Music only available on subscription ?

[B.Hill]

Recently purchased Amazon Echo 2, and it appears that to hear music it is necessary to subscribe at $3.99 per month

Is there any way to access music without having to subscribe  ?

[starrin]

Do you have Amazon Prime?  IF not, that may be where the problems lies

[Jerome]

There are several ways to listen to music without having to pay any subscription :
+ Pandora
+ iHeartRadio
+ Amazon Music (250 songs to My Music for free)

[B.Hill]

Thanks

Can one get these three services from Alexa then, or just by DAB Radio ?

[asianrocker]

I only listen to tunein  - what I call poor man's Sirius aka free. I'm a believer that the best things in life are free. Works perfect for me. No installation, no subscription needed.

[B.Hill]

Is this the Tune In on Alexa - or sourced via Radio ?

[craftaddict]

tune in is radio, not sure you can ask for individual songs 
just ask alexa to play tune in radio and the name of the station.

[dragon123]

Recently purchased Amazon Echo 2, and it appears that to hear music it is necessary to subscribe at $3.99 per month

Is there any way to access music without having to subscribe  ?

If you run your own plexserver and input your mp3s (not flac) and that plexserver is accessible over the internet, alexa can play specific songs/songs by an artist from your own music library. It'll take a stab at genres for you too or make suggestions.

[Jerome]

There is also a Synology skill for AudioStation but it is a bit of a pain to install/set up apparently 
https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Inc-Audio-Station/dp/B076PBX4LL

[Scotty65]

Much better to just get an Amazon music subscription and use it as intended by asking Alexa to play particular songs, artists, types of music or radio stations from TuneIn which itself of course is free as stated by others.

[Jerome]

Much better to just get an Amazon music subscription and use it as intended by asking Alexa to play particular songs, artists, types of music or radio stations from TuneIn which itself of course is free as stated by others.

Of course it's easier to subscribe to a music service but the OP was asking for free alternatives 

[Scotty65]

Ah yeah sorry, I take your point. I only meant to point out Alexa is driven by commercial connection to Amazon and so apart from free radio, every other service where the OP wants to choose the music needs a subscription. He could use the dot as a bt speaker from his phone, but being limited to one connection means very basic sound. 

[AlanH]

Apple Music offers a three month free trial. (although not fully supported, it would be possible to stream from a device over Bluetooth.)
Amazon Music Unlimited offers a one month free trial.
Spotify offers a one month free trial.
That’s five months of free music.

[AlexaEcho]

If you run your own plexserver and input your mp3s (not flac) and that plexserver is accessible over the internet, alexa can play specific songs/songs by an artist from your own music library. It'll take a stab at genres for you too or make suggestions.

Thanks for the tip. How does Alexa connect to the Plexserver please?

[dragon123]

If you run your own plexserver and input your mp3s (not flac) and that plexserver is accessible over the internet, alexa can play specific songs/songs by an artist from your own music library. It'll take a stab at genres for you too or make suggestions.

Thanks for the tip. How does Alexa connect to the Plexserver please?

By using the plex skill, if that is what you mean