Amazon Music has launched a new feature called “Fan Groups” that let subscribers in Canada to chat and stream together. Users can also create or join groups around favourite genres and artists (e.g., indie rock, country, K-pop, Punjabi). However, it's worth noting that the feature is currently in beta on iOS and Android in Canada.
The feature allows fans to chat, post, and listen to songs shared within these groups. Within each group, you can chat (post messages, reply in threads), share and recommend songs, and stream those shared tracks directly—without leaving the chat environment.
The feature also allows artists to join the groups so that they can interact directly with fans, share exclusive content, and build community. You can reach Fan Groups by heading to the “Find” section beneath the app’s search bar. There, they’ll discover more than 30 communities centered around different artists, genres, and musical tastes.
Members can start new discussions, join existing chats, and share or bookmark songs they recommend. Music can be played right inside the conversation — just tap the play icon at the top to hear every track that’s been shared, or switch to the dedicated “Music” tab beside “Posts” for easy access.
Any user can create a new group, while admins have the ability to silence members or remove messages. Participants can also report inappropriate content or block others when necessary.
Amazon Music's Fan Groups is a feature that blends social interaction with music streaming—chat plus streaming—for the purpose making listening more communal rather than purely individual. The feature also highlights Amazon’s plan of action to compete with Spotify—the company which has been enhancing its platform with a range of social engagement tools.
Notably, Spotify introduced two interactive tools—a built-in messaging feature and Jam—in earlier August. These features lets friends co-create playlists and listen to tracks at the same time. The Fan Groups feature and the built-in messaging and jam features reflect Spotify’s push to make music streaming a more connected and collaborative experience for users.
Amazon plans to make Fan Groups available to audiences in the U.S. and other countries in 2026—after the Canada launch. However, there are concerns about how this feature will be handled to favor the streaming platform, listeners and artists.
Due to the fact that Fan Groups is the combination of chat and streaming in a single interface, questions are circulating about how the content licensing will work, how copyrights will be handled, how user behaviours will be addressed, and whether similar features will launch worldwide and what differences regional markets may show.
