Although not always recognized as one of the frontrunners in the streaming world, Amazon Music is truly gaining in popularity; reportedly having as many as hundred million active users, double it’s count from just six months ago.
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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0
Amazon has always been the sleeping giant in music streaming. It’s Prime Music comes as a part of Amazon Prime, and although there are no official numbers as to the number of subscribers, the company hints that it’s at least hundred million. Amazon also has a stand-alone service as well called Amazon Music Unlimited, which company execs have said has more than doubled its subscriber rate in the last six months alone.
Amazon Music Unlimited is similar to Apple Music and Spotify in that it has a $9.99 monthly fee ($7.99 if you’re a Prime member), but that rate can go as low as $3.99 per month if you own one of Amazon’s smart speakers like Echo or Spot, and that appears to be where the growth in membership is coming from. Prime membership is increasing, but smart speakers are a hit, and those buyers want to listen to music, making Amazon Music Unlimited an easy upsell.
An interesting sidebar, Amazon Music subscribers listen to 2.5 times more country music than on other music services.
The interesting thing here is that Amazon has quietly become the #3 music streamer behind Spotify and Apple Music, and if you add in Primer members, would actually be #1. The problem with using Prime subscribers in that total is that many don’t ever access Prime Music, since there’s so much more available in the membership, like free 2 day shipping and access to Amazon’s movie library. That said, Amazon Music Unlimited is becoming a juggernaut while flying under the radar, something Spotify needs to take notice of.
With its 2 biggest competitors having far deeper pockets and still coming on fast, Spotify has no margin for error going forward. It’s quite likely that Spotify’s growth will continue in the near future, as will its streaming domination. That said, thanks to its smart hardware, Amazon may be the one that leapfrog’s past both Apple Music and Spotify for market share before too long.