Amazon Music is now everywhere. Thanks to the combined power of the e-commerce giant and massive investment, Amazon has made its mark on the streaming market. And it looks set to stay there, firmly established as one of the market leaders. However, it only happened in a few months. And before becoming the streaming platform it is today, Amazon Music underwent several changes. What is the history of Amazon Music? And how did it evolve?
Following Deezer, TIDAL, Spotify, and Apple Music, we look back at the History of Amazon Music today. Knowing where a streaming service started inevitably helps us understand its recent evolution.
We will explain it all to you!
The history of Amazon Music: when did it start?
In 2007, Amazon Music decided to enter the music business. Its first attempt was Amazon MP3, and was available in its final version in January 2008. It arrived a few months before Apple’s iTunes. It’s a little-known fact, but Amazon MP3 is the first service to sell online music in MP3 format. Even before iTunes and other competitors. But Amazon MP3 has only just become a serious player in the music world.
It was in November 2010 that the service became available in Japan, Germany, Austria, France, England, and Switzerland. Other countries were to follow. In fact, despite its pioneering status, Amazon MP3 remained, for a long time, a service that was ultimately little used and operated by Amazon, its parent company.
In 2014, Amazon officially launched Prime Music to replace Amazon MP3. The service offers two million songs. It may seem substantial, but it’s well below its competitors, such as Spotify, with 55 million references. Amazon still has some way to go, but the platform is on the right track.
The big break in the history of Amazon Music
The first major upheaval in the history of Amazon Music came in 2014. From then on, Amazon Prime members, who number in the millions, can enjoy an unlimited catalog of music to listen to at no extra cost. The limited catalog allows Amazon Prime members to listen to some music without shelling out an extra dollar.
Another step was taken two years later, in 2016, with the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited, a full-fledged music streaming platform. Amazon Prime members can enjoy a discount on an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.
Like YouTube with YouTube Music, it’s wise from a business point of view to make offers that respond to each other. The aim is to leave the Amazon universe as little as possible and combine online purchases with intensive music listening. Ultimately, the calculation is simple: Amazon has clearly understood that it might be interesting for customers already committed to Amazon Prime to subscribe to a streaming service that would cost them less than a platform not directly linked to Amazon.
The catalog has grown from two million to around 100 million with Amazon Music Unlimited. From 2016 onwards, it has been as if Amazon Music has reached its final form, even today. It means that Amazon Music has almost nothing to envy the industry leaders.
But even then, the services must be on par with competitors in the sector, such as Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, and Spotify. So Amazon began to step up its investments in music streaming. In 2019, they take a significant step forward with an HD offering, which will finally install Amazon Music among the most exciting players on the market.
Promises
Amazon Music’s ambition is to become the benchmark streaming platform. To achieve this, they are taking everything that works from their competitors and bringing it together under their service. Do you like to listen to music quality? Amazon Music offers one of the best HD options on the market. As a bonus, Ultra HD has been available since 2020, in addition to a Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio option. To offer music in Ultra HD format, Amazon has formed partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. Enough to satisfy the most demanding of you!
Do you want to benefit from a massive catalog of songs to ensure you find everything or almost everything you want? Amazon’s music catalog is one of the most extensive around.
Do you listen to a lot of podcasts? Amazon Music’s offering is among the best, rivaling the undisputed industry leader, Spotify. In 2020, Amazon acquired podcast production company Wondery for $300 million.
Prices and subscription options
This is where it gets complicated. Amazon Music offers several subscription packages with different prices if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber.
First, Amazon Music Prime is available to people paying for an Amazon Prime subscription. It costs $12.99 per month (the price drops to $6.49 per month if you’re a student). Amazon Music Prime is an efficient service providing access to a massive catalog of over 100 million songs. But only in Shuffle mode.
Then there’s Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon’s “real” music streaming service. Unfortunately, it’s not included in Prime subscriptions and is priced at $10.99 per month for non-Prime subscribers ($5.99 per month for students) and $8.99 per month (or $89 over a year) for Prime subscribers.
Like Spotify, Deezer, or Apple Music, Amazon also offers a “family plan” that allows six people to use the same account for $15.99 monthly ($159 per year).
In addition, Amazon offers a 90-day trial period to test its services. That’s more than its competitors, and it will give you plenty of time to decide whether or not the service meets your needs.
Why use Amazon Music with Soundiiz?
As you know, Soundiiz always allows you to get the best out of your streaming platforms. Amazon Music is no exception. On your Soundiiz homepage, you can manage your Amazon Music playlists like you use Spotify, Deezer, or TIDAL playlists.
If you want to give it a try to Amazon Music, using its free trial period, one of the main things that could prevent you from changing your music streaming platform is to lose all your music collection. It includes your playlists, favorite albums or tracks, and followed artists. And having to rebuild this library with a new service could be time-consuming and even impossible, depending on the size of your collection.
Soundiiz solves this by using an advanced matching process, allowing you to move quickly and with no effort to Amazon Music from Deezer, Apple Music, Spotify, or any other platform. Then, keep your playlists updated by using the playlist Synchronisation feature.
Let’s say you want to quit Amazon Music because it didn’t fit your needs. When you unsubscribe from a streaming service, your data and playlists can be deleted. Using Soundiiz, you can create backups of your Amazon Music playlist as CSV. Convenient!
We hope you enjoyed this little history of Amazon Music! You can now go to Soundiiz’s homepage to connect your Amazon Music account and get the most out of it!
