Amazon Prime Music Including Advertisements and Removing Downloads: Difference between revisions

← Older edit

VisualWikitext

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |Type=Post-purchase terms change, Post-purchase performance reduction
 |Description=In select countries starting July 2'nd 2026, Amazon Prime Music subscribers will now receive advertisements and have music downloads disabled.
-}}Starting July 2, 2026, in select countries such as India (<-- UPDATE AS NEW DEVELOPMENTS ARE MADE), the Amazon Prime Music Benefit will begin including advertisements, and not longer support the downloading of music where these features were previously available. To continue listening to unlimited music ad-free and be able to download music, Amazon has launched a new premium tier subscription called "Amazon Music Unlimited" which has the removed features.
+}}'''Starting July 2, 2026''', in select countries such as '''India''' and '''potentially Australia'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon is about to add ads to Prime Music and it’s peak corporate greed |url=https://reddit.com/r/AmazonMusic/comments/1tugpxm/amazon_is_about_to_add_ads_to_prime_music_and_its |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260602211218/https://www.reddit.com/r/AmazonMusic/comments/1tugpxm/amazon_is_about_to_add_ads_to_prime_music_and_its/?solution=a8ec18052798fb18a8ec18052798fb18&js_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ec63d3704c106a658b29fd6b24551d63b6&jsc_orig_r= |archive-date=2026-06-02 |access-date=2026-06-02 |website=Reddit}}</ref><!-- UPDATE THE LOCATIONS AS NEW DEVELOPMENTS ARE MADE! -->, the Amazon Prime Music Benefit will <u>begin including advertisements</u>, and <u>no longer support the downloading of music</u> where these features were previously available. To continue listening to unlimited music ad-free and be able to download music, [[Amazon]] has launched a new premium tier subscription called "'''Amazon Music Unlimited'''" which contains the revoked features.
 ==Background==
-{{Ph-I-B}}
+[[File:Amazon Prime Music Email Picture.jpg|alt=Amazon Prime Music Email Picture|thumb|Amazon Prime Music Email screenshot as received by users in India.]]
+Amazon Prime users located in India received an email from the Amazon Music team stating that the Amazon Prime Music benefit will now include ads and no longer support downloads. This behavior is similar to the changes Amazon carried out when making changes to Amazon Prime Video by removing features from a subscription tier and adding them to another subscription tier at a higher price<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prime Video’s Ad Free subscription is now Prime Video Ultra for $4.99 a month |url=http://aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/prime-video-ultra-ad-free-streaming-subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260505221059/https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/prime-video-ultra-ad-free-streaming-subscription |archive-date=2026-05-05 |access-date=2026-06-02 |website=Amazon News}}</ref>.
+==Inclusion of Advertisements, Removal of Downloads==
+The Amazon Staff team released a blog post stating the new changes to the subscription models for Amazon Music and how these new changes would affect Amazon Prime Music subscription holders going forward. Namely, Amazon will be now including "limited advertisements" and removing the customer's ability to download music. Amazon claims that these changes will evolve Amazon Music to:<blockquote>"give customers in India more choice in how they listen to their favorite music. The three tiers make it simple to find the right experience, whether that’s the most premium audio experience available with the new Amazon Music Unlimited, or a great on-demand catalogue included with Prime membership."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2026-06-02 |title=Amazon Music Unlimited launches in India: Price, plans and how to get six months free |url=https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/amazon-music-unlimited-india-price-plans |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260602210853/https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/entertainment/amazon-music-unlimited-india-price-plans |archive-date=2026-06-02 |access-date=2026-06-02 |website=aboutamazon.in |publisher=Amazon Staff}}</ref> </blockquote>Additionally, Amazon is introducing the Amazon Music Free tier, this will now provide customers with the full audio catalogue with limited features and containing advertisements.
-==[Incident]==
+Finally, Amazon Prime Music subscribers are able to use Amazon Music Unlimited for free during a trial period of six-months immediately before they will be required to pay an additional subscription fee of ₹99 per month, with non-prime users able to do the same for a higher price of ₹119 per month after a three-month trial period.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deepanker Verma |first=Deepanker |date=2026-06-02 |title=Amazon Prime Members in India Will Soon Hear Ads on Amazon Music Unless They Pay Extra |url=https://techlomedia.in/2026/06/amazon-prime-members-in-india-will-soon-hear-ads-on-amazon-music-unless-they-pay-extra-124203/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260602213538/https://techlomedia.in/2026/06/amazon-prime-members-in-india-will-soon-hear-ads-on-amazon-music-unless-they-pay-extra-124203/ |archive-date=2026-06-02 |access-date=2026-06-02 |website=Techlomedia}}</ref>
-{{Ph-I-I}}
-===[Company]'s response===
-{{Ph-I-ComR}}
-==Lawsuit==
-{{Ph-I-L}}
+The following table lists the tier breakdown of the new subscription tiers and their pricing for Amazon Music users in India:
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Amazon Music Subscription Tiered Breakdown
+!TIER
+!WHAT YOU GET
+!PRICE
+|-
+|Amazon Music Unlimited
+|100M+ songs on-demand, ad-free; HD, Ultra HD and Spatial Audio (incl. Dolby Atmos); offline downloads; top podcasts
+|₹99/mo (Prime members); ₹119/mo (non-Prime)
+|-
+|Amazon Music for Prime members
+|Full on-demand access to 100M+ songs and podcasts, with limited ads, without offline downloads—included with Prime at no extra cost
+|Included with Prime
+|-
+|Amazon Music Free
+|    Full catalogue, ad-supported listening—coming soon
+|Free
+|}
+As seen in the table, the differences between the "Amazon Music for Prime members" and the "Amazon Music Free" tiers have very limited differences between them despite the claims by Amazon that "The three tiers make it simple to find the right experience"<ref name=":0" />.
 ==Consumer response==
-{{Ph-I-ConR}}
+Many users on [[Reddit]] have voiced their displeasure with these new changes. One Reddit user commenting on the original post said the following: <blockquote>"It seems like every service is doing this lately. "We know you already pay for premium, but now there's ads and limitations, so you have to pay for PREMIUM PREMIUM to get rid of them". Then, in a few years, they'll have PREMIUM PREMIUM PREMIUM."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Amazon just informed me that my paid music subscription will soon include ads and lose downloads. |url=http://reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1tur3w5/amazon_just_informed_me_that_my_paid_music/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260602210652/https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1tur3w5/amazon_just_informed_me_that_my_paid_music/?solution=eb9d1abda4cbba64eb9d1abda4cbba64&js_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ec7e6536fcd1b605f5f212ded1202aa75a&jsc_orig_r= |archive-date=2026-06-02 |access-date=2026-06-02 |website=Reddit}}</ref></blockquote>Additionally, the original poster said the following:<blockquote>"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but paying for a subscription and then being told I need another subscription to keep the features I already had is getting a little ridiculous."<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>These comments highlight the larger general issue of companies removing previously available features for customers and forcing them to pay more money for continued use of their platform as it worked originally and the general trends of [[Enshittification]] among subscription services.
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}
-{{Ph-I-C}}