If you’re curious about or have considered subscribing to premium music streaming services at Amazon or Spotify, now is a great time to act.
These companies are currently offering freebies or 50-percent-off deals in partnership with two credit card companies: Citi and Capital One.
If you don’t have an eligible card, don’t worry. There are other ways to test-drive Amazon Music Unlimited and Spotify Premium for free or cheap.
How to get Amazon Music Unlimited for free
Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon’s premium music streaming service. Subscribers get unlimited ad-free access to tens of millions of songs that they can listen to on-demand online. Subscribers can also download songs, such as to a computer or smartphone, so they can listen to them without needing to be connected to the internet.
Normally, after the 30-day free trial, the Music Unlimited individual plan costs $9.99 a month for folks without an Amazon Prime membership, and $7.99 a month or $79 a year for Prime members.
But if you sign up for the individual plan with an eligible Citi card by Nov. 14, you will receive a free $30 credit. So the first few months of your subscription will effectively be free.
Just note this fine print:
Unless you notify us before the end of the free trial that you do not want to auto renew, your Amazon Music Unlimited plan will automatically continue and you will be charged a fee for the plan using any payment method we have on record for you.
Eligible cards include consumer branded Citi credit and debit cards — except for Costco and Chairman Citi credit cards.
Other ways to save on Amazon’s music streaming services. As mentioned above, a free 30-day trial is available for the Music Unlimited individual plan as well as the family plan.
As I explain in “8 Major Freebies and Discounts You Get With Amazon Prime,” if you’re a Prime member, another option is Prime Music -- which is completely free. Perhaps the biggest difference between this music streaming service and Music Unlimited is that Prime Music has a smaller catalog of 2 million or so songs.
How to save 50 percent on Spotify Premium
Spotify Premium is Spotify’s premium music streaming service. Like competitor Amazon Music Unlimited, the Spotify Premium app offers subscribers ad-free access to millions of songs on demand. Subscribers can also download songs to listen to offline.
Normally, after the free 30-day trial, Spotify Premium costs:
- $9.99 a month for individuals
- $14.99 a month for families
- $4.99 a month for students — who also get a Hulu app included
But if you sign up for any of those three plans with an eligible Capital One credit card during the offer period, you will receive a 50 percent credit on your credit card statement every month for the duration of the offer period — which runs through April 30, 2018.
Eligible cards include the Quicksilver and QuicksilverOne credit cards.
I have been taking advantage of this offer, and the credit always shows up on my credit card account about two days after the monthly Spotify charge. So my household ends up paying $7.49 a month rather than $14.99 a month for the family plan.
Other ways to save on Spotify. As mentioned above, all Spotify Premium plans come with a free 30-day trial.
Another option available to anyone is Spotify Free — which is, yes, completely free. Like Prime Music, though, the features of this free music streaming service are limited compared with the premium equivalent. Still, if you’ve never tried Spotify, you might want to try the free service first.
Do you have a favorite music streaming service or favorite way to save money on one? Share it with us by commenting below or over on our Facebook page.
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