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Samsung’s newer smart TVs now support the Amazon Music app, the company announced on Friday, clarifying that all of its 2015 TVs and later models will be able to take advantage of the popular streaming service in eligible countries starting this month. The functionality doesn’t appear to encompass all territories where Amazon Music is available as it’s currently only live in the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Canada, Japan, and Switzerland weren’t mentioned in the tech giant’s announcement and it’s currently unclear whether Samsung has any plans to expand the scope of Amazon Music support to those countries.
The integration itself is powered by the Smart Hub platform which allows users to directly access Amazon’s music streaming service, i.e. both of its main offerings – Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited. The South Korean original equipment manufacturer called the move unprecedented in nature by virtue of the fact that no third-party Internet-enabled devices have ever received support for Amazon Music until its TVs did. Samsung is also planning on bringing Amazon Music to its cordless speakers and sound bars but has yet to provide additional details on the matter. No promotional offers have been mentioned as part of the announcement and consumers looking to use Amazon Music on their contemporary Samsung-made TVs will first have to become Prime subscribers. The version of the app for Samsung TVs is described as being virtually identical to its other iterations, allowing users to stream millions of songs directly to their television sets, listen to radio stations, and ask for personalized music recommendations. The service was also specifically optimized for the Samsung One Remote, the Seoul-based company said.
Amazon Music is one of many Prime benefits offered by Amazon’s subscription service that the e-commerce giant uses to incentivize consumers to spend more money on its platform. That strategy also led Amazon to invest billions in original video content and fund massive projects like Jeremy Clarkson’s The Grand Tour, as well as the upcoming The Lord of the Rings series. The firm’s endeavors in the music industry haven’t been as intensive but that may change in the future as its growth starts slowing.