Alexa can control playback in Amazon Music’s iOS and Android apps

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Amazon announced today that its virtual assistant Alexa has a new home in the Amazon Music app. Now, users of the Android and iOS Amazon Music apps in the US, UK, Germany, and Austria can ask Alexa to play songs using voice commands. There’s no word yet on when the feature will roll out to users in other locations.

Previously, you could only search for songs by using the search field in the Amazon Music app. Much like other devices and apps with Alexa integration, Amazon Music now supports voice commands that Alexa recognizes. You can ask the virtual assistant to play a specific song from an artist you love, but you can also be more vague with your requests. According to Amazon’s press release, you can ask Alexa to play music based on genre, decade, mood, tempo, activity, and lyrics. For example, before a long drive, you can ask Alexa to “play music for a road trip;” or, before a workout, you can ask Alexa to “play pop music for lifting weights.”

Amazon has pushed Alexa into many of its devices and services. The voice assistant started life in the company’s Echo speakers and quickly expanded with third-party companies developing Skills for Alexa and integrating it into their own products. Recently, Amazon brought Alexa to its iOS shopping app, giving iDevice users the option to ask Alexa for things rather than Siri.

The Alexa push is only getting stronger, too. A report by The Wall Street Journal says that Alexa has overtaken mobile as the top way Amazon Music customers listen to music. This is understandable thanks to the Echo line of speakers, which has expanded over the years to include Dot, Tap, and Show devices. The report also suggests music companies are looking at Alexa as a way Amazon Music services could be more competitive. Currently, Amazon Music sits behind Spotify and Apple as the third-largest music streaming service. Spotify doesn’t have a native voice assistant, but Apple does have Siri. Companies may also look into song metadata, categorizations, and tags to see if they can be better optimized for voice-command-enabled services.