Two more music streaming services to enter market?

Reports from the US are suggesting that online retailer Amazon’s long rumoured on-demand, ad-free music streaming service could in fact be a double shot.

According to Recode, one service is specifically for its Echo connected speaker device. It will cost US$4 or $5 a month, which is half of what Spotify and Apple Music charge.

Obviously, it is part of Amazon’s strategy to build up sales of its Echo device, which it introduced in 2014 to 10 million by the end of next year. It reportedly sold 1 million units in the second half of 2015.

But also in the pipeline, reportedly, is a separate $10 a month version that will work on all devices, like its rivals, and also download for offline playback.

The company is still in negotiations with record labels and publishers even though reports suggest the two new streaming services could be on the market next month. They are expected to have a far wider catalogue of songs than Amazon’s current streaming service Prime Music which comes as part of the $10.99-a-month Prime subscription fee but only has 1 million tracks. That’s just one-thirtieth of what Spotify and Apple offer.

It is not known if the streaming service can be accessed just through the two-year-old $179.99 Echo device (which costs $179.99 in the US), or also the cheaper Amazon Tap ($114.99) and $89.99 Echo Dot. These smart speakers are powered by Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant which provides answers to users and interacts with other apps like Dominos to order pizza and Uber to request a ride.

It’ll be interesting how Amazon fares with streaming through speakers when the trend by streamers is through mobiles so they can access their music on the run. Apple Music launched with a focus on mobile phones. Earlier this year, Spotify said 52% of its users were using mobiles.

Cheap $5 subscription tiers which don’t provide users with song choices have also been tried previously have not worked. But such a scheme is what Pandora is also supposed to be considering.