In a clear response to Apple announcing new lossless audio at no extra charge for Apple Music subscribers, Amazon today announced removal of its upcharge for Amazon Music HD. Previously, Amazon charged $5 more per month for the higher fidelity audio option. Now Amazon Prime members can listen to what Amazon is calling “Ultra HD” music for $7.99/month. Or $9.99/month if not a prime member.
Amazon Music today announced that going forward, its high-quality streaming tier, Amazon Music HD, will be available to all eligible Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers at no extra cost, unlocking access to the highest-quality streaming audio for even more music fans. In 2019, Neil Young called the launch of HD audio for Amazon “the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio” and now, even more fans can stream music with all of the depth, vibrancy, and emotion from artists’ original recordings.
“When we first launched Amazon Music HD, our goal was to lead the industry by enabling music fans around the world to stream the best quality recording, the way artists intended their music to be heard,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. “We’re thrilled now to make Amazon Music HD available to everyone at no extra cost. All music fans should have access to this quality of music, and now they do!”
With Amazon Music HD, customers can stream more than 70 million lossless songs which are available at 16-bit/44.1kHz.
Customers can also stream more than 7 million songs in Ultra HD (better than CD quality) which are available at 24-bit/192kHz. Amazon has added more than 5 million songs to its Ultra HD catalog since its 2019 launch, providing customers with the largest selection of music in Ultra HD. With Amazon Music HD, customers also have access to a rapidly-growing catalog of songs remixed in 3D Audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio. Listeners can stream these 3D mixes when listening on Amazon’s groundbreaking high-fidelity smart speaker, Echo Studio. Music in 360RA can also be streamed via Amazon Music HD on Sony’s RA5000 and RA3000 speakers by using Alexa Cast.
Amazon Music Plans Compared
| Not Prime Member | Prime Member* | |||
| Price/mo. | Price/mo. | Quality | Songs | |
| Music “Included with Prime” | N/A | Free | MP3 | 2 million |
| Student Music Unlimited | $0.99 | $0.99 | MP3 | 75 million |
| Echo Music Unlimited (single device) | $3.99 | $3.99 | MP3 | 75 million |
| Amazon Music Unlimited (after requesting free HD upgrade) | $9.99 | $7.99 | Lossless & Hi-res | 75 million |
| Amazon Music HD | $9.99 | $7.99 | Lossless & Hi-res | 75 million |
* Amazon Prime costs $12.99/month or $119/year
Price & Availability
New and existing subscribers to the Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan, at $7.99/month for Prime members and $9.99/month for Amazon customers, or the Family Plan, at $14.99/month, can now easily upgrade to Amazon Music HD at no extra cost. The Amazon Music HD tier was previously an additional $5/month for current subscribers to the Individual or Family Plan. For current subscribers to Amazon Music HD, there will be no extra charge for HD starting with their next billing cycle.
Subscribers to Amazon Music Unlimited can now upgrade to Amazon Music HD at no extra cost in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.
Learn more here.
JOHN T. MOORE JR.
June 5, 2021 at 4:28 am
We are paying the prime price for Amason and i believe we get limited amounts of Videos as well as limited music. Can we keep that at no extra cost as we had been? Really would enjoy the HD and Untra HD but cannot afford anything else. Do you think one day they will allow the Prime members have full access to all music?
Ian White
June 5, 2021 at 2:44 pm
If you are paying for Prime already, you should have access to all of the music on Amazon Music including Amazon Music HD for $7.99/month. Amazon dropped the surcharge that people were paying for the hi-res lossless music on the platform.
Ian White
Brian Mitchell
June 5, 2021 at 6:10 pm
Amazon Music’s price tiers are somewhat confusing because of Prime bundling and naming.
Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Music HD have essentially merged.
Music “Included with Prime” is still limited to mp3 quality.
Amazon’s discounted Student and Echo (single device) plans remain at mp3 quality.
See chart above, just added to post.