Amazon brings Alexa+ to its music app
Amazon announced on Tuesday that Alexa+, its upgraded AI-powered assistant, is integrating into the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android devices. This feature targets all Amazon Music subscription plans but limits access to users enrolled in Alexa+ Early Access. Users activate it by tapping the “a” button in the lower right corner and speaking into the phone’s built-in microphone, enabling a conversational approach to music discovery.
The integration introduces capabilities beyond the original Alexa’s basic commands, fostering natural dialogue for music-related inquiries. Users pose detailed questions about artists’ influences or song meanings, receiving responses that deepen understanding. For instance, the assistant identifies tracks from remembered lyrics or movie appearances, simplifying recall of obscure songs. This design supports exploration of music in ways that mimic human conversation, allowing follow-up questions for clarification or expansion.
Alexa+ generates personalized playlists based on specific user requests, adapting to preferences expressed in natural language. One example provided by the company is the prompt: “Make a playlist of 2010s hits that keep me moving fast, starting with a track from Nicki Minaj.” This request results in a curated selection starting with a specified song and continuing with energetic tracks from that decade. Another example demonstrates versatility: “Can you recommend new music that would make me seem cool to my 13-year-old daughter without trying too hard?” Here, Alexa+ suggests contemporary artists and tracks appealing to a teenage audience while aligning with the user’s intent to appear effortlessly current.
Further examples illustrate practical applications, such as identifying specific media elements. The query “What’s the song that plays during the opening credits of ‘The Sopranos’?” prompts Alexa+ to name the track “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3, providing context about its role in the series. These interactions highlight the assistant’s ability to handle niche references, drawing from a broad knowledge base to connect users with relevant music.
Amazon first unveiled Alexa+ in February during its annual hardware event, presenting it as an early consumer-oriented AI agent tool. Beyond music, the assistant executes tasks on users’ behalf, including booking restaurant reservations through integrated services and ordering groceries via partnered retailers. This functionality extends its utility across daily activities, leveraging AI to streamline actions that previously required multiple steps.
Currently in early development, Alexa+ has reached more than a million users through the Early Access program. Amazon data indicates that listeners using the feature in the Music app explore songs three times more extensively compared to interactions with the original assistant. Additionally, users seeking recommendations via Alexa+ listen to nearly 70 percent more music overall, reflecting increased engagement with the platform’s catalog.
This rollout occurs alongside Spotify’s integration of ChatGPT into its service, positioning Amazon to highlight its AI advancements in music streaming. Amazon Music already features several AI enhancements, such as weekly playlists generated by artificial intelligence algorithms that analyze listening habits. AI-assisted search refines results based on contextual queries, improving accuracy for diverse requests. The “Explore” mode delves into details about favorite artists, offering biographical notes, discographies, and related recommendations to enrich user knowledge.