Amazon.com Inc is preparing to launch a music streaming subscription service, placing it exactly in competition with rival offerings from Apple Inc and Spotify, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The service will be offered at $ 9.99 per month, in line with the main rivals, and will offer a catalog of songs competition, the sources said. Amazon (AMZN.O) is developing the licenses with the labels for the service, which will probably be launched in late summer or early fall, the sources said.
Amazon, which offers a free streaming music with a limited catalog to subscribers of its transport service and the video Prime, did not respond to a request for comment about the new music plan in effect.
Although it will be a late entrant to the crowded streaming space, Amazon believes that a comprehensive music service is important in his attempt to be a one-stop shop for content and merchandise, the sources said.
The new music offering is also likely to increase the charm of the Rio of the Amazons Echo, her house speaker, who search the Internet for products and orders from the retailer with voice commands.
“A music service will further increase the daily interactions between Amazon and its customer base,” said former music leader Jay Samit, when he spoke of the company’s plan.
Amazon’s new effort will be in direct competition with Apple music and Spotify, which boasts more than 30 million songs. Apple has launched its service last year in one of the highest profile signs that listeners wanted to subscription services, rather than paying for individual songs or albums.
The service will also diversify subscription offerings from Amazon and will be another step to a single, annual subscription. Amazon recently started allowing subscribers to pay monthly First, for example.
Silicon Valley titans like Apple (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) Google has muscled in streaming music in recent years, with the aim to weave themselves more closely in the daily routine of their customers and sales of drive devices.
Amazon hopes similarly close integration of its new service with the Echo will help you stand out and strengthen appeal of the speaker, the sources said.
Released in general last year, the echo became a surprise hit that rival Google is now trying to emulate with its speaker.
The move suggests that Amazon will always offer more than basic support options through the first, while selling additional subscriptions for consumers who want to go deeper. The company recently launched a standalone video service.
The new music service is unlikely to steal many customers from Spotify, but it could pose a threat to the other players, said David Pakman, a Venrock partner who led the first of Apple’s music efforts, when informed of the move.
The Amazon service, which he called “inevitable”, “might take a little ‘of Apple’s potential pool of oxygen paying users,” he said.