They’ve built drones, won an Emmy and now have their eyes on an Oscar, but that doesn’t stop Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos from wanting more. Recent news has spread that Amazon is working on a music streaming service. Could it be time to add Spotify to the list of Amazon’s rivals?
According to a New York Post source, Amazon is ready to talk with music executives to get a deal going on a steaming service. Though the company has been selling music via its Prime service for a while, the music offerings are an incredibly small margin when compared to what other streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify have available for their users.
Amazon, if you are going to build this streaming app, here’s what we’d like to see:
1. A Better Deal
Whenever you use a free streaming app, the advertisements eventually drive you crazy enough to purchase an upgrade. But for $9.99 a month, you pretty much get the same thing at Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play and Tidal. So what is Amazon going to offer that will be different?
Apple Music gives you access to 30-million songs, so we’ll be curious to see how big of a library Amazon will be able to offer to make a better deal against their competition.
2. Discounts for Prime Members
The supposed source from the New York Post says it’s likely Amazon would charge the competitive fee, but there’s no notion yet that there would be a discounted or free option for Amazon Prime customers. For those of us who don’t have a Prime account yet, having access to a streaming service could be the feature that finally convinces us to do so!
3. Better Music Curating
Spotify curates top lists and playlists based on mood and current events and Pandora curates radios based off songs and artists you already like. While these features are great, time and time again we hear repetitive playlists or get recommendations that don’t always make sense.
If Amazon wants to win the streaming app music game, building better software for song recommendations and playlist curating would be a pretty sweet deal. Plus, it would be interesting to see Amazon curate playlists based off their own shows, a feature that might be of interest to those of us already using Amazon to stream video.
4. A Better Trial Period
Spotify and Tidal offer a free, 30-day trial and Apple music offers a free, three-month trial. Whenever I sign up for a free trial, I often find myself not using it every single day, and suddenly my trial is over and I’m left feeling like I didn’t actually get to use it for free.
If Amazon were to offer a free trial for a streaming service, I’d like to see them offer a set amount of days or uses – that way users only use it when they’ve actually opened the app. This would give us more time to get used to the app and better decide whether or not it’s worth paying for.
5. A Focus on Albums
Remember how Rdio focused on albums over songs and playlists? It would be cool to see something like that again. Plus, for those of us who still love to buy albums, an easy way to place an order for a CD or vinyl of a given album via Amazon would be a fun, easy ordering feature.
Amazon has not officially confirmed these plans, so the idea of an Amazon streaming app is total speculation right now. But, given their other recent endeavors, we won’t be surprised to see Amazon attempt to step up the music streaming game.