Amazon Music Unlimited launches in India with six-month free trial for Prime members

BENGALURU: Amazon Music has launched its premium tier, Amazon Music Unlimited, in India, taking on Spotify and Apple Music with a promise of studio-quality sound and a lengthy free trial to lure listeners in.

The new tier sits atop a three-level structure. At the top, Unlimited offers access to over 100m songs ad-free, with HD, Ultra HD and Spatial Audio, including Dolby Atmos, plus offline downloads and podcasts. Prime members pay Rs 99 a month; non-Prime subscribers are charged Rs 119. Those already on Prime can try the service free for six months before the billing kicks in. Non-Prime users get a three-month free trial.

The middle tier, Amazon Music for Prime, is included at no extra cost with a Prime membership. It gives on-demand access to the full catalogue of over 100m songs and podcasts, though listeners must tolerate ads and cannot download tracks for offline use, a meaningful step down from Unlimited.

A third option, Amazon Music Free, is due to launch soon. It will offer the same catalogue in an ad-supported format with limited features, opening the door to users unwilling to pay anything at all.

The move marks a notable shift in Amazon’s music strategy in India, where it has long bundled a basic listening experience inside Prime without making much noise about it. Unlimited changes the pitch entirely, targeting audiophiles and heavy listeners prepared to pay for lossless and spatial sound, a format still finding its footing in a market dominated by data-conscious streamers on tight budgets.

Whether Rs 99 a month is enough to prise Indian listeners away from rivals will be the real test. Six free months, though, is a hard offer to ignore.
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