Songza, an online music streamer similar to Pandora, has just completed a $3.8 million round of fundraising. Amazon is believed to be an investor, though no one is quite sure how much of Songza Amazon owns. Songza distinguishes itself as the only online streaming service that does not run commercials and does charge for premium accounts.

Why would Amazon choose to invest with a company seemingly adverse to earning revenue? Songza, like all start ups, is offering free items to build market share. There is no telling what prices they will charge once they capture the online streaming market. Also, Songza is pushing its “sponsored playlists” to businesses. Companies would be able to purchase the rights, for instance, the house-cleaning playlist brought to users by Arm & Hammer for a day.  As the user enjoys his free playlist, he forms a positive image of the company.

The more cynical possibility is that Songzha is Amazon’s Bing — a proven market trailer that Amazon must continue to support if it wants to stay relevant in the music distribution business.

We believe that Amazon legitimately feels Songzha is the next best thing. After all, Songza is a really great product.

Tell us what you think about Songza.