Amazon is set to limit the number of times you can listen to tracks on its forthcoming music streaming service, according to a new report.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Amazon is said to be in discussions with music labels to launch its own music streaming service. The service would form part of the existing Amazon Prime subscription package, which enables a growing number of benefits over and above free next-day delivery.
However, The Wall Street Journal is now claiming that the music streaming element won’t be the kind of generous experience Spotify and Google Play Music All Access users will be used to. According to those familiar with the matter, Amazon may "limit how much a person can listen to any given song."
The idea behind this appears to be to encourage users to spend money in another of Amazon’s online services.
Amazon is set to increase its US Prime subscription fee by as much as $40 due to an increase in postage costs, and a new music service would certainly sweeten the deal. However, it seems as if this price bump won’t be enough of a revenue boost to sustain the online giant’s music plans.
The theory goes that once a user’s listening limit has been reached, they’ll look to buy their favourite tracks in Amazon’s own MP3 store.
It seems as if Amazon isn’t getting everything its own way, however. Negotiations with record labels appear to have reached an impasse, with Amazon proposing a fixed outlay for use of the labels’ music.
Usually, streaming services will pay out according to the number of times the music is played. It appears as if music labels aren't buying into Amazon's music streaming vision just yet.
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