Amazon Prime Music Including Advertisements and Removing Downloads
Starting July 2, 2026, in select countries such as India and potentially Australia[1], the Amazon Prime Music Benefit will begin including advertisements, and no 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 contains the revoked features.
Background
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[2]. Amazon claims that this change will evolve Amazon Music to:
"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."[3]
Additionally, the Amazon Music Free tier will now provide customers with the full audio catalogue with limited features and containing advertisements.
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.[3][4]
[Incident]
The following is the tier breakdown of the new subscription tiers and their pricing for Amazon Music users in India:
| 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"[3].
Consumer response
Many users on Reddit have voiced their displeasure with these new changes. One Reddit user said the following:
"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."[5]
This comment highlights the larger general issue of tech 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
- ↑ "Amazon is about to add ads to Prime Music and it's peak corporate greed". Reddit. Archived from the original on 2026-06-02. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- ↑ "Prime Video's Ad Free subscription is now Prime Video Ultra for $4.99 a month". Amazon News. Archived from the original on 2026-05-05. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Amazon Music Unlimited launches in India: Price, plans and how to get six months free". aboutamazon.in. Amazon Staff. 2026-06-02. Archived from the original on 2026-06-02. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- ↑ Deepanker Verma, Deepanker (2026-06-02). "Amazon Prime Members in India Will Soon Hear Ads on Amazon Music Unless They Pay Extra". Techlomedia. Archived from the original on 2026-06-02. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- ↑ "Amazon just informed me that my paid music subscription will soon include ads and lose downloads". Reddit. Archived from the original on 2026-06-02. Retrieved 2026-06-02.