Discord is not only a platform where artists can bring together their communities of superfans, but also a place where people are listening to music together.
Some of the early ways they did this did not comply with the policies of YouTubewhich was the source of the music. Two of the most popular music bots on Discord, Groovy y Rythmwere shut down in 2021 after receiving cease-and-desist orders from Alphabet’s video service.
Now, one of the world’s largest music streaming services is expanding to Discord. Amazon Music has launched an activity called ‘Amazon Music Listening Party‘ on Discord, as reported Music AllyThese activities are the successors to bots on the platform: essentially, they are applications within the app that people can use.
The Amazon Music feature allows the people listen to music and podcasts together within Discord, syncing your music libraries between the two services to make sure your favorites are easily accessible. Groups of friends can share a single queue to create a playlist and listen to it while they chat.
The obvious restriction is that people must be Amazon Music Unlimited subscribersThe company is promoting a three-month trial subscription for new users as part of the launch of Discord activity, to reduce friction between groups of friends who may use rival streaming services.
Clearly, there is an opportunity here: Discord has over 200 million monthly active usersSuperfan startup Levellr recently estimated that users who have connected their Spotify profile could be playing up to 131 billion songs a year while online on Discord, underscoring the potential.
That’s why even more direct integrations are attractive for streaming services like Amazon Music. However, it will face competition from one of those early music brands on Discord: Rhythm, which returned in June of this year with licensing agreements and a $4.99 per month premium subscription.
Rythm may be a David to the Goliaths of global DSPs, but it is truly Discord native and has been built from the ground up for the platform and for social listening. The competition promises to be fascinating, and of course, if more global streaming services are looking at Discord as their next frontier, Rythm could be an obvious acquisition target for them.
