How to Cancel Amazon Music: A Comprehensive 2023 Guide

With over 55 million Amazon Music subscribers as of 2022, Amazon‘s music streaming service has quickly become a top contender in the space. However, between rule changes, price hikes, and shifting preferences, you may eventually want to cancel your Amazon Music subscription.

Fortunately, canceling Amazon Music is a quick and straightforward process across devices and platforms. This comprehensive guide will walk you through how to cancel Music Unlimited, Prime Music, Amazon Music HD, and free trials.

I‘ll also compare Amazon‘s music service to popular alternatives like Spotify and Apple Music to consider once canceled. Let‘s get started.

Overview of Amazon Music Service Offerings

Before jumping into cancellation steps, let me provide some background details on the key Amazon Music subscriptions currently available:

Amazon Music Unlimited

• Over 90 million songs available on-demand
• Podcast streaming with over one million shows
• Voice-controlled hands-free listening
• Download songs for offline listening
• Individual plan costs $9.99/month ($7.99 for Prime members)

Amazon Music Unlimited drives majority of Amazon‘s music subscriber base. As of mid-2022, the standard Unlimited tier had over 50 million customers.

Amazon Music HD

• Same 90+ million song catalogue as Unlimited
• Songs available in lossless CD quality, HD, and millions in Ultra HD audio
• Individual plan priced at $14.99 per month

The HD version offers high-quality streaming for audiophiles but only represents a fraction of total users due to higher pricing.

Prime Music

• 2 million songs available on-demand
• Podcast streaming with over one million shows
• Background listening option
• Included with $14.99/month Amazon Prime membership

This basic music option is bundled with a Prime subscription. But the much smaller song catalog encourages most users to upgrade to the full-featured Unlimited plan.

Now let‘s analyze some key reasons you may want to cancel each of these Amazon Music subscriptions.

Why You May Want to Cancel Amazon Music

While Amazon Music brings a quality streaming experience, there are a variety of reasons you might want to ultimately cancel your subscriptions:

For example, in February 2022 Amazon dropped support for Amazon Music Unlimited on third-generation Echo Dot devices. This frustrated long-time Echo/Fire TV users and was reason enough for many to switch services.

Now let‘s analyze some pros and cons of using Amazon Music to help determine if cancellation makes sense for you.

Pros of Amazon Music

• Large catalog of over 90 million songs
• Good value, especially for Prime subscribers
• Lossless HD audio on high-tier plans
• Deep integration with Amazon Echo and Fire TV ecosystem
• Wide device support across mobile, desktop web, cars, and smart home

Cons of Amazon Music

• HD catalog still trails lossless leaders like Tidal and Apple Music Lossless
• Lagging behind rivals in key features like shared playlists, handoff, lyrics views, etc
• Changes like Echo Dot drop highlighted priority for Amazon hardware over customer loyalty
• Podcast content gaps compared to Spotify and Apple
• Confusing branding between Unlimited, Prime, HD plans

As this analysis shows, Amazon Music brings a lot of value in song catalog, pricing, and device support. But if you want the absolute best features and functionality around shared listening, discovery, podcasts or lossless audio, competitors like Spotify and Apple Music edge them out.

Now let‘s get into the step-by-step instructions for canceling your Amazon Music subscription using various platforms and devices.

Step-by-Step Guide to Cancel Amazon Music

Here are the detailed steps to follow when canceling Amazon Music across websites, mobile apps, and music platforms:

Canceling on Amazon Website

To cancel any Amazon Music subscription on Amazon.com:

1. Login to your Amazon account then go to Your Account > Memberships & Subscriptions.
2. Under “Prime Membership and Digital Services”, click Manage/View Available Services.
3. Identify the Amazon Music subscription you wish to cancel and click Cancel subscription.
4. Confirm cancellation on the pop-up message.

Fig 1. Cancelling Amazon Music web interface

Your subscription remains active until the next billing renewal date after cancellation is confirmed.

Canceling via Mobile App

To cancel Amazon Music from your iPhone, Android device, Amazon Fire tablet, or Kindle Fire, follow these instructions:

1. Launch the Amazon Music app then tap the ≡ menu icon.
2. Go to Settings then tap Amazon Music Unlimited.
3. Tap the Cancel Subscription button.
4. Confirm the cancellation request.

Similar to the website, your subscription continues until the next billing cycle after canceling through the mobile app. But you immediately lose ability to download songs for offline listening.

Fig 2. Canceling in Amazon Music Android/iOS app

Cancelling Amazon Music on iTunes or App Store

For Amazon Music subscriptions purchased through Apple devices and services, use these steps:

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings then tap your name and choose Subscriptions.
2. Tap into your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription entry.
3. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm cancellation.

On desktop iTunes, click Account > View My Account then Manage next to Subscriptions to cancel Amazon Music.

In both cases, your subscription remains active until the billing renewal date after cancellation.

Canceling Specific Amazon Music Plans

When canceling, be aware that the above methods terminate your overall Amazon Music subscription.

If you want to only cancel specific plans like Amazon Music HD or Prime Music add-ons, use these optimized steps:

Cancel Just Amazon Music HD

To only cancel Amazon Music HD while keeping Amazon Music Unlimited, follow the normal cancellation process but be extra careful to choose the "HD" plan when managing subscriptions.

The Amazon Music HD subscription name looks very similar to the regular Unlimited plan. So pay close attention to correctly identify the HD subscription during cancellation.

Cancel Only Amazon Prime Music

Amazon doesn‘t allow you to cancel only the Prime Music component of an Amazon Prime membership.

To cancel Prime Music, you must cancel your entire Amazon Prime subscription by visiting Your Account > Memberships & Subscriptions and terminating Prime.

This eliminates all Prime benefits, including free shipping, Prime Video, etc. Prime Music cannot be cancelled independently from core Prime membership at this time.

6 Troubleshooting Tips for Canceling Amazon Music

While Amazon makes it relatively smooth to cancel Music subscriptions, you may encounter a few issues like:

• Difficulty identifying correct subscription plan to cancel
• Pending cancellation request getting stuck or reversed
• Losing access to Prime Music when only wanting to cancel HD/Unlimited
• Being charged after canceling free trials or paid subscription
• Unable to cancel pre-paid annual subscription early

Here are 6 troubleshooting tips for common cancellation problems:

1. Carefully inspect subscription name when cancelling to avoid terminating wrong plan.

2. If a cancellation request hangs without confirmation, try again in a few hours or next day to allow time for system updates.

3. To retain Prime Music when canceling Unlimited plans, only terminate subscriptions showing “Unlimited”.

4. Review account after canceling free trial / paid subscription to ensure no unexpected charges.

5. For pre-paid annual plans, first request prorated refund then cancel the subscription. May require customer service support to process refund prior to full cancellation taking effect.

6. If issues persist, contact Amazon customer support via chat or phone for assistance canceling your subscription.

Hopefully these troubleshooting tips help solve any potential problems faced when trying to cancel your Amazon Music subscription.

Comparing Music Streaming Giants: Spotify vs. Apple Music vs. Amazon Music

Once you’ve canceled your Amazon Music subscription, the two biggest competitors to consider are Spotify and Apple Music. How do these leading music services compare on key factors like song catalog, audio quality, pricing, platforms and more?

Let’s break it down:

As we can see, Spotify still leads in overall features and massive podcast catalog. But Apple Music and Amazon Music offer distinct experiences catering to iOS/Mac and Fire TV/Echo device ecosystems respectively.

All 3 provide free trial periods, so I recommend sampling Spotify, Apple Music, and other competitors first-hand to decide which best fits your preferences post-Amazon Music cancellation.

Smoothly Cancel Amazon Music in Just Minutes

I hope this guide covered all the key steps needed to successfully cancel any type of Amazon Music Unlimited subscription across platforms. The instructions apply whether you signed up directly with Amazon or through Apple.

Just be mindful of subsription renewal dates which dictate when cancellation takes effect. Also take care to accurately identify the specific Amazon Music plan being terminated (Unlimited, HD, Prime, free trial, etc).

If you face any issuescanceling not resolved above, never hesitate to contact Amazon customer support. The team is available via phone, chat, and email to help fix problems related to subscription cancellation.

Finally, with Amazon Music now in your rear view mirror, take advantage of free trial periods to experience and compare Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and other top music streaming contenders first-hand. Each brings unique benefits catering to different audiences and use cases.

Let me know if have any other questions about canceling Amazon Music! Just drop them in the comments section below.