Amazon on Thursday expanded its Prime membership offering with the launch of Prime Music, a Spotify-like on-demand music service with a catalog of more than 1 million songs. The company also launched new mobile apps to let customers access this new expanded music library from anywhere.
Amazon has made good on its intention to raise Prime membership fees for U.S. customers, informing members this morning that fees will increase to $99 per year, a 25 percent increase. Even with the program’s higher price, heavy Amazon users will still find value in its free shipping and video features, but those on the fence may soon jump ship.
With the costs of media content and shipping on the rise, Amazon warned last week that it may be forced to raise the cost of its Amazon Prime membership by $20 to $40 in the U.S. this year. With Prime members placing many more orders than their non-member counterparts, however, the warning may simply be a bluff.