Amazon has today (November 14) launched its big rival to the likes of Apple Music and Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, in three key European markets.
Amazon Music Unlimited is now available in the UK, Germany and Austria – news which comes almost exactly a month after the company unveiled the service in the US market.
Like the US product, the UK/EU launch comes with three available pricing tiers:
- Users can access on-demand listening of 40m+ tracks for just £3.99/€3.99 per month if the service is locked to one Amazon Echo device;
- Existing Amazon Prime members can pay £7.99/€7.99 per month for unrestricted access on any device – or can pay £79/€79 for a full year, working out at just £6.58/€6.58 per month;
- Non-Prime members can subscribe for the same fee as Spotify Premium and Apple Music – £9.99/€9.99 per month.
MBW understands that Amazon is subsidising the £7.99/€7.99-per-month tier for music rightsholders in order to gain a price advantage on others in the market.
“We’ve been thrilled with customer reaction to the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited in the U.S. last month and we’re excited to quickly bring the service to customers in the UK,” said Steve Boom, Vice President Amazon Music.
“Starting today, Amazon Music Unlimited offers our UK customers playlists and stations curated by our music experts in the UK, featuring leading British and international artists – we think customers are going to love it.”
“We’ve been thrilled with customer reaction to the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited in the U.S. last month and we’re excited to quickly bring the service to customers in the UK.”
Steve Boom, Amazon
“Amazon Music Unlimited brings real value to the millions of people in the UK who are already Prime members, with a choice of subscribing for only £7.99 a month or even £79 per year,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO.
“And if you want a sense of the future of voice-controlled music, go ahead and ask Alexa for a free Amazon Music Unlimited trial, and play around on your Echo.
“If you don’t know the name of a song but know a few lyrics, if you want to hear songs from a specific decade, or even if you’re looking for music to match your mood, just ask. Our U.S. customers love Amazon Music Unlimited on Echo, and we think our UK customers will too.”
Amazon is betting that its Alexa speaker will be a key differentiating factor for Amazon Music Unlimited.
The voice-activated speaker plays songs when users ask it out loud, and can even pick and play tracks when told what its main lyrics are.
The company recently unveiled its first worldwide exclusive – with long-time streaming hold-out, Garth Brooks.
Music Business Worldwide
