In the increasingly popular game of music streaming, more and more players are stating to appear on the board.
Earlier this year, industry reports from England’s IFPI and America’s RIAA showed that the likes of streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, Rdio and Pandora now make significant contributions to the health and financial growth of the music industry. The reports showed that in the USA, on-demand music subscription services, combined with online streaming websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, accounted for over $1 billion in music sales in 2012.
No doubt inspired by such figures, joining IT giants Google, Twitter – who launched Twitter #music last month – and Apple (despite some initial setbacks in signing off on licensing), online retailer Amazon announced its own plans to get involved in the streaming market last month.
Now it seems they have decided to take things a step further, with rumours arising that an Amazon audio-only streaming device is in the works.
According to Billboard, the audio device is designed for streaming through speakers or even TV using Amazon’s own mp3 music library, and if all goes to plan, it could make a serious impact on the current music industry. Judging from their plans for a music subscription service, Amazon’s budding product could work in conjunction with this service, if and when it launches.
Self-professed “professional music geek”, Alan Cross, has likened the as-yet embryonic device to Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle, which he calls “a window to everything Amazon sells.” The proposed Amazon streaming device would look to do for music what the Kindle did for e-books, giving an always-on access to Amazon Music.
First released in 2007, the handheld e-book device could originally hold the equivalent of 200 titles and is still one of the most popular readers of its kind. It has since expanded to the Kindle Fire, which includes 3G capabilities, space for over 1,000 titles and allow its users to rent or purchase HD movies and games.
The proposed Amazon streaming device would look to do for music what the Kindle did for e-books, giving an always-on access to Amazon Music, instantly making it a major competitor not only to the Spotifys and Deezers of the world, but also iTunes.
The rumoured device and streaming service is no doubt aiming to rival Amazon’s market leader Apple, and its dominance in the music industry through its iTunes music store, which recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary.
Amazon aren’t the first to tackle the tech titan, with Canadian music legend, Neil Young, announcing plans late last year to launch a new music player that focuses on audio fidelity, letting music lovers hear music the way it was intended to be heard.
Appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman last year, the Crazy Horse ringleader unveiled his digital music player, tentatively named Pono. Focusing on the highest possible quality sounds, Pono will enable users to convert their digital music catalogue into high quality analogue tracks, with the intention to bring listeners the true sounds of the recordings, fresh from the studio. The rumoured device and streaming service is no doubt aiming to rival Amazon’s market leader Apple, and its dominance in the music industry through its iTunes music store.
The conception for Pono came after Young allegedly tried and failed to collaborate with iTunes to bring fans high quality tracks, the musician then decided to take it into his own hands, saying “I have consistently reached out to try to assist Apple with true audio quality, and I have even shared my high-resolution masters with them.” He says that at least now this service “will force iTunes to be better and to improve quality at a faster pace.”
Since that October reveal on David Letterman however, things have gone quiet on the Pono front of late, with no official launch date in sight. A statement on their website states: “We’re still toiling away on making this happen (yes, there are record labels, artists, publishers and more to finalize with)”, and they ask “dear music lovers” to follow them on social media for updates as they come to hand.
With this in mind, it begs the question of what Amazon’s planned device will actually bring to the table. If Pono will supposedly bring analogue-quality tracks to a portable music player, and the iTunes store already dominates in terms of library size, what can Amazon offer that doesn’t exist already? If their music is of regular MP3 quality, and it requires purchase from the Amazon store, will it be yet another gadget to put in your pocket?
Leading streaming services Spotify and Deezer already offer the convenience of portability, with premium subscriptions giving users unlimited access to thousands of songs from all their devices, with both companies asking just $11.99 per month. Unless Amazon plan to propose a significantly cheaper subscription, it’s difficult to see what edge they will have.
All this speculation may remain just that though, if sources from the Wall Street Journal are to be believed, apparently pointing out that these products might never reach development as Amazon focuses its efforts on expanding its Kindle Fire model and Amazon Music service. Still, stranger things have happened.
