Amazon just announced some big changes to Amazon Music for all Prime members. The company is expanding their music library for Prime members with no additional charges. If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime, rejoice: the entire Amazon Music library of more than 100 million songs is available for your listening pleasure any time.
As one might expect, the new benefits have a catch: Prime members gain full access to the entire music library but there are restrictions.
What are the free benefits?
The new Amazon Music benefits aren’t really free but they are included with all Prime memberships. All Prime subscribers can play any artist, album, or playlist but only in shuffle mode. Listeners won’t be able to go to an artist’s page and play a particular song but they will be able to listen ad-free. No ads is a big draw for the music service as Amazon’s biggest competitor Spotify’s free tier has similar playback restrictions but with ads (Amazon’s other sizable competitor Apple Music doesn’t have a free tier). Prime members will also get music and podcast recommendations based on their likes and a variety of “All-Access playlists” which will be available for offline listening.
In addition to music, Prime members will be able to listen to the majority of podcasts ad-free. Amazon will be launching podcasts exclusive to the platform starring some entertainment heavy-hitters like actors Keke Palmer and Carey Mulligan. These new shows as well as ones from NPR, CNN, Wonderly, ESPN, and The New York Times will be available without visual or audio ads. This is a major benefit for Amazon Music since Spotify podcast listeners still have to suffer through ads even when using Spotify Premium.
The Amazon Music app will also get some new updates: Amazon teases some stylistic changes to the app as well as a new feature called “Podcast Previews” which will create “curated clips designed to introduce new listeners to podcasts, and make it easier for existing podcast fans to find their next favorite show.”
What is Music Unlimited and how much does it cost?
If Prime users decide they want to listen to music without playback restrictions, they’ll need to pay $8.99 ($9.99 for people without Prime) a month after an initial 30-day free trial. Amazon Music Unlimited also offers users lossless music quality, spatial audio, and the ability to download their library for offline listening.
Amazon offers a few different subscription tiers (all prices are for monthly payment plans) for Music Unlimited, starting at only $0.99 per month for Amazon Prime Student members. The other subscription models are a $14.99 family plan and a $4.99 plan that allows you to use the music service on a single Echo or Fire TV.
The new changes probably won’t motivate many users to switch from their existing streaming service, but Prime members who don’t already use a competitor will likely enjoy their access to Amazon’s entire music and podcast library. Only time will tell if the benefits help Amazon get an edge up on Spotify and Apple Music.