How to Listen to Music on Amazon Echo

Your Amazon Echo smart speaker is only as good as the music you can stream from it. Use this guide to learn how to listen to music on Amazon Echo from Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora and Apple Music.

How easy it is to listen to music on Amazon Echo depends on what services you have and where you purchased your songs. For Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, music streaming takes a few voice commands. Things are a little more complicated for Spotify and Pandora. Streaming music on Amazon Echo from these services requires an Alexa Skill and an existing subscription to their service. Apple Music subscribers need a workaround to get their music streaming.

Here’s how to listen to music on Amazon Echo. Have your iPhone or Android device nearby and the Amazon Alexa app installed to start setting up your services and Alexa Skills. That’s the same app that you used to set up your Amazon Echo.

Once you’ve mastered playing music from one of your speakers, read Gotta Be Mobile’s Echo Multi-room Audio guide to get more than one Amazon Echo speaker in your home playing your music at the same time.

Read: 6 Alexa and Amazon Echo Problems & Fixes

How to Listen to Music on Amazon Echo

• Listen to Spotify Music on Amazon Echo
• Listen to Your Music on Amazon Echo
• Listen to Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited on Your Amazon Echo
• Listen to iHeartRadio on Amazon Echo
• Listen to Pandora on Amazon Echo
• Listen to TuneIn Radio on Amazon Echo
• Why You Can’t Listen to Apple Music on Amazon Echo

How to Listen to Spotify Music on Amazon Echo

Listening to Spotify Music on Amazon Echo is easy. You only need to link your Alexa app to your existing Spotify account and have the right subscription. Here’s how to do that.

Open the Alexa app on your iPhone or Android device.

Tap on the menu button in the left corner of your screen.

Select Music, Video & Books from the menu.

Now select Spotify on the list.

Sign into your Spotify. This account username and password should match the account credentials you use on your smartphone already.

Spotify Music on Amazon Echo streaming is a perk of having a Spotify Premium account. It is the same $9.99 a month subscription that unlocks offline music downloads and turns off ads. A student discount gets you Spotify Music for $4.99 a month.

Read: Spotify Review: What to Know Before Signing Up

Add “from Spotify” to any command to play music from Spotify on your Echo. For example, say “Alexa, play classical music from Spotify” to have Alexa reach out to Spotify and begin streaming from your Spotify account. This works with genres, playlists, songs and artists.

How to Listen to Your Music on Amazon Echo

Enjoying the music you already own on your Amazon Echo is complicated. It now involves a patchwork of different Alexa Skills, Amazon Echo features and Bluetooth connectivity now that Amazon has stopped letting users upload their music to its servers.

Bluetooth Streaming on Amazon Echo

Stream the music you already own from your device to your Amazon Echo using Bluetooth. You will need your smartphone with the Alexa app installed to get this feature working.

Open the Alexa app on your smartphone.

Tap the menu button in the top-left corner of your screen.

Tap the Settings option in the menu. It’s the second option from the bottom of your screen.

Select the Amazon Echo you would like to connect to with Bluetooth.

Tap the Bluetooth menu option.

Now tap the Pair a New Device button at the bottom of your screen.

Open your smartphone, tablet or PC’s Bluetooth settings and pair it to your Echo like you would any set of headphones or a speaker. Alexa will confirm the pairing with a voice alert.

To listen to your music on Amazon Echo using Bluetooth, tell Alexa to “switch to Bluetooth.” Your speaker will search for the device you paired with it and stream audio from any of its apps. You will still get notifications from Alexa while your speaker is connected to Bluetooth.

Read: 30 Amazon Echo Tips & Tricks

Buying Music from the Amazon Store

The second way to listen to your music on Amazon Echo is to make all your new purchases in the Amazon Digital Music instead of other services.

Music that you purchase from Amazon Digital Music is automatically added to your cloud library. This library is visible to Alexa, so you can play any of your purchases by saying “Alexa play…” and the name of the album or song you want to listen to. She will confirm the command by saying she is streaming “from your library.”

Music purchased through Amazon Digital Music is also available in the Amazon Music apps for iOS, Android and Windows PCs. You can download what you purchase directly to your PC from the store’s website too.

How to Listen to Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Prime Music on Amazon Echo

Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music offer the best music streaming experience of any service. That makes sense, Amazon really wants users to subscribe to its services.

If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you have Prime Music already. Prime Music is the small library of albums and songs you can play without paying Amazon any more money. Just say, “Alexa, play…” and the name of the album or song you want to listen to. If it’s in the Prime Music library, she will begin playing that song or album immediately.

When a song isn’t in the Prime Music library, Alexa will give you a short preview and ask if you would like to subscribe to Music Unlimited. Music Unlimited has the biggest library of music ready for streaming. A subscription costs $7.99 for people who already have Amazon Prime and $9.99 for everyone else. These plans also unlock music streaming for your smartphone, tablet or PC. Adding Music Unlimited access to a single Echo speaker costs $3.99 a month.

Read: 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Quit Spotify for Amazon Prime Music

You can play music by playlist, album, song title, genre or decade with Prime Music and Music Unlimited any time by saying “Alexa, play…” and the term you want to use. Say “Alexa, play the song that goes…” and say a few lyrics to have Alexa search for a song you don’t know the name of.

How to Listen to iHeartRadio on Amazon Echo

Your favorite radio stations are available on Amazon Echo through the iHeartRadio skill. To listen to a station, just say “Alexa play…” and the station name or frequency you would like to listen to. If it’s a station that iHeartRadio owns, she will begin streaming it in seconds. Play podcasts from iHeartRadio by saying “Alexa, play…” and the name of the podcast. Create custom iHeartRadio stations from your speaker by telling Alexa to “Make a station for…” and the name of the artist.

Turn your smartphone into an iHeartRadio remote for easier control of your playlists and stations.

1. Open the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Tap the menu button in the left corner of your screen.
3. Tap the Music, Video & Books menu option.
4. Select iHeartRadio from the list.

Use the browser to find your favorite radio stations or create a new artist radio station. Playback controls also appear in the Alexa app if your speaker is having a hard time hearing your commands.

How to Listen to Pandora on Amazon Echo

Unlike with Spotify, listening to Pandora Radio on Amazon Echo is free. You just need to link Alexa to your existing Pandora account.

1. Open the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Tap the menu button in the left corner of your screen.
3. Tap the Music, Video & Books menu option.
4. Select Pandora from the list of music options.
5. Tap the Link Your Account link.
6. Use the link in the app to grab an authorization code from Pandora.

Tell Alexa to play an existing station of yours by saying, “Alexa, play…” and the name of the station. Tell Alexa you’re “tired of a song” to remove it from your radio station rotation at any time. Say, “Alexa, skip” to skip a song you don’t like. You only get unlimited song skips if you sign up for Pandora Plus for $4.99 a month. You need a Pandora Premium subscription before you can play any song that you want instead of relying on a station. That subscription costs $9.99 a month.

How to Listen to TuneIn Radio on Amazon Echo

Play music on Amazon Echo through the TuneIn skill without any set up at all. The service is heavily integrated into Alexa.

Tell Alexa to “Play…” and the name or call letters of the station you would like to listen to. If your internet is working correctly, she will begin streaming the station within seconds. She also plays podcasts from TuneIn’s library. To do that, say, “Alexa play podcast…” and the name of the show you want to listen to.

Turn your phone’s Alexa app into a TuneIn Remote if you don’t like controlling this Alexa skill with your voice.

1. Open the Alexa
2. Tap the menu
3. Tap the Music, Video & Books menu option.
4. Tap TuneIn.

Use the app to browse for new radio stations based on the type of music they play or the shows they air. The search box at the top of the app lets you look for a specific radio station.

Why You Can’t Listen to Apple Music on Amazon Echo

You can’t play Apple Music on Amazon Echo with a voice command, unfortunately. However, you can stream from the service using Bluetooth and a second device.

Read: Apple Music Tips & Tricks

To stream Apple Music on Amazon Echo, pair your smartphone or tablet to your Echo.

1. Open the Alexa
2. Tap the menu button in the top-left corner of your screen.
3. Tap the Settings option in the menu. It’s the second option from the bottom of your screen.
4. Select the Amazon Echo you would like to connect to with Bluetooth.
5. Tap the Bluetooth menu option.
6. Now tap the Pair a New Device button at the bottom of your screen.

Once you’re done pairing your device to your speaker, open the Apple Music app. It’s installed on iPhones and iPads already. Install iTunes for Windows to get access to Apple Music on your PC, and use Apple Music for Android to stream from the service on your Android device.

Tell Alexa to “Switch to Bluetooth” and select what you want to listen to in your Apple Music app.

Apple isn’t expected to launch an Apple Music Alexa skill now that its HomePod speakers are available. It has built-in Apple Music support.

Read: 3 Reasons to Buy the Apple HomePod & 4 Reasons Not To

Turn Your Echo Into a Bluetooth Speaker

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Use your Amazon Echo to play songs from your media collection by turning it into a Bluetooth speaker. To do this, open the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet. Tap the Settings button in the bottom-left corner of your screen. Now choose the speaker you’d like to use Bluetooth with. Tap the Bluetooth menu item and begin pairing your smartphone, tablet or PC to your speaker. Once paired, put your Echo into its Bluetooth mode by saving “Alexa, switch to Bluetooth.”

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