The topic Amazon Music will play ads, remove downloads for some Prime members [U] is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Amazon Music is an underrated Prime perk, offering ad-free music streaming as an alternative to Spotify and other paid services. Or, at least it was, as Amazon is now updating Amazon Prime Music to include ads unless users pay extra.
Update: Amazon says this is supposed to be exclusive to India, though Android Authority points out that the Reddit user in question recieved the notice in Australia. For the time being, it probably doesn’t apply to other regions.
In a notice sent to Prime Music users, Amazon explains that it will start playing ads and remove the ability to download content for offline use through the “Amazon Prime Music” benefit. Those features will now be exclusive to Amazon Music Unlimited, a separate paid subscription. HD and Spatial Audio will also be removed from the Prime benefit.
On a support page that has yet to be updated, Amazon touts that Prime Music offers “All the music ad-free.”
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has made this change to a Prime benefit. In 2024, Amazon Prime Video started showing ads unless users paid extra, and Amazon actually made the ad-free add-on more expensive earlier this year. Unlike that change, though, there doesn’t seem to be any ad-free add-on for Music users are just being forced into the full $9.99/month cost of Amazon Music Unlimited.