Reports Music

Amazon Music The Dark Horse Comes Out Of The Shadows

Mark Mulligan
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The 20,000 Foot View: Back in the days when online music meant online CD sales, Amazon was the king. Then, along came Apple with iTunes music store and Amazon saw the throne snatched from its hands. No sooner had Apple started to enjoy its reign that Spotify came along to usurp the throne. Now streaming’s game of thrones is experiencing another plot twist, with a resurgent Amazon battling for supremacy with an ambitious streaming music strategy that owes a considerable debt of gratitude to Apple for strategic inspiration. Throughout the emergence of the streaming market, Amazon has played the role of a dark horse, skulking on the side lines. Now, Amazon is out of the shadows, and revealing its potential to be one of streaming’s biggest players.

Key Findings

  • Global music            grew by            million to reach            in June 2017 from            million            December 2016 
  • Since            2014            has largely maintained its market            while Amazon accelerated from            position            third place with            million subscribers 
  • Of the            six streaming subscription services, only            and Deezer are ‘pure play’            dependent solely upon streaming for           
  • Amazon is            an Apple’ with its content,            and hardware ecosystem built around           
  • Amazon’s household            focus makes it well placed            target the over            demographic 
  • Over            make            just            of subscribers, under            the                      
  • The battleground            home speakers will be among            aged            and upwards
  • Amazon Prime            employs the three Cs of            content: context, curation and convenience
  • Amazon Prime            sits at            in the US,            Germany,            in Japan,            and in            UK. Echo penetration in the            is            and            in the UK 
  • Amazon is            its addressable market better than            competitors:            of Prime subscribers are            Music users
  • With peak            approaching in many major music            Amazon’s targeting of more mainstream            older consumers will be crucial            driving further growth

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Access Industries, All Access Entertainment, Amazon, Amazon Prime Music, Anghami, Apple, Apple Music, Believe Digital, Bose, Deezer, Google, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Kakao Talk, Kobalt, Leon Entertainment, MelOn, Music Glu, Panasonic, Pandora, QQ Music, Samsung, Sirius XM, Songkick, Sonos, Sony, Spotify, Tencent, Tesla, Warner Music