Amazon Music, Twitch Combine Live and On-Demand Streaming

Musicians can now connect their Twitch and Amazon Music For Artists account to bring live-streamed shows to their fans on Amazon Music.

This marks the first time live streaming has been broadly incorporated into a music streaming service, offering artists live on Twitch access to Amazon Music’s more than 55 million customers.

Still a platform primarily of 50 million gamers, Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million in cash. Since the COVID -19 lockdown began, it has expanded its music offering via partnershiips with Logic, Soundcloud, Bandsintown and others.

Livestreams will appear on the artist’s profile page in the Amazon Music iOS and Android mobile apps. Fans and followers will be alerted anytime they go live from Twitch and there is a new Amazon Music “Live” browse page.

Artists can connect their Twitch channel through ‘Profile & Tools’ in Amazon Music for Artists. [Details here.]

“The combination of live streaming, coupled with the on-demand playback of songs on Amazon Music is groundbreaking,” said Ryan Redington, Director, Amazon Music. “We’re providing artists with more tools to instantly engage with fans, and this new feature couldn’t arrive at a more crucial time in the industry. More than 1,000 artists have already connected their Amazon Music accounts to Twitch, and this is just day one. Together with Twitch, we’re making it possible for artists across all genres, at all moments of their careers, to harness the social power of live streaming to create more engagement with their recorded catalogue.”

“Twitch has always been about connecting amazingly talented creators live with fans everywhere,” said Tracy Chan, VP, Head of Music at Twitch. “That’s why we’re excited to announce the next phase of our ongoing partnership with Amazon Music that unlocks an entirely new world of live music experiences and engagement by connecting Twitch live streams and Amazon’s catalogue of recorded music. Especially now, in a time when traditional venues are closed and tours have been cancelled, musicians are looking for new ways to continue creating, connect with fans, and build community. Twitch has become the place to co-create shared live experiences, and it’s now accessible in-app for Amazon Music’s 55 million customers.”