Amazon’s music streaming services launch “within weeks”?

According to reports, Amazon is “within weeks” of launching the first of two stand-alone music streaming services in the United States at least.

Rumours have been circulating since June.

The first of these is designed for the Amazon Echo, and will cost $5 a month. Echo owners can access Amazon’s entire music library. But this service is only used on the Echo, Dot, and Tap smart speakers.

The second service, reportedly titled Amazon Music Unlimited and due for arrival in early 2017, will take the battle to rivals Spotify and Apple Music by being accessed on a number of devices.

The Seattle-based Amazon has apparently already locked in deals with record companies, and for $10 users can access its catalogue of “millions of songs”.

Amazon wanted to launch the two services simultaneously just before the Christmas holidays, but talks with labels took longer than expected (although not as long as the talks Spotify had with them).

Reports suggest that Amazon Prime Unlimited won’t be part of the existing basic US$99 Amazon Prime yearly subscription, and that customers will have to pay extra for it.

Sure, Amazon is entering late into a crowded field where Spotify has already got 100 million users and 40 million paying subscribers, and Apple Music landed 17 million subscribers in its first year of operation. But it must be remembered that Amazon is not interested in becoming the biggest streaming service. It is to increase sales of its gadgets, even if the streaming service (initially) runs at a loss.

The two-year-old digital personal assistant Echo, for instance, now handles 100 functions. These include getting info, organising schedules, turning down the lights paying bills, ordering pizzas and purchasing goods online.

Amazon is hoping that Echo’s appeal will extend to consumers who like the idea of calling up streaming tracks with just a command without going to the screen of a desktop or smartphone.

The strategy could be a major success for a company whose stock has risen 18% this year and which generated US$44.7 billion in this year’s fourth quarter.