How to Get Free Amazon Music on Your Echo {Complete Guide}

Amazon has launched a free version of its music-streaming service Amazon Music. But there's a catch -- you can only use it through Alexa. 

Billboard reported last week that the company was planning to launch the new tier to compete with Spotify, offering to pay some record labels on a per-stream basis. 

It's not likely you'll want to use Amazon Music's free tier over Spotify as your default service, given that it offers a very limited supply of music (roughly 2 million songs versus Spotify's estimated 35 million). But if you're interested in trying out Amazon Music to decide if you want to subscribe, here's how to do that. 

Follow this simple step to get free music

1. Open the Alexa app. Select Play.

2. Scroll down to "More Music Streaming Services." Tap "Explore."

3. Go to "Music Settings." 

4. Set Default Music Library and Default Station to Amazon Music. Now, whenever you ask for music, you'll get a station or playlist from Amazon.

How to Find Free Music Downloads in the Amazon Music Store

You might think that all the digital music in the Amazon Music Store comes at a price. The company's popular Amazon Music Unlimited plan gives subscribers unlimited access to millions of songs and members of the Amazon Prime service can access more than two million songs ad-free and on demand. However, these two services are not free, although both come with a 30-day free trial.

In addition to the paid plans, Amazon offers a huge selection of free songs and albums that you can download or stream to your computer or mobile device.

How to Find Free Music Downloads on Amazon

The free content doesn't jump out at you on the Amazon Music main page, but it's easy to find using the service's filtering options:

• Go to Amazon's Free Digital Music web page to see a list of free songs in all genres. Note that some of the free music is marked "Prime," which indicates it is free only to members of the Amazon Prime service. If you prefer to shop for full albums instead of individual songs, go to Amazon's Free Digital Albums web page, which works similarly to the free songs page.

• In the left panel of the page, select a music category under Free to filter the results. You'll see the song title, artist, and album, and the length of each song. Click on any song title to learn more about it and see the album art, or click the arrow to the left of the song title to hear a music preview.

• Browse through the free entries or use the Sort by drop-down menu at the top of the screen. When you find a song you want to download, click on the Free button next to the song or click the shopping cart logo to the right of the free button to put the song in your MP3 cart.

• After you click on the Free button, Amazon requests that you enter your account information if you haven't already signed in. If you don't have an Amazon account, click the Create your Amazon account button and follow the on-screen instructions to open a free account.

• On the Review Your Order screen, confirm that the total is zero and then click the Place Your Order button.

• Click the Play now button to stream the music from your Amazon music library, or click the Download purchases button to download the songs to your computer. Download the free Amazon Music app for iOS or Android mobile devices to listen to your free downloaded music on your mobile devices.