Shares in Swedish streaming giant, Spotify, dived 4% yesterday, following reports Amazon is in talks to launch an ad-supported free music streaming service.
The news will further intensify competition against Apple Music, who is rapidly ramping up its periphery subscription service portfolio – e.g. Apple Arcade gaming service, Apple tv+ and Apple News+.
As previously reported, Amazon is tipped to market its ad-supported streaming service via its Echo smart speakers, and could launch internationally as soon as late this month.
Locally, Amazon Prime costs $6.99 per month (or $54 per year), offering access to its music, movie and TV show streaming library, plus exclusive e-commerce shopping perks.
Latest numbers claim Amazon has “tens of millions” of paid subscription customers (with access to its music library), whilst Spotify boasts 116 million ad-supported users as at February 2019.
The Swedish streaming giant also has 96 million paying subscribers.
[Amazon Prime Video]