Amazon Rolls Out New Perk for Prime Members as Subscription Growth Slows

AlthoughAmazon's Prime subscription service primarily attracts members with its fast and free shipping, it boasts a range of other offerings too — and just added another to the list.

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Amazon announced last week that it is broadening the free tier of its music-streaming service,Amazon Music, to include tens of millions of ad-free songs for its subscribers, perThe Wall Street Journal— a move that comes during a time of fierce competition and slowing growth.

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The tech giant has stated it has more than200 million Prime membersworldwide. Annual growth inPrime subscriptionsin the U.S. was once nearly 20%, but that figure is expected to slump to just 2% by 2025, according to Insider Intelligence.

经济放缓有限公司mes at a time of more subscription competition than ever before. In 2020,Walmartunveiled its membership service, giving customers free shipping on tens of thousands of items. Today, Walmart+ has an estimated 11 million members, perCNBC.

Walmarthas also attempted to sweeten the bargain, throwing in aParamount+ subscriptionearlier this year.

It appears Amazon is hitting back by expanding its Prime members' music catalogs.

"We continue to invest in Prime," Jamil Ghani, vice president ofAmazon Prime, toldWSJ."Music is only the latest example of continued investment ... The No. 1 thing we heard from members was, 'I want more music.' So we figured out in the service, with the publishers, how to make that possible."

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Amazon.com, Inc. is down 48% year over year.