These days, most entertainment requires shelling out for a subscription service. Sure, you can try to skip out on monthly payments through digital purchases of your favorite movies and music, but you’re bound to miss out on some compelling exclusives. Instead of ditching your Disney+ subscription — I mean, seriously, have you seen Andor? It’s so good — you can save some cash by consolidating some of your payments. If you’re a Prime member, Amazon’s music service is finally a compelling Spotify alternative, though one big catch remains that might keep you paying.
Starting today, Amazon Music’s entire library of songs is now available for all Prime members without the need for an extra subscription. Previously, the catalog only included two million songs at no extra charge; this move brings the total library up to 100 million jams. Unsurprisingly, there’s one catch that’ll likely keep many of us from ditching Spotify or YouTube Music for Amazon’s offering: on-demand listening. While you won’t find ads on the “free with Prime” tier, Amazon Music’s collection will only let you select artists, albums, or playlists, not individual songs. With the exception of some “All-Access” playlists, everything is automatically shuffled.
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If you’re a fan of the album experience — or simply a die-hard music fan — this plan remains unlikely to appeal to you. But anyone who mostly listens to music as background noise will find this pretty tempting, as will Spotify’s free users. After all, if you’re a Prime member, there’s little reason to keep using Spotify’s ad-supported service when Amazon gives you the same songs without breaks. And with nearly every subscription plan looking to increase their prices (Apple’s already beaten everyone to the punch), it might be an easy way to save some cash every month.
So what other differences remain between Amazon Music Prime and the $8.99 (Prime-subsidized) Unlimited plan? Prime-only listeners can’t listen offline — again, with the exception of All-Access playlists — and can’t stream Amazon’s high-fidelity audio. Neither of those limitations is unlikely to matter to anyone who uses streaming music enough to pay for it, which isn’t this plan’s targeted audience.
Of course, because no music streaming platform can just stick to, you know, music, Amazon is also promoting its podcast lineup with today’s announcement. Wondery shows like SmartLess are now played ad-free for Prime members, as are all Amazon-exclusive shows. A new “Podcast Previews” tool selects soundbites from specific episodes of a show, which could make discovering your next favorite podcast a little easier.
Between the free streaming library and the focus on podcasts, it’s clear Amazon is coming for Spotify’s crown with this move. Considering how essential Prime feels these days, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some users jump ship. After all, Amazon Music is the only place where you can jam out to Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places.” That’s a win for Bezos if I’ve ever seen one.
