When it comes to the music streaming wars, the only real players in the game are Apple Music and Spotify, with Tidal getting a runner-up spot among the enthusiast crowd. Though Amazon Music has tried its best to be a part of the conversation, the $12 a month streaming music service just hasn’t found an audience, despite offering an almost identical service to the big players in the game at a similar price.
However, it looks like Amazon Music is tired of settling for last place in music streaming, and is totally redesigning what their service is with the launch of a new feature called Fan Groups, which makes Amazon Music feel more like a social media platform than a music service
What are Amazon Music Fan Groups?
Making listening social
When it comes to streaming music, I’d guess the process for most listeners is the same: open your music app of choice, boot up your favorite playlist, stick in your earbuds, and go about your day. I don’t think anyone is spending hours upon hours scrolling Spotify or Apple Music, and that’s largely by design, with these apps simply providing users with access to the soundtrack of their life while they do other things.
However, Amazon Music wants to fundamentally change your relationship with your music streaming app with the launch of its new social feature, Fan Groups. These new music-based communities will live inside the app, with Amazon Music users able to join or create groups for genres, artists, and themes where they can post, chat, comment, react with emojis, and even participate in group streams where everyone listens and reacts together. Users will be able to access a scrollable feed of posts, events and more, that will allow them to catch up on the latest releases, discourse, and drama happening in music, all without leaving the Amazon Music app.
Interestingly, Fan Groups on Amazon Music will also allow artists to create their own communities, giving them a direct line of communication with fans with the ability to host their own events, preview music, post, and share updates directly. No specific artists have been mentioned as confirmed to be participating in Fan Groups, but you can bet Amazon is working hard behind the scenes to attract top artists to its new social platform in advance of its US release.
When are Amazon Fan Groups launching?
This feature is only available in Canada right now, but expect a US launch next year
Amazon Music’s Fan Groups feature is rolling out in beta across Canada right now on both iOS and Android. However, if you’re in the US (or another part of the world) never fear as this feature is slated for an international rollout in 2026.
It seems a little weird at first to see Amazon Music evolving into essentially a music-based social media platform, but given the streaming service’s unpopularity in its current form, it’s clear that something had to change, and I guess they might as well try to be Facebook for music fans. The success of this new initiative really hinges on whether fans (and artists) show up in large enough numbers for it to feel like a real social media platform instead of just a music streaming service with comments, and it will be interesting to see if this new feature moves the needle at all for Amazon Music in 2026 and beyond.
