Your Amazon Echo is capable of many things, but becoming a DJ is certainly at the top of the list. You can listen to music on your Echo in a variety of ways and from a variety of sources. And no matter whatever Echo device you have, the procedure is the same.
If you want to use an Echo device to stream your own media library, Amazon doesn’t make it easy. You could previously upload songs to Amazon Music Storage for listening on Echo devices, but that service was discontinued in early 2019. Your best bet now is to connect to a service like Plex or stream music from your PC through Bluetooth (more on that below).
As a result, using a music-streaming service to listen to music on an Echo device is the most convenient option. Your Echo will connect to Amazon Music by default. If you have Amazon Prime, you can have access to more than 2 million songs for free with Prime Music, or 60 million if you upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited. However, you may use your mobile phone, tablet, or computer to access other popular services and wirelessly stream music to your Echo device. Here’s how to do it.
‘Alexa, play some music,’ says the voice assistant.
You can connect your Amazon Echo to a variety of music services, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, Tidal, TuneIn, and Vevo, after you’ve set up your device.
Before you can use your Echo to access any of these services, you’ll need to create an account with them. A free account can serve for some. Others will require you to pay for a subscription. Vevo only works with an Echo Show since it offers music videos; the other services function with any Echo.
Connecting New Services
You must first link your favorite streaming service to the Alexa app in order to listen to music through it. Go to Settings > Music & Podcasts from the hamburger menu in the top-left corner. You should see Amazon Music mentioned, but you may also see other providers.
Let’s try adding a few services one by one. To link a new service, tap the button. Select the service you’d want to have on your Echo device.
You may ask Alexa to play music (“Alexa, play Kelly Clarkson”) or choose your Echo from a music app and have it play through your device after you’re connected. Here’s how to link a couple different music apps.
Add Pandora to the mix.
If you wish to add Pandora to your Echo device, go to the “Link New Service” page and tap the entry for it. Tap the Enable to Use button on the Pandora talents page.
Enter your Pandora login credentials and accept Alexa’s request to access your account. You’ll be taken back to the Pandora skill page once your account has been set up on the device, where it will announce that the service has been successfully linked. After you’ve tapped Done, you can start listening to music.
Add Spotify to your playlist.
You’ll need a paid Spotify Premium subscription, which costs $9.99 per month, to listen to everything Spotify has to offer on an Echo. Alexa can play Today’s Top Hits, Discover Weekly, or a custom-made playlist for those who have a free Spotify account. To link your Spotify account to Alexa, tap it. To give Alexa access to your Spotify data, sign in to your account and then tap Agree.
Add Deezer to your playlist.
Tap the Deezer icon if you want to use your Deezer account. To add the service to your device, go to the skills page and tap the Enable to Use option.
To grant Alexa access to your Deezer account, sign in to your account and tap the Accept option. After confirming that Deezer has been successfully synced, tap Done and begin listening.
Configure Default Services
Continue to add any more services you want to use. In the Alexa app, scroll to the bottom of the Music page. You should be able to view all of the new services you added previously. These providers now allow Alexa to play music, but you must indicate where the music should come from.
“Alexa, play the Rolling Stones from Apple Music,” for example, or “Alexa, play the news from iHeartRadio.” Setting a specific service as the default, on the other hand, means Alexa will automatically switch to that service without you having to give its name.
Select the provider you want to use as the default for music under Default Services. You can also choose the default station for artist and genre on this screen, which is useful if you want Alexa to play music from a specific artist, such as the Beatles or Beethoven, or a specific genre, such as rock or jazz.
Now, from some of the services you added, ask Alexa to play a song, album, artist, genre, channel, or other item. Instead of defining the provider you want to utilize, simply tell Alexa what you want to listen to, and it will find the suitable music.
Bluetooth Streaming from Your Phone
You may also use Bluetooth to stream music from your phone or tablet to your Echo. Say “Alexa, pair” with your phone or tablet nearby, and your Echo will enter pairing mode.
Wait for the Echo to appear in the list of devices available for connection on your device’s Bluetooth settings screen. It should look as Echo-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX To link your device to the Echo, tap the name. Alexa will announce the connection once the two devices are linked.
Tap Devices > Echo & Alexa, then select the Echo device you want to associate with your phone or tablet via the Alexa app. Tap the entry for Pair Alexa Gadget in the Connected Devices section.
Then, on your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings screen, touch the name provided for your Echo. After that, your Echo will be connected.
The audio will now play through your Echo device when you launch a music app on your phone or tablet. Then you may use your mobile device or Alexa to control the playback.
Remove yourself from your mobile device.
“Alexa, disconnect from [name of device],” say to unplug your Echo from your mobile device. “Now disconnected from [name of device],” Alexa says. “Alexa, connect to [name of device],” say to reconnect. Alexa replies “I’m looking for something. Now linked to [device name].”
You can also use the Alexa app to disconnect. Tap Bluetooth Devices on the screen for your Echo device. Select Disconnect Device by tapping the down arrow next to the name of your device.
Using a Computer to Stream
You can use your computer to stream music to your Echo device. As an example, consider a Windows 10 PC. Make sure your PC’s Bluetooth is turned on. Sign in to your Amazon account on the Amazon Alexa website. Go to Settings and choose the name of your Echo device from the drop-down menu.
To connect your computer to your Echo, go to Bluetooth and click Pair a New Device. Select your computer from the list of devices to pair when it displays. After that, you should get a notification in Windows 10 requesting you to pair the device. Allow is selected. Close the Pair Device window once the pairing is complete.
You can now listen to music from iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other audio program on your computer via your Echo.
Remove yourself from a computer.
Return to your computer’s Bluetooth settings screen, click the name of the Echo, and then click the Disconnect button to break the connection. Click the Connect button or just say “Alexa, reconnect [name of computer]” to rejoin in the future.
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