Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), the world largest e-commerce company will enter the music streaming market to compete with existing service providers including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Pandora Media (NYSE:P), and Spotify.
The e-commerce giant is planning to launch a standalone music streaming service this summer or early in the fall, according to Reuters based on information from people familiar with the matter.
The sources said Amazon’s music streaming service offers a competitive catalog of songs and the company is currently finalizing the licenses with labels for the services.
They also stated that Amazon’s subscription fee for its music streaming service is $9.99 a month, which is similar to the offerings of major competitors in the industry.
The e-commerce giant aims to further increase the appeal of its home smart speaker Amazon Echo by offering a streaming service. The smart home speaker allows users to search the internet and order products using a voice command. Since its launching last year, the Amazon Echo has become increasingly popular.
The sources said Amazon’s music steaming service will make the company a one-stop shop for content and goods, according to the sources.
Amazon poses a threat for other music streaming service providers
Jay Samit, a former music executive, commented, “A music service will further increase the daily interactions between Amazon and its customer base.”
On the other hand, David Pakman, a partner at Venrock, who headed Apple’s early music efforts, commented that Amazon will unlikely attract many customers from Spotify, but it could pose a threat to other players in the music streaming industry.
Pakman added that Amazon’s music streaming services is “inevitable” and he thinks the e-commerce giant “might take a little oxygen of Apple’s potential pool of paying users.”
Amazon to invest $3 Billion in India
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently announced that the company will invest $3 billion in India citing the reason that the country offers a “huge potential.” The e-commerce giant already invested $2 billion in the country in 2014.
In a statement, Bezos said, “We have already created some 45,000 jobs in India and continue to see huge potential in the Indian economy.” He added that the “Amazon.in team surpassing even our most ambitious planned milestones.
