Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Google rolls out Songza feature in UK; British musicians might leave Bandcamp for tax reasons; Amazon’s holiday music winners. Continue Reading
This week we noticed an intriguing and festive new feature: Amazon has released an original album of Christmas music as a free streaming playlist for Prime Music members. Called “All Is Bright,” it is Amazon’s first foray into original music content. Continue Reading
Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch its Prime Music service in Switzerland. Swiss newspaper Handelszeitung reported that the streaming platform would be making its debut in the country, although representatives from the tech company have not shared any details about the potential launch. Continue Reading
Amazon’s head of digital music and video has departed the company. Bill Carr has spent 15 years with the online retailer, and was at the helm when the company entered the markets for both online music and streaming video. He was responsible for launching Amazon’s streaming music service for customers with Prime memberships. Continue Reading
Amazon announced the addition of a new member to its board of directors. Judy McGrath, former CEO of MTV Networks, was elected to the board in an appointment that will take effect on Oct. 1. She will join the company’s Leadership Development and Compensation Committee, according to the SEC filing that detailed her election. Continue Reading
Amazon’s Prime Music, which launched in June, has enhanced its service with “hundreds of thousands of songs,” and a big raft of new house-curated playlists. The service is pressing its strategy of providing easy lean-back listening to music mixes to Prime members, and de-emphasizing lean-forward music searching and collecting. We took the opportunity to give the service a second review, this time in an Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablet, presumably the, er, prime interface for the platform. Continue Reading
Amazon said Happy Monday to the world this morning with a press release that cheered a successful first week for Prime Music. Particulars were in short supply, but Amazon says that uptake of the new streaming music service exceeded expectations, with users accessing tens of millions of songs. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthwhile reads from around the web: T-Mobile: Uncarrier or Unhelpful? … Audio is Expanding the Internet … Lefsetz on Amazon Prime Music Continue Reading
This weekly podcast is a quick and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories.
This week: Apple’s announcements …. The future of the music industry … the U.S. government might change music licensing … and independent labels throw YouTube under the bus. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan is co-founder of MIDiA Consulting, and has been a digital music analyst for over a decade. In this guest column, he compares Amazon’s music strategy with those of Google and Apple, and speculates about the future perceived value of music. Continue Reading
Amazon’s gleaming-new music subscription service stepped into the market today, and we dove in quickly for a test drive.
Prime Music feels like a beta service on its first morning. We found problems with playing music, and an unwieldy system for streaming whole songs, albums, and playlists, which should be easy in an on-demand streaming service. The catalog is demonstrably small, with obvious voids in which one’s listening hopes are extinguished.
But all this might not matter to the intended audience, which is (for now, at least) existing Amazon Prime members. As of today, Prime Music is instantly one of the largest music subscription services in the world. Continue Reading
Rumor turned to reality fast, as yesterday’s reports of an imminent Prime Music launch came true this morning. With Amazon Prime membership estimated between 10-million and 20-million existing subscribers, Prime Music instantly becomes one of the largest subscription music services in the world. Continue Reading