Amazon has extended its music and podcast streaming services to include access to more than 100 million songs, a significant increase from the 2 million it usually provides that required a subscription to its Unlimited Music plan. If you’re an existing or new subscriber to the Unlimited plan, you’ll be able to select individual songs on Amazon Prime. However, if you subscribe to Amazon Prime only then you’ll be able to select songs from playlists, shuffle mode, and downloads for offline listening.
According to a survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, a Chicago analytics firm, Amazon subscription services have been stagnating over the past few months. The company wants the new music plan to encourage users to continue their subscriptions, especially before Black Friday where the company generates a high percentage of its holiday revenue.
“Customer expectations have evolved, as they always do, especially as music streaming itself has become mainstream,” said Steve Boom, vice president at Amazon Music. “What we’ve heard consistently from our customers they really want access to all the music.”
“We’re obviously always looking to improve Prime and add value, into Prime,” he said. “What we’re trying to really do is grow the number of Prime members taking advantage of their benefits by making it more attractive.” According to a report from Midia, Amazon Music is now the third-most popular streaming service after Spotify and Apple Music.