Amazon Music is updating its “Unlimited” subscription tier to give subscribers in the US, UK and Canada access to audiobooks from Audible's library of a million-plus titles, the company announced on Tuesday (November 19).
With the new perk, Amazon Music Unlimited follows in the footsteps of Spotify, which upgraded its subscription offerings earlier this year to include a bundle of songs and audiobooks together. Although Spotify angered songwriters and publishers by arguing that it didn't have to pay the full mechanical royalty rate because it offered multiple royalty services in one, it appears that Amazon Music will work with publishers to privately set new rates. According to a statement from the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), the trade body is “optimistic” about Amazon's new offer and is “engaging” with the company in a “respectful and productive manner” to find a compensation model for publishers who “It won't reduce revenue for songwriters.”
Subscribers to AMU's individual plan and primary family plan holders are entitled to one audiobook of any length per month, a benefit that continues even after each billing cycle. For those whose appetite for audiobooks exceeds the one-per-month offering, additional titles can be obtained through Audible through monthly subscriptions or a la carte purchases.
The added benefit comes without a price increase — for now. Steve Boomvice president of audio, Twitch and gaming, said Amazon's strategy is to “add new things to the product” that add value and later “figure out what the right pricing strategy is for the long term.” In the US, AMU costs $9.99 for Prime members and $10.99 for non-Prime subscribers, both less than Spotify's $11.99 monthly fee and, for non-Prime subscribers, equal to the price of Apple Music's $10.99.
Spoken word content has already proven to be a valuable complement to music. After AMU added podcasts in 2020, subscribers embraced having music and spoken word content in the same app, Boom noted. “The convenience of having music and speech in the same app has proven really effective. It makes sense to bring audiobooks into it as well.”
Audiobooks will not be available on Amazon Music Prime, the tier included in the basic Prime subscription, or Amazon Music Free, a free option with playlists, radio stations and podcasts.
The idea of ”bundling” multiple services together has become a hot topic for songwriters and publishers. In early March, Spotify Premium subscriptions, including family and binary tiers, were quietly reclassified as group offerings, with music and audiobooks included in the plans.
Under the provisions of Phonorecords IV — the government-regulated guidelines that dictate mechanical royalty rates for streaming from 2023-2027 — group services can meet a lower royalty rate for publishing since subscription dollars must be shared among multiple services (in this case, books and songs). Consequently, Bulletin board estimated that publishers and songwriters will earn about $150 million less in US mechanical royalties than previously expected in the 12 months following the change.
Then CEO/President of NMPA David the Israelite said he would “declare war” on Spotify – and then launched a multi-pronged effort to stop the streamer. This included sending Spotify a cease and desist for unlicensed lyrics, videos and podcast content. filing a legislative proposal in both the US House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary Committees; and filing a Federal Trade Commission complaint. Around the same time, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC) sued Spotify for “improperly” classifying these tiers as bundles.
“We are optimistic about the new Amazon package,” Israelite said Bulletin board in a statement. “Amazon has engaged the music publishing and songwriting industry in a respectful and productive way, unlike Spotify. We expect that this new Amazon package will not reduce revenue for songwriters. Unlike Spotify, Amazon is looking at music creators as business partners and is looking to strike a deal before the first round of royalty payments. This is in stark contrast to Spotify trying to distort compulsory licensing and reduce what they pay songwriters.”
NMPA and Amazon Music have yet to reach a final agreement.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/amazon-music-unlimited-audible-audiobooks-plan/
