around the globe listen to users' private conversation in the name of improving Alexa's understanding of human speech. These workers, which includes a mix of full-time Amazon employees and contractual workers, share distressing and amusing recordings on the company's internal chatroom.
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