A report from BuzzFeed claims that Amazon.com Inc. is looking to release an on-demand music streaming service for Prime subscribers.
Prior to this report, Amazon has been focusing more on music sales than streaming, according to The Verge. The addition of the service could put Amazon in competition with Beats Music, Spotify and Google Play Music All Access.
Five sources familiar with the company's plans said music that is at least six months old would be included in the service.
The sources added that the service is set to launch in June or July this year, GeekWire reported. Amazon has been working on keeping its customers and attracting new ones to Prime since it raised its subscription fee to $99 per year.
Amazon MP3, the company's current digital music service, lets users buy songs and albums and then stream or download them to their devices. However, Amazon has not yet gotten involved in subscription services. The move could be a huge benefit for the company's 20 million Prime subscribers who want to get involved in streaming. More users are beginning to try subscription music services.
The report added that Amazon has finalized licensing deals with Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment division and the Warner Music Group. But no deal has been confirmed yet between Amazon and the Universal Music Group, the biggest music corporation in the world, Bidness Etc reported.
The report came within a day of Apple Inc. announcing its purchase of online music streaming service Beats Music, as well as operator Beats Electronics, for $3 billion. Twitter Inc. has also been looking into having a music streaming service, and was reported to be making a proposal for the German audio streaming service SoundCloud.
The smartphone Amazon is rumored to be developing, along with its Kindle Fire tablets, could benefit from the free streaming service, GeekWire reported. Users being able to get a hold of a free music library and a free video library for these devices could increase their appeal.
The amount that Amazon would be able to spend on music licensing is currently unknown, The Verge reported.
Earlier reports claimed the company is looking to release the rumored smartphone in the same timeframe as the streaming service.
