Amazon.com yesterday launched 70,000 Amazon Artist Stores that place biographical information alongside music and related material like books, posters and t-shirts. The inclusion of physical goods could prove a major point of differentiation for Amazon with other online music stores lacking warehouse operations and unable to match the broad a merchandise selection.
Biographical information is provided by the All Music Guide and some community, photo, video and music recommendations are provided via SoundUnwound, an in beta joint venture between Amazon and IDMb which encourages Wikipedia like fan editing.
Artist stores are accessed via a dedicated section and found in an alphabetical listing. But a search by artist in the general Amazon, Amazon Music or Amazon MP3 store do not take you to the artist's store, but to the usual Amazon product listing. Perhaps further integration of Amazon's various music destinations is pending. Examples of the special content available in Amazon Artist Stores include:
Coldplay Store (www.amazon.com/coldplay) featuring:
- A pre-order for the band's new EP, "Prospekt's March"
- "The Coldplay Story" - a timeline of the band's rise
- A photo gallery
- A variety of books and DVDs
Bob Dylan Store (www.amazon.com/dylan) featuring:
- His recent exclusive music video debut on Amazon.com of "Dreamin' of You"
- A photo gallery of the artist throug different time periods
- Career biography and timeline
- A variety of books and DVDs
Andrea Bocelli Store (www.amazon.com/bocelli) featuring:
- A new Amazon Exclusive video from his latest release, "Incanto," along with a collection of other videos
- Career biography and timeline on the Italian opera singer
- A special note from the artist remembering his friend, Luciano Pavarotti
To browse the full selection of Amazon Artist Stores, visit www.amazon.com/artiststores.
