Canadian listeners of Amazon’s Prime Music (iOS and Android) can now use voice commands to ask Alexa to play songs, all within the Amazon Music app.
The procedure is very simple: just download the iOS or Android version of the Amazon Music app, launch the app, tap the Alexa icon in the bottom right corner and make your music request. Alexa will indulge you with the type of music you want, such as a particular genre and mood, or a specific artist and album.
“This new feature combines the power of natural voice commands with a visual app experience,” Amazon Canada explained to iPhone in Canada in an email.
Alexa Commands in the Amazon Music App
Here are some commands you can use on Alexa to search for your music within the Amazon Music app:
Song name: “Alexa, play God’s Plan by Drake”
Artist: “Alexa, play Ed Sheeran”
Album name: “Alexa, play the Coda album by Led Zeppelin”
Era: “Alexa, play 80s rock music”
Genre: “Alexa, play Country music”
Mood: “Alexa, play relaxing music”
Chronology: “Alexa, play the latest song by Alessia Cara”
Popularity: “Alexa, play the most popular songs by Kendrick Lamar”
Playlist and station: “Alexa, play the ‘Today’s Hip-Hop & R&B’ playlist” or “Alexa, play the ‘Today’s Jazz’ playlist”
Alexa, and the Amazon music app, appear to be very capable of playing the requested songs. While playing the song, the user can AirPlay it to any speaker he or she wishes.
It should also be noted that Alexa is NOT always listening within the Amazon Music app. That is, you can’t simply say “Alexa, ….” If you want to get Alexa to listen to your command you need to tap the app’s Alexa icon before saying your command. For the Prime Music users, Alexa’s voice option makes it easier and faster than typing in a music search.
How to Get the Amazon Music App with Alexa
Amazon brought three of its cornerstone products – Alexa, Echo and Prime Music – to Canada at the end of last year. However, unlike users in the United States, Canadian users weren’t initially able to use voice commands to listen to their favourite music from Amazon’s Prime Music.
Now, you can get Amazon Music from the Google Play store, as well as the iOS App Store. The prime music service is free with a Prime membership. For Prime services Amazon charges CAD $79/year and it comes with a 30-day trial period.
