Amazon to add streaming music to Prime - report

Amazon is hoping to offer an on-demand music-streaming service to customers of its Amazon Prime program, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The company has held negotiations with record companies and music publishers seeking to license their music for the planned service, but it remains far apart from some record companies on financial terms, the paper's sources said. 

The music service is one of several new features that Amazon may add as it raises the price of Prime to as much as USD 119 a year. Customers of Prime currently pay USD 79 a year for unlimited two-day shipping and access to a video-streaming service similar to Netflix. 

The online retailer is also looking for a way to buoy download sales at its MP3 store, according to people familiar with the company's thinking. Amazon has told some music companies that it plans to impose time limits on how long a user can listen to a given song or album on the service. The limited-time streaming offer would encourage fans to purchase music they like once their streaming windows expire. 

The company has proposed compensating music labels from a pool of money, rather than per listen. The pool is thought to be worth around USD 30 million, Billboard reported, of which USD 25 million for the three major labels and the rest for independents. However, several labels have rejected these terms.