Amazon Steps Up Battle for Students' Ears With $1 Monthly Music Service

Amazon Prime Student members can get the company's Music Unlimited for $0.99, said Amazon Tuesday. Existing Prime Student members can add the offer to their monthly or annual Prime Student membership plan; college students who haven’t tried the service yet can sign up for a six-month free trial at amazon.com/primestudent, it said. The announcement comes after Spotify management last week attributed lower-than-expected Q2 subscriber adds to a marketing miss for its student-targeted service (see 1907310054). Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy pegged the shortfall at less than 1 million, attributing it to lack of awareness about the company’s lower cost student subscription program that had “no awareness at all.” Spotify’s Premium Student subscription is $4.99 per month for the trio of Spotify's on-demand music service, Showtime and Hulu.