The UK’s Featured Artists Coalition has teamed up with Amazon Music again for the second year of its Step Up Fund. The post Featured Artists Coalition Step Up Fund returns for second year appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

The latest report from DiMA explores some of the data and trends around country music and streaming – in the US and globally. The post DiMA’s latest report explores country music’s streaming audience appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music has been named as the exclusive livestreaming partner for the country-focused Stagecoach Festival. The post Amazon Music to stream Stagecoach Festival on Twitch and Prime Video appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

In the music-streaming world ‘programming’ usually describes playlist curation. However, Amazon Music is active in the older sense: TV shows. The post Amazon Music unveils video shows for hip-hop and Latin music appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Music streaming services love original content, and some of them also love spatial audio. George Ezra is thus in a sweet spot with Amazon. The post Amazon Music bags six George Ezra tracks as spatial originals appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

AI music firm Endel has found a new frontier for its sleep tracks: Amazon Music. It has launched a ‘Sleep Science’ playlist with the DSP. The post Amazon Music adds ‘Sleep Science’ playlist from AI music startup Endel appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

There’s a changing of the guard in the sponsorship roster for prestigious songwriting awards The Ivors: Apple Music out, Amazon Music in. The post Amazon Music is new lead sponsor of The Ivors songwriting awards appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

There’s a big figure in the latest blog post from Twitch’s chief product officer Tom Verrilli and chief monetization officer Mike Minton. The post Twitch says its streamers earned more than $1bn in 2022 appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Operating in the streaming environment in 2023 is a case of balancing promotional demands from streaming and social media services. The post You Me At Six get some promotional welly from Amazon and TikTok appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Hi-res and surround-sound music is one of the key points of competition between Amazon Music and Apple Music. The post Amazon Music shows off 360 Reality Audio music in cars at CES appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

At the end of 2021 there were 523 million users of paid music streaming subscriptions. The post Report: global music subscribers grew to 616.2m in Q2 2022 appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music really is throwing its full weight behind British artist Stormzy’s new album, with a Stormzy special event to be held in London. The post Stormzy to chat and perform for Amazon Music +44 showcase appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music has announced its latest pair of artist partnerships in the UK: one offline and one online. The post Amazon Music reveals Stormzy pop-up and Central Cee livestream appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

As in previous years, music streaming services are gearing up to celebrate Christmas with a battle royale of exclusive music. The post Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music in Christmas covers battle appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music has been making a significant push recently around merchandise, encouraging artists to explore the ways they can sell merch. The post Amazon Music for Artists adds two more merchandise features appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music really does have the bit between its teeth when it comes to livestreamed concerts. The post The 1975 set to be Amazon Music’s next concert livestream appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Just a day after announcing a new series of weekly livestreamed concerts, Amazon Music has announced another online set-piece. The post Amazon Music adds another livestream: Kendrick Lamar appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Amazon Music is going to be livestreaming weekly music concerts, but not through the sister service you might expect. ‘Amazon Music Live’ will air every Thursday not on Twitch, but on Amazon Prime Video. The post Amazon Music launches series of livestreamed music concerts appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Music Ally and Amazon Music have launched a free five-course educational video series called the Amazon Music for Artists Pro Series. The post Amazon Music and Music Ally launch Amazon Music for Artists Pro Series appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Artist Mabel released her new album ‘About Last Night…’ on Friday (15 July) complete with enhanced versions for two of the biggest streaming services. The post Apple and Amazon get enhanced versions of Mabel album appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

The big streaming services love a pop-up installation partnership with a major artist. The latest example is Amazon Music teaming up with Coldplay to launch ‘The Atmospheres’. It’s an “intergalactic audio-visual experience” that will touch down in London, New York, Tokyo and Berlin (unsurprisingly, in the four countries that are Amazon Music’s biggest markets) for […]

The limited-edition version of the Echo Smart Speaker costing $229.99 appears to have already sold out of pre-orders, ahead of shipping in October. The post Amazon is selling a Billie Eilish-branded Echo smart speaker appeared first on Music Ally. Source: Music ally

Lead: Each DSP has a programme dedicated to supporting new artists: weaponising the platform by endorsing them to a large audience, and hopefully accelerating their careers. Places on these programmes are, of course, keenly sought after – so what is experienced by that lucky few? Is it really the win-win it seems? What do artists need […]

Amazon Music’s app is steadily adding more features beyond basic audio streaming. Having integrated livestreams last year, now the app is getting merchandise features. As of this week, artists who are taking part will have their merch shown on their profile pages, with Billboard reporting that most of it will be available with Prime shipping for Amazon […]

When YouTube, SoundCloud and Twitch took part in a DSPs hearing at the UK’s streaming economics inquiry recently – well, Twitch’s rep didn’t get to speak – we knew there’d be another session for the big guns of the audio streaming world. Now it has been confirmed for next week: Tuesday 23 February. Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music […]

Alright, it’s officially Christmas season now – don’t @ us, the John Lewis ad is out – and Amazon Music is going in strong with its now-annual lineup of original tracks. This year it’s got Justin Bieber doing ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’; Mary J. Blige doing ‘Last Christmas’; and Carrie Underwood doing a brand new song called ‘Favorite […]

If you’re the kind of person who shouts at people who put their Christmas decorations too early, look away now. Dolly Parton is doing a Christmas-themed livestream for Amazon Music… on 13 November. ‘Dolly Parton’s Comin’ Home for Christmas’ will be streamed live on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel and within its app, with a performance and […]

The timing may be awkward given the renewed DMCA takedown notices currently battering Twitch, but Amazon Music is stepping up its livestreaming activity, including with its sister platform. It’s launched a new weekly show called Breakthrough Live, which will air live performances from artists in a different genre every Tuesday. The show will be broadcast live […]

It’s almost a surprise that this hasn’t happened sooner, but Amazon Music has now integrated Twitch, the live streaming service owned by Amazon, into its Amazon Music mobile apps. Artists can now livestream via Twitch, with the streams appearing on their profile page in the Amazon Music mobile app, and followers will be alerted when they […]

When we interviewed Amazon’s music boss Steve Boom earlier this year, we asked him if Amazon Music might follow Spotify’s push into podcasts. “I can’t talk much about it… we’ve been noting with interest how much time they’re spending on podcasting, but I don’t really have much to say on it,” he said. That may change […]

Amazon Music has announced a new initiative called [Re]Discover, which it says will focus on digging into artists’ back catalogues. It’s kicking off with Bob Marley this month: there’s a [Re]Discover branded playlist drawn from his entire career, but also the launch of an ‘Official Bob Marley Store’ on Amazon’s main shopping service, bringing together music streams, […]

Amazon Music is the latest streaming service to launch a programme to push emerging artists. It is called Breakthrough and echoes the initiatives of Spotify (Radar), Apple Music (Up Next), Deezer (Next) and other rivals. The initial crop of acts is drawn from the US, UK and Germany – Arlo Parks, Jay1, Kiana Ledé, Gabby Barrett, Provinz […]

Slowly but surely, the crossover between Amazon Music and its parent company’s Twitch subsidiary is growing. Amazon Music’s channel on the livestreaming platform has been ramping up during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the streaming service has also been throwing some promotional weight behind artists’ own streams on Twitch. Now it’s launching a series of ‘Amazon […]

On many levels, Amazon has already proven its worth in shaking up the music streaming business – not least because it offers the most diversified selection of subscription tiers to consumers. It also made headlines last year by propelling Ellie Goulding’s Amazon-exclusive (a cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’) to the top of the UK charts, […]

Lead: The playlist hasn’t killed the album… yet. Instead, artists and labels are caught between both and are starting to experiment with the shapes that releases can now take. Justin Bieber has begun chopping up his album into a series of EPs, designed in part to find the sweet spot on streaming services that drive […]

Wu-Tang Clan member Ol’ Dirty Bastard released his debut solo album ‘Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version’ on 28th March 1995. To mark its quarter-century anniversary Amazon has created the Unique: Return To The 36 Chambers 25 Years Later mini-documentary. It features previously unseen footage of the late rapper as well as interviews […]

With more than 55 million music streaming users around the world, most of whom are paying, Amazon is the third biggest player in the global music subscriptions market behind Spotify and Apple Music. One area in which it has lagged those rivals has been artist analytics: the data it provides artists and their teams on […]

Usually when Music Ally reports on Amazon’s financial results, we add in a sentence noting that the company hasn’t disclosed any useful numbers for its music services. This time round, the reason is different: the company already disclosed some earlier in the month, when it revealed that it now has more than 55 million Amazon […]

The UK’s Brit Awards have a new partner from the world of streaming services. Amazon Music will be the ‘digital music partner’ for the event in February. That means Amazon’s music services will get to stream the performances from the awards after the event; host the official Brit Awards 2020 playlist as well as other […]

Amazon is the latest streaming service to publish some year-end charts, including a new name as its most popular artist of 2019. Taylor Swift takes that honour for Amazon Music, joining Post Malone (Spotify) and J Balvin (Deezer), while Billie Eilish was Apple’s editor-chosen ‘Global Artist of the Year’, and Daddy Yankee / Snow had […]

When Amazon launched a free, ad-supported music-streaming service in April, it was only available in the US, for Echo smart speakers. That careful rollout is now expanding considerably: Amazon’s ad-supported music tier is now available in the UK and Germany too, through the Amazon Music smartphone app and FireTV devices as well as Echos. Limitations remain: this is […]

Fresh from adding an ‘HD’ tier to its Music Unlimited streaming service, Amazon appears to be preparing to add another element in to the mix: music videos. At least, that’s the gist of a ‘direct license amendment’ sent to licensors on behalf of Amazon by rights-management firm Music Reports. The email, which Music Ally has […]

Lead: TikTok is  an essential consideration for artist marketing in 2019, particularly for pop acts. But for all the strategies and careful coordination, the best things on the app are often those that blindside everyone. We spotlight the best recent uses of music (and surprise catalogue reappearances) on TikTok in recent months and also look […]

The revolving door between major labels and streaming services continues to spin – and it IS a revolving door: UMG’s recent hiring of Spotify’s Mike Biggane as its EVP of music strategies and tactics shows the flow isn’t one-way. Amazon Music announced yesterday that Adam Block is its new global head of music catalogue. It’s […]

Amazon launched its ad-supported music-streaming tier in April, initially in the US, but details of its plans for that advertising haven’t been talked about much. Now Advertising Age has bagged a copy of Amazon’s pitch deck to brands, and says that the likes of Colgate, L’Oréal and Lululemon are among those invited to test ‘audio ads’ […]

Amazon is famously cagey when it comes to releasing meaningful numbers for its music services, but a well-briefed report by the Financial Times this morning offers some new numbers. “The number of people subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited has grown by about 70 per cent in the past year, according to people briefed on its performance,” it […]

Ice cream. Weepy movies. Three-hour gym sessions. Howling at the moon like a crestfallen wolf. All good ways to respond to being dumped. Or you could listen to Katy Perry’s new ‘Songs About Moving On’ playlist on Amazon Music, of course. It’s the first in a new series of playlists for Amazon under the banner […]

Lead: Email marketing is far from dead. We look at why it is still relevant, how email tools and platforms are getting smarter and where they are allowing users greater ways to target audiences, segment audiences and personalise messaging. Yet there are still many pitfalls, so in this issue we outline how to use email […]

We reported on Amazon’s latest financial results last week. In the official filing, the company revealed a music stat! Albeit one bundled in with video. “Total video and music expense was $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion in Q1 2018 and Q1 2019,” reported Amazon. “Total video and music expense includes licensing and production costs associated with […]

Some of its thunder may have been stolen by YouTube Music’s free, ad-supported launch on Google Home and other smart speakers, but Amazon has nevertheless launched its own free tier for Alexa-enabled devices. As reported prior to the launch, the tier is supported by advertising, and can be used by people without a Prime membership. […]

Earlier this week, we reported on figures published by research firm eMarketer, suggesting that Spotify might overtake Pandora for US listeners by 2021. Now the company has broken out some more of its predictions for the US market, this time focusing on Amazon’s music-streaming business. “Amazon Music will cross 35 million monthly listeners in the US this […]

Playlists have been referred to as everything from the new album, the new compilation, the new greatest hits, through to the new radio, the new MTV and more. Whether you’re a pop act trying to build a truly global audience or just trying to make a living from making mood music, if you’re not on […]

This Friday (8 March) is International Women’s Day, which has become something that pretty much every music-streaming service throws its weight behind in some way, particularly curated playlists. Amazon Music, for example, has roped in a bunch of ‘guest curators’ from the artist world this year, and it’s a super selection: *takes deep breath* Jess […]

British band Mumford & Sons have become the latest artist to produce some exclusive music for Amazon Music. Although in this case, the songs are already well-known: what’s exclusive are new ‘reimagined’ versions of ‘White Blank Page’ and ‘Forever’. Amazon is suggesting that fans say ‘Alexa, play the Amazon Original by Mumford and Sons’ to […]