Amazon is a natural for the streaming business. After all, it’s named after a river. Amazon’s sheer size enables it to crush customer service and personalization using data. Now Amazon Music Unlimited intends to be to Spotify what the new Google Pixel phone is to the iPhone — a latecomer that does things better and cheaper. And Amazon can afford to let its streamin gmusic service be unprofitable until it has every last music listener subscribed. Jeff Bezos plays the long game.
[Amazon Music Unlimited Streaming Music can be just $6.58 a month, almost 35% less than Spotify]
Amazon Music Unlimited is listed at just $7.99 a month for Amazon Prime members, a group that includes an estimated 63 million members. The $7.99 is already about two bucks cheaper than Spotify and most other streaming services. If you’re willing to pay a lump sum or flat rate for a year of Amazon Music Unlimited, that’s $79 — which knocks the monthly cost down to $6.58. Spotify, with a reported 30 million tunes, is said to offer greater variety than Amazon Music Unlimited. Amazon says it has “tens of millions.” But many of Spotify’s songs have never been played, so the advantage represent just in a bunch of songs nobody listens to. Amazon’s deal is the cheapest at $6.58 a month for tens of millions of tunes…
