Amazon Music Unlimited - I Caved

I've been an Amazon customer since college, so we're talking about 17 years here or so. When Prime was announced, I immediately signed up and I've been a member ever since. I resisted Amazon Music Unlimited for a long time just because I didn't want to spend more money with Amazon each month... but I finally caved. For $7.99 a month I've now got access to about every song ever recorded... it's just so much metal I couldn't ignore this service any longer.

I was already routinely using Amazon Prime Music for my gym routine. Music Unlimited just makes this better - literally anything you can think of is on there, except for the Def Leppard albums from their debut through Hysteria. You get a free 30 day trial before the billing kicks in.

Are you using a service like Music Unlimited to discover new bands?

Be as punk as you wanna be. Tens of millions of songs. One for every moment. https://t.co/Z4z5oHSGQy pic.twitter.com/NFOWKjESnx

— Amazon Music (@amazonmusic) May 19, 2017

Comments

[Bob]

I pay $7.99 per month for the AudioAddict Network. They operate fully-curated Internet radio stations for every musical genre you can think of: everything from classical to jazz to rap to sounds of nature. I like what they do because there is a real person with knowledge of the genre curating the music, and everything is cross-faded and at the same volume level like an actual radio station.

[Gary]

I pretty much stick to my own library on my iPad through Apple.(I do have Amazon music through my prime subscription) Yep, I'm stuck in the past and it has everything I'd ever want to hear. If I stumble upon new stuff I like (almost always through you guys and you're various recomendation posts) I go ahead and download it. 85% of what's getting pushed out there, at least to my tastes, is like listening to explosive diarrhea with an electronic beat behind it. Lol

[Dj]

Don't use Amazon but will have to check it out. For streaming I use Spotify which you can find anything you want on it. If has all the old stuff I like and sometimes they stream new albums in their entirety before the physical product is released. But if I'm not streaming on Spotify I still love to use the physical format..I guess I'm weird. Still buy CDS and getting way more into vinyl because they release cool packaging along with extra stuff.

[Dj]

And I've noticed in the comeback of vinyl and especially streaming services whether it be Apple, Amazon, Spotify, etc that a lot of people are going back listening to an entire album and getting the whole experience, I've heard a lot of people doing it especially in the rap and hip hop world, I think metal and rock artists should be more open to trying new streaming services because it could build a potential huge fan base

[Kari]

YES!!!! Who needs Itunes or spotify! Amazon Music ROCKS! I signed up at beginning of the year for a free trial and kept the service; worth every penny spent each month!! Everything right at your fingertips! Albums, create your own playlists, singles. When u buy music in cd or vinyl, amazon zips the album into your music account. Can't talk highly enough about this premium service!

[Jakki Steal]

I've never streamed or ipaded or whatever people all calling it these days?
Sadly I've noticed that the younger generation has no clue whatsoever as to what a album is or that bands actually will create 10 t0 12 songs to be kept as somewhat of a time capsule of a magical period in time.
For some reason, I have no problem making friends w/people that are at the very least 10 years younger than me.
All they know is that music only comes by the single song.
& that every single song means nothing after 6 or 7 days.
I cant tell you how many times I've referenced a song that came out a week or 2 ago & to be met w/completely dumbfounded faces.
All they do is forget everything that happened days before.
It's very depressing!

[Gary]

@Jakki Don't worry buddy. you'll know there's a problem if you start yelling at them to get the hell off your lawn ( I'll be 54 in August. I'm already practicing driving 42 mph in the passing lane with my turn signal stuck on and eating dinner at 3:30 pm in my jogging suit, while regaling my kids with tales of walking to school uphill (both ways) through 4 foot snowdrifts and 85 mph winds with my mouth full of food) 😂😂

[Jakki Steal]

$h!T, I'm 35 & I already feel that way!
I just hate how technology has oddly made music so irrelevant!
I guarantee that if (when growing up as a kid/teen) in the 80's/early 90's, if computers/cell phones was my only way of getting music, I would have never gotten into music as hardcore as I am today.

Discovering the magic of magazines like Metal Edge/Circus & MTV shows like Headbangers Ball are what helped shaped me into a hardcore fangirl for glam metal!
I couldn't imagine growing up w/out those musical outlets.
No wonder rock/metal hasn't had any kind of impactful revolution since the early 90's w/grunge (love it or hate it).

Teens for the last 2 decades or so don't really give a shit about music PERIOD!

[TheCheapSeats]

Personally, I use Spotify premium for $9.99/month and love it (although same thing with Amazon about Def Leppard). Spotify will curate a playlist for you each week based on what you've been listening to with mixed results, but I have found some new stuff through that. Spotify also has a new release radar that alerts you to new releases based on your listening habits.

I had an online conversation with someone recently who said that streaming has made him less excited about album releases. I tend to hold the opposite view. I go to twitter every Friday to see what everyone is listening to. I can check out the entire album before making a decision on whether or not to purchase it.

Growing up, I made a lot of purchases based on reading Circus Magazine, Hit Parader, etc. Also because of one song I heard. Or because the artist I liked had a new album out. I was disappointed many times. Now I know what I'm purchasing.

The thing I hate is when an artist releases half of the damned album as singles before the album. I want to listen to the record in its entirety. So, Jakki, you can blame the artists as much as the consumers for the single-driven landscape.

I think if you have your music and not looking for new stuff, ever, then streaming services would be useless to you. If you like to explore and expand and discover, they are great.

My $0.02.

[Bob]

Everything old is new again. Let's remember that, until 1967, singles outsold albums by a wide margin. Epic 1966 albums like Revolver and Pet Sounds started to turn that tide, and in '67, albums outsold singles for the first time. Albums had a really good run for the next 35 years or so. who nows, maybe they'll come back around again eventually.

[Shockey]

I'm basically same technique as @Gary. I am 42, have been collecting music all my life so have my 2000 CDs and vinyl that I'll pull out.. listen to, and occasionally rip to iTunes. Once in a while I'll stream free from Pandora. I find out about newer music through blogs like this or Podcasts like Rock and Roll Geek, Decibel Geek, Rock and\or Roll, Talking Metal, Rock Solid (Stephen Pearcy is on latest episode, btw), Cobras and Fire, Rock Strikes 10, and Metal Moment.