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Amazon Music may be bigger than we thought

Amazon Music may be bigger than we thought

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Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions have grown more than 100 percent in the past six months

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon Music has tens of millions of active subscribers, the company tells The Verge. While analysts have often pointed to research that indicates it’s the third-largest company for on-demand streaming music (behind Spotify and Apple Music), Amazon has remained mum on confirming numbers.

Amazon has two tiers of music subscription: Prime Music (free for Prime subscribers) and Music Unlimited, which has monthly fees ranging from $3.99 to $14.99 depending on the number of devices, users, and if you’re already an Amazon Prime member. While Prime Music offers around 2 million songs ad-free, Music Unlimited provides more songs, greater control, and it’s cheaper than competitors’ $9.99 monthly fee for a single account.

Amazon launched Music Unlimited in April 2017 to compete with major streaming players while leveraging its Echo smart speakers, already deeply integrated with its music offerings and in millions of homes. Last year, Steve Boom, the vice president of Amazon Music, said in an interview that he “ See[s] us as one of the top global streaming services ... I expect us to grow faster than everybody else.”

It appears that those predictions are being met. Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions have grown more than 100 percent in the past six months, and while the company won’t specify an exact number, it’s the first time it’s given some indication of how many users it actually has.