Amazon Prime Music adds frontline Universal Music artists

Amazon Prime Music adds frontline Universal Music artists

Amazon displayed a prominent banner to Prime users yesterday, stating that the company had added hundreds of new artists to the Prime Music catalogue. 

The new additions? Lorde, Kanye West, Katy Perry Drake amongst others, all Universal Music Artists.

In fact, Amazon has inked a deal with UMG - the largest label in the world - bringing a selection of its albums to the streaming service that comes bundled with Amazon Prime’s yearly subscription.

This means that - even though the selection continues to be limited - Amazon now has deals with all three majors. 

Prime Music debuted with a very limited catalogue and was dismissed as un unlikely competitor to stand-alone streaming services. But the catalogue has grown, and for music fans who want nothing more than an ad-free soundtrack to their day the service now provides many curated playlists that can serve that purpose well. 

Free shipping, free video content, free music, special discounts mean Amazon Prime is fast becoming a no-brainer for frequent Amazon customers. 

For Amazon, this fosters loyalty, and the best part for the company is that the subscription does not need to generate profits by itself: the increase in shopping frequency by those who subscribe is a large enough driver of growth for the shopping giant.

The only question mark is whether the money being paid out to labels is substantial enough to warrant potentially jeopardising revenues generated by Prime customers who may otherwise have paid for a stand-alone Spotify or Apple Music subscription.

 

(Andrea Leonelli)