Amazon Music has announced a partnership today with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to remaster thousands of songs and albums to Ultra High Definition.
For the first time, music from a wide range of eras will be available in the highest audio quality possible. Eagles, Marvin Gaye, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Diana Ross, Linkin Park, J. Cole, Waylon Jennings, Ramones, 2 Chainz, Lady Gaga, The Notorious B.I.G., Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez are some of the artists named whose music will be newly remastered, available exclusively on Amazon Music HD.
In addition, music from artists including Elton John, Linkin Park, Tom Petty, Ariana Grande, Jon Pardi, Shawn Mendes, Lil Tecca, Selena Gomez, Post Malone and more has been remixed in 3D Audio formats including Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA, “offering a truly immersive listening experience for customers,” Amazon said in a press release on Friday.
“We launched Amazon Music HD last year with a promise to always offer our customers the best quality recording available for streaming,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. “With this partnership, we are building upon that promise by upgrading existing recordings to make the listening experience even better, and preserving artistic legacy for future generations. We are thrilled to have the support from Universal Music and Warner Music to deliver key recordings from their catalogs, exclusively for Amazon Music customers. We’ll continue to work with more labels to upgrade the digital quality of even more audio recordings, and provide customers with all of the emotion, power, clarity, and nuance of original recordings across all genres.”
Amazon Music subscribers can already stream 5 million songs in Ultra HD (better than CD quality), with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz already. They can also stream more than 60 million lossless High Definition songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (CD quality), and a growing catalog of 3D Audio. Today’s announcement will add more catalogs to the list.
“Our announcement today is the next big step in an ongoing partnership and music fans on Amazon Music HD can look forward to incredible new ways to experience the latest releases, as well as their favorite songs from Universal Music Group and our labels.”
“Amazon Music continues to push the boundaries in sound fidelity and innovation, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to accelerate the availability of our catalog in the highest quality formats possible and to provide new experiences in immersive audio,” said Michael Nash, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy at Universal Music Group. “Our announcement today is the next big step in an ongoing partnership and music fans on Amazon Music HD can look forward to incredible new ways to experience the latest releases, as well as their favorite songs from Universal Music Group and our labels.”
“We’re always excited about new opportunities for fans to experience music in the highest sound quality available, exactly as the artist intended,” said Kevin Gore, President of Global Catalog, Recorded Music at Warner Music Group. “With Amazon Music HD, 3D Audio, and with the Echo Studio, music lovers are now able to immerse themselves in the original recordings at an unprecedented level of fidelity for a price that had previously been out of range. Warner Music is proud to partner with Amazon Music on this initiative and will continue to deliver groundbreaking new music from the world’s greatest artists along with iconic albums and songs from our unparalleled catalog.”
When paired with Amazon’s high-fidelity smart speaker Echo Studio, customers will experience “immersive audio, which brings listeners closer to their favorite artists and songs, allowing them to experience music the way artists intended,” according the company.
Amazon Music HD is currently available to stream in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan at $12.99/month for Prime members and $14.99/month for Amazon customers, or an additional $5/month for current subscribers (Individual or Family Plan).
