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Amazon Music now has podcasts

Amazon Music now has podcasts

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Podcasts are the things to have in a music streaming app

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Amazon Music

Amazon Music now offers podcasts. The company issued an update today that brings more than 70,000 shows to the platform, including some major titles, like Serial and Pod Save America, as well as new exclusive deals like a show with DJ Khaled called The First One, where he’ll interview artists about their breakthrough hits and the stories behind them. Disgraceland, a popular show from iHeartMedia, will also become exclusive to the platform starting in February 2021.

Podcasts can be listened to through the updated Amazon Music app, on the web, or on Amazon Echo devices. Echo devices will search Amazon Music by default and will remember where listeners left off, regardless of what platform they use to listen.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon will be selling ads for its shows, although it’s unclear if that means DJ Khaled and other hosts will be reading ads and if paid subscribers will hear these ads, similarly to Spotify.

Of course, this now makes Amazon Music even more of a competitor with Spotify, a company that’s already heavily invested in podcasts. Apple Music now stands out as the primary major music streaming app that has yet to integrate podcasts. Apple operates Apple Podcasts but has kept the two siloed from each other, even though podcasts and music are being combined across platforms to diversify catalogs and turn apps into the go-to places for all audio needs.

Amazon Music’s podcast update is especially intriguing given that Audible recently announced its newest and cheapest subscription plan that gives listeners access to exclusive podcasts. Those shows are seemingly not included in Amazon Music, meaning if people want to hear an Audible show, they’ll have to separately subscribe. Amazon Music, meanwhile, is including shows that are available across all platforms, which differentiates it from Audible currently.