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Amazon launches Prime Music to take on Spotify and Apple Music

Amazon launches Prime Music to take on Spotify and Apple Music
Amazon launches Prime Music to take on Spotify and Apple Music



Amazon has launched a new music streaming app as part of its Prime service, with more than a million songs available to users.

Prime Music went live in the UK this morning, and comes as part of Amazon Prime membership – the £79-a-year scheme that gives users free same-day delivery from the e-commerce giant, as well as access to Amazon's existing TV and film streaming service, Prime Instant Video, among other benefits.

The US-based firm launched the music service in America last year, and now says it has used its database of UK Amazon user-buying habits to rebuild the app specifically for customers on this side of the Atlantic.

The app will enable users to stream over a million songs at no extra cost, but also allows them to combine them with the digital tracks they've purchased from Amazon in the past.

The streaming service will appear within the existing Amazon Music app, which is free to download.

Christopher North, managing director at Amazon UK, said: "UK customers loved it when we added Prime Instant Video and unlimited photo storage into Prime last year, on top of unlimited one-day delivery on millions of items and access to over 800,000 Kindle titles to borrow.

"We said then that we were just getting started, and today we're introducing Prime Music – more than a million songs from best-selling artists, plus hundreds of Prime Playlists hand-built by our team of music experts – all at no additional cost. Prime Music is the latest great addition for our UK Prime members and we think they're going to love it."

The announcement comes just three weeks after Apple launched its own music streaming service, Apple Music, to compete with Spotify.

However, Amazon says it is not looking to take on the iPhone maker in this area, instead pointing out that Prime membership contains a series of services that benefit users, with Prime Music being just one component.

Amazon's most recent financial results show the company beat analyst predictions to go beyond 250 billion dollars (£160 billion) in market value for the first time, making it more valuable than Walmart.



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