Amazon is possibly working on a free, ad-supported music service that will directly compete with Spotify, according to Billboard. Sources say that Amazon is looking to debut the service as soon as next week. The debut will likely have a “limited catalog,” but Echo speaker customers will be able to play without having to pay or sign up for another service.
The amount of content available on the service remains in question. The service will reportedly be willing to pay “some” labels on a per stream basis no matter how many ads run alongside the songs being played.
We’ve reached out to Amazon, but have not received a response. With the company not speaking, it’s not out of the question that this type of service could be introduced. Amazon has seen some success with its Prime Music and Music Unlimited service and have around 20 million subscribers, what remains unclear is how many of those actually use the service.
