SPOTIFY SHARES TAKE HIT AFTER AMAZON MUSIC NEWS

Spotify shares tumbled 4% on Monday (4/15), following reports (not yet confirmed) that Amazon Music will be launching an ad-supported music-streaming service via its ubiquitous device, the Echo.

It could launch as early as this week.

Amazon already offers Prime Music as added value to all its Prime members, who pay $119 a year for the service. Meanwhile, an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription—with song libraries in the tens of millions versus the few million songs available as the less expensive Prime Music bundle—costs $9.99 a month, or $7.99 per month for existing Prime members.

Introducing the Echo as a voice-activated entry into streaming music however, is a powerful driver.

This is the second blow to Spotify this month; on the heels of Apple Music announcing they have surpassed them in U.S. paid subscriptions with 28 million, to Spotify's 26m.

Apple Music is also growing faster globally, at 2.4 to 2.8 % versus Spotify’s 2 to 2.3%. Most of that growth is centered in English-speaking places where iPhones are dominant and iTunes is popular, but Apple Music is also available on Android devices and is growing there too—it's been installed 40m times from the Google Play store.