Amazon announced Tuesday that Alexa+, its upgraded AI-powered assistant, is coming to the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android devices.
This feature is currently available on all Amazon Music subscription plans, but only for users with Alexa+ Early Access. (To access Alexa+, tap the “a” button in the bottom right corner and ask a question using your phone’s built-in microphone.)
The introduction of Alexa+ to Amazon Music aims to create a more conversational approach to music discovery. Unlike previous versions of Alexa, which only responded to basic commands, Alexa+ is designed for natural interactions.
Users can ask specific and vague questions, such as questions about an artist’s influences or exploring the deeper meaning behind a song. It can also help you remember song titles by providing memorized lyrics and mentioning the movie the song appeared in.
Additionally, the company suggests that Alexa+ can create personalized playlists for specific requests, such as “Create a playlist of 2010s hits that keep you moving fast, starting with songs by Nicki Minaj.”
Other examples provided by the company include, “Can you recommend new music to my 13-year-old daughter that I think would be cool without trying too hard?” “What song plays during the opening credits of ‘The Sopranos’?”
Alexa+ was first announced at the company’s hardware event in February and is positioned as one of the first consumer-focused agent tools on the market. This assistant can perform actions on your behalf, such as making restaurant reservations and ordering groceries.
Although Alexa+ is still in its early stages and not widely available to the public, it has already been rolled out to more than 1 million users.
The company reports that Amazon Music listeners who tried the feature explore songs three times more with Alexa+ than with the original Assistant, and listeners looking for recommendations listen to nearly 70% more music.
Given Spotify’s recent integration with ChatGPT, this could be a strategic move by Amazon to compete with the music streaming giant and highlight its AI investments. Amazon Music already has a number of AI features built into its app, and the latest additions include weekly AI-generated playlists, AI-assisted search, and Explore to help users learn more about their favorite artists.
