Amazon’s Spotify rival, Amazon Music Unlimited, has now gone live in the UK following its launch in the US last month.
The service provides a catalogue of 40 million songs, and is also set to go live in Germany and Austria later today.
If you’re a Prime member, you can sign up to the music streaming service for £7.99 per month, or £79 a year, which brings the cost down to £6.58 per month, while non-Prime members will pay £9.99 per month.
However, if you’re an owner of the Amaxon Echo smart speaker, or its smaller cousin – the Dot – you can get a massive discount on the new service, which drops to £3.99 per month for Echo owners.
Related: Amazon Echo review
There is a catch, though. If you sign up through your Echo or Dot at the discounted rate, you’ll only be able to play music on that device.
The company is hoping you’ll opt for the Echo option, adding new functionality that will allow you to ask Alexa to play specific songs based on certain lyrics or the most recent song from a specific artist.
What’s more, the new Echo features allow you to ask for songs based on a certain mood, so you can request ‘sad songs’ or ‘happy pop’.
The Amazon Echo has been given new music features
There’s also a new ‘Side By Side’ feature which is basically audio commentary for songs, with artists providing insights on their own tracks.
Amazon hasn’t revelaed too much about the success of its upgraded music streaming service since its US launch just yet, but Steve Boom, Vice President Amazon Music, said in a statement: “We’ve been thrilled with customer reaction to the launch of Amazon Music Unlimited in the U.S. last month and we’re excited to quickly bring the service to customers in the UK.
“Starting today, Amazon Music Unlimited offers our UK customers playlists and stations curated by our music experts in the UK, featuring leading British and international artists – we think customers are going to love it.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO, said: “If you want a sense of the future of voice-controlled music, go ahead and ask Alexa for a free Amazon Music Unlimited trial, and play around on your Echo.
“If you don’t know the name of a song but know a few lyrics, if you want to hear songs from a specific decade, or even if you’re looking for music to match your mood, just ask.”
Prime members already have access to a catalogue of 2 million songs via Amazon Prime music, but the company has managed to match rival Spotify with the 40 million tracks available as part of Amazon Music Unlimited.
WATCH: Amazon Echo Review
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
