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It sounds like Spotify has nothing to fear from Amazon’s music streaming service

Published Jun 11th, 2014 7:25PM EDT

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Remember when some of us thought that Apple’s iTunes Radio might be a significant competitor with Pandora when it was announced last year? Well, we were definitely laughably wrong about that but we do feel confident in saying that Amazon’s new music streaming service won’t pose much of a threat to Spotify. The New York Times reports that Amazon’s new music streaming service will launch as soon as next week but it won’t feature any new releases and it won’t have any albums from the Universal Music Group, which just happens to be the world’s largest music company.

The Times says that the new music streaming service will be part of Amazon’s total Amazon Prime package, which already gives subscribers free two-day shipping, access to movie and TV show streams on Amazon Prime Instant Video and free books through the Kindle First and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Although Amazon recently raised Prime subscription prices up to $99 per year, it’s also kept adding more value to the package including its upcoming music service and a limited number of classic HBO shows.

All the same, music lovers who want to have the best new music first probably won’t drop their Spotify subscriptions anytime soon.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.