How to Play Music on your Amazon Alexa

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Listen to your favorite tunes anywhere you've got an Alexa device
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This wikiHow teaches you how to play music on Alexa using popular music services like Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and others. Once you've linked your music accounts you can select one to be your default music service and begin using voice commands to play music on your Alexa enabled device.

Things You Should Know

  • Make sure you're signed in to the same Amazon account on your mobile device that you registered your Alexa with.
  • You can link your Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRADIO, tunein, or SiriusXM account to your Alexa.
  • In the Alexa app you can set a default music service that can be activated by using voice commands with your device.
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:

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  1. On your Android or iOS phone, open the mobile Alexa app and sign in to your Amazon account. It's the light-blue app with a white outline of a speech bubble.
    • Make sure you are signed in to the same Amazon account that you registered your Alexa device with.
  2. It's the three-lined icon in the top-left corner of the screen. This opens a pop-out menu on the left side of the screen.
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  3. It's the first option in the menu under your account name at the top.
  4. It's in the "Music" section of the page. Tap any of the following music services you want to link to your Alexa device:
    • Amazon Music
    • Spotify
    • Pandora
    • iHeartRADIO
    • tunein
    • SiriusXM
  5. Follow the steps to link your account, this usually just involves signing into your account for the music service you subscribe to.
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Part 2
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Setting the Default Music Service

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  1. it's in the top-left corner of the screen.
  2. It's the second from last option at the bottom of the screen.
  3. It's the first option in the "Alexa Preferences" section.
  4. It's the blue button at the bottom of the page.
  5. Choose the streaming service you want to be the default if so you can use voice commands without having to specify which service to use.
    • The only options available are the services that are already installed.
  6. Choose the station (radio) service (like Pandora or iHeartRADIO) that you want to be default so you can use voice commands without having to specify which service to use.
    • The only options available are the services that are already installed.
  7. It's the blue button at the bottom of the page.
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Part 3
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Using Voice Commands

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  1. Say the wake command to wake Alexa and she will begin listening for your next command.
    • The default wake command is "Alexa," but if you've changed it to "Echo," "Amazon," or some other command, then use the wake command you previously set.
  2. If you don't specify what music service to play the music with, Alexa will use whatever service is set at the default.
    • For example, you could say, "Alexa, play Incense and Peppermints by the Strawberry Alarm Clock on Spotify," or "Alexa, play 60s music on Amazon."
    • Saying just an artist's name will shuffle songs by that artist for you to listen to.
  3. Much like you would control your stereo or a music app on your phone, you can also use voice commands as playback controls.
    • Pause, resume, and stop : You can say, "Alexa, pause," "Alexa, resume," and "Alexa, stop."
    • Skip a song or go back to the previous song : You can say "Alexa, skip," "Alexa, next song/track." or "Alexa, previous song/track."
    • Adjust the volume : You can say, "Alexa, volume up/down," or "Alexa, volume [1 - 10]" .
  4. [1]
    • "Alexa, what is this song?"
    • "Alexa, what album is this?"
    • "Alexa, who plays this song?"
    • "Alexa, what year did this song come out?"
  5. [2]
    • "Alexa, play the top songs in Chicago."
    • "Alexa, play the top songs in France."
    • "Alexa, play more like this."
    • "Alexa, play songs similar to Portugal the Man."
    • "Alexa, play some Beatles songs I haven't heard in a while."
    • "Alexa, play the music I was listening to on Wednesday."
    • "Alexa, play what I was listening to yesterday morning."
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      Tips

      • If you are an Amazon Prime member, this gives you access to Prime Music, so as long as you used your Prime account to set up your Alexa device, you can ask Alexa to play any song, artist or genre in the Prime Music library without any additional setup.
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      • To connect and use Spotify with Alexa, you will need a Spotify premium account .
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201601830
      2. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201601830

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      * "Alexa, play Tom Sawyer by Rush on Amazon." Plays this song by this artist.

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