Amazon Launches New Streaming Service, Undercutting Spotify and Apple Music

Amazon has launched a new music streaming service, Music Unlimited, the New York Times reports. The new service is tied to the Amazon Echo, a voice-activated speaker system. For Echo owners, the service costs $4 a month; users of Prime will pay $8 a month, on top of the $99 a year charge for free Amazon shipping, video streaming, and other features. The standard Music Unlimited charge is $10 a month. The reduced-price options undercut Apple Music, Spotify, and others, whose $10-a-month model has become an industry standard. For users of the $4 a month tier, there is a catch: The service can only be used on one Echo device, with no access through a phone or laptop.

Special features in Music Unlimited include spoken lyric searches—ask for that song on the tip of your tongue, and it will do its best to deliver.

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