Amazon is going big on this year’s Prime Day. In addition to expanding its popular sales event to two days instead of one, the retailer is also planning to host a Prime Day Concert headlined by Taylor Swift, exclusively for Prime members. The concert streams worldwide on July 10, 2019, at 9 PM ET on Prime Video — but you’ll need to be a paying subscriber to watch. Other artists will also participate in the concert, including Dua Lipa, SZA, and Becky G.
The concert serves several purposes beyond just raising awareness around Prime Day or giving Prime members another perk. It’s also a marketing vehicle for Amazon Music, which Amazon is today offering for 99 cents for the first four months. Prime members get access to 2 million songs with Prime Music, but can upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited to access 50 million songs, ad-free.
In addition, Amazon plans to use the concert airtime to advertise its upcoming Amazon Original series, including Carnival Row, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne; Modern Love, based on the NYT column of the same name; the Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan; superhero drama The Boys; new animated series Undone, and more.
The timing of the concert — which arrives ahead of Prime Day’s July 15 kickoff — is notable, too. By hosting the event in advance, Amazon is encouraging potential new Prime members to sign up early for the $119 per year Prime subscription — instead of bombarding Amazon’s website with sign-up requests on Prime Day itself in order to gain access to the exclusive deals.
Though Amazon’s site is used to handling heavy loads, Prime Day has not been without its issues at times. For example, last year, Amazon went down at the beginning of Prime Day — the Prime Day landing page broke, error pages abounded, and checkout wasn’t working.
Amazon says the concert will stream live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and will be available for next-day, on-demand viewing for a limited time after.
Subscribers can watch the concert via Prime Video on any platform, and can ask Alexa to ” play the Prime Day Concert” or “show me the Prime Day Concert” on their Fire TV or Echo Show devices.
This is not the first time Amazon has hosted a Prime Day concert. Last year, Ariana Grande headlined a similar event.
“We can’t wait to celebrate Prime Day with an extraordinary night of unforgettable performances, for members around the globe,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music, in a statement. “Prime Day brings members the best of both entertainment and shopping. To celebrate, we’ve curated a lineup across multiple genres with performances from artists our customers love. We’re looking forward to celebrating Prime Day with this can’t-miss, one-of-a-kind event,” he added.
Comment