New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Apple Music Now Playable on Amazon Echo Speakers via Alexa in United States

Friday December 14, 2018 9:29 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple Music can now be streamed on Amazon Echo speakers via Alexa in the United States, a few days ahead of schedule.


As spotted by 9to5Mac, it is now possible to link Apple Music with your Amazon account in the Alexa app for iPhone and use Alexa voice commands to control playback of songs, playlists, and Beats 1 on Apple Music on Amazon Echo speakers.

To access this feature, simply use a voice command such as "Alexa, play music by Ed Sheeran on Apple Music" or "Alexa, play today's hits on Apple Music." Apple Music can also be set as the default music service in the Alexa app, so that "Apple Music" does not need to be specified each time.


Other streaming music services supported on Echo speakers include Spotify, Deezer, Vevo, SiriusXM, Tidal, and Pandora.

Apple and Amazon announced this new partnership in late November, with Amazon saying it is "committed to offering great music providers to our customers," and referring to Apple Music as "one of the most popular music services."

Apple Music playback on Amazon Echo speakers is currently limited to the United States.

Tags: Amazon, Apple Music Guide, Amazon Echo, Alexa
[ 339 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
AngerDanger
15 weeks ago
Wait until the HomePod hears about this!



Rating: 45 Votes
Avatar
ersan191
15 weeks ago
Can confirm this works, also that hell has frozen over and swine are sprouting feathers.
Rating: 17 Votes
Avatar
Enclavean
15 weeks ago
What about the other 192 countries?
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
and 1989 others
14 weeks ago

Could it be Siri on Alexa next ?


It would be pointless. Alexa works 9 times out of 10. Siri is an idiot all round.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
pentidoes
15 weeks ago
Goodbye homepod?
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
Piggie
14 weeks ago

The two don’t really compete.

The people buying a cheap amazon echo or google home device are not in the market for a HomePod. Likewise, the people willing to pay for a HomePod have shown that they value sound quality first and foremost and are willing to pay a premium for it, hence an echo or home device is not going to appeal to them.

It’s possible that Apple is doing this to prevent users from defecting from Apple Music. I am actually a bit confused on the motivation though. Apple Music isn’t profitable any more than Spotify is, so this doesn’t feel like a push to chase revenue. Could Apple be chasing music streaming subscribers to retain influence with record labels, and to possibly push its video streaming and news service next year (easier to sell a bundle when your users are already using one of them)?[emoji848]


Not sure I 100% agree with this.

Buy a Amazon Alexa Dot, connect it to $300 of proper stereo speakers and Apple music sub, and you have a music player that's vastly superior to a HomePod for audio quality, and at the same time vastly better AI / Smart home integration.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
scr1968
15 weeks ago
Adios Amazon Music subscription!
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
WhiteHawk
14 weeks ago
Maybe I missed it but I saw absolutely nothing about this being US only when it was first announced, I’m really annoyed that all of a sudden it’s announced that it won’t be available in the UK. I just set up an Echo dot and was looking forward to this on Monday being available and with two more on the way next month, guess I’ll be cancelling them now.:mad:
[doublepost=1544901345][/doublepost]

Even more annoying is the fact the amazon article saying Apple Music was coming to echo devices said NOTHING about it being US only, meaning the 3 echo devices I bought during the amazon sale (purely for Apple Music) was a complete waste of money.


Yeah, once again a case of a US site not bothering to mention those particular details because they think they are the only country in the world, seen it so many times.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
citysnaps
14 weeks ago

Realistically the only way Homepod v2 could be made any better (the speaker is already amazing) would be by removing Siri - which is never going to get better with the way they have developed it - we're now coming up to 9 years since Apple introduced it, and its still utterly awful compared to every single other major voice assistant.


Realistically, no. Removing Siri would be a huge disaster. You probably don't know that Siri is the main user interface to HomePod, and it works extremely well for cuing up music.

What makes HomePod great is it's always on, and always ready to play music with only a verbal command. even from 20 feet away with HomePod playing music loudly. An amazing feat and superb underlying technology to pull that off.

I've had my HomePod for almost a year now and it's a delight to use - every single day. From your post suggesting Siri should be removed, I suspect you've never owned one.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
bowens
15 weeks ago

I'm at work so I haven't been able to test this, but it appears that you need to use "On Apple Music" to command Alexa.

This is from the support site:
Ask Alexa to play your music
You can ask Alexa to play songs, artists, albums, or genres from Apple Music. You can also play Beats 1 radio, playlists from Apple Music's editors, or playlists in your iCloud Music Library. Say something like “Alexa, play Pure Pop on Apple Music,” or "Alexa, play Bebe Rexha on Apple Music."

If anyone has tried this out, I'd love to know if I can just say "Play my Metal Playlist" or if I have to add "on Apple Music."

No. You can set Apple Music as your default and don't have to specify.
Rating: 5 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]