Amazon, the Web’s biggest retailer,is looking into the possibility of starting its very own music subscription service, reports suggest. The company is also reportedly in talks with various music companies about the service.
The company, is said to have shown an interest in an on-demand service for music similar to popular music service Spotify.
However, details at this point are few and the talks are said to be informal.
“All the signs point to an arms race in the online music sector and Spotify likely touched it off. The Stockholm-based company has seen big growth and now has 6 million paid subscribers worldwide after adding 1 million since December,” The Verge writes.
As of now, Spotify offers a free, ad-supported service as well as a $9.99 per month ad-free plan. The company also says that it has a total of 24 million active users worldwide. Its competitors include Rdio and Rhapsody, although Google and Apple are also rumored to be working on their own projects.
While Google is believed to be in talks with record companies and music publishers about starting a subscription music services for both YouTube and Google Play, Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal, is also said to be in negotiations for a Web radio service similar to Pandora.
“If Amazon decides to launch a subscription music service, it already has much of the infrastructure needed, including cloud music storage and its Cloud Player, which allows customers to stream songs from Amazon's servers,” the report adds.
