It looks like the streaming music space could soon gain yet another competitor.
A new report from BuzzFeed claims that Amazon is planning to launch a streaming music service as part of its free Amazon Prime offerings. Amazon has reportedly struck deals with Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and several independent labels. It’s not known if Amazon has a similar deal with Universal Music Group.
As for its selection, this Amazon music streaming service will reportedly offer select tracks from the archives of those music labels, with Amazon selecting which songs will be stream-able based on its current music and retail efforts. The music that’ll be on offer is said to consist of “songs and albums that are 6 months old and older.”
Amazon’s streaming service will reportedly work across multiple devices, which makes sense considering that Amazon’s already got its apps available on several different mobile platforms. Users will be able to search for and play songs, and it’s said that some offline functionality will also be included.
Amazon has been building out its Prime perks for some time, adding things like its Kindle Lending Library and Instant Video services. It’s kind of surprising that it’s taken Amazon this long to get into the music streaming biz, but it sounds like we could see a launch go down as soon as June or July.
Considering how large Amazon is, it’ll definitely be interesting to see what this streaming service is like. That said, the music streaming space already has several major players, and the restriction that Amazon’s service will only have music thats 6 months or more old may turn off those users that like to listen to recent hits.
Are you subscribed to a music streaming service? Will you use this Amazon offering if it becomes reality?
Via BuzzFeed
