Shubham Sawarkar
Amazon has just launched a limited-access beta version of Amp for iOS in the United States, a new app that allows you to DJ live radio broadcasts.
A collection of tens of millions of licensed songs from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and a large variety of independent music organizations, including Beggars Group, Believe, CD Baby, and PIAS, is available to creators, with more being added every day. Creators can also interact with their audience in real-time, without the need for a subscription, additional technology, or editing.
“Radio has always been about music and culture,” said John Ciancutti, vice president of Amp. “But imagine if you were inventing the medium for the first time today. You’d combine what people love about radio—spontaneous talk, new music discovery, diverse personalities, and broad programming—with all that’s made possible by today’s technology. You’d make it so anybody with a phone, a voice, and a love for music could make their own show. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. Amp makes it possible for you to grab the mic and run the airwaves. We are creating a new version of radio that will have an infinite dial of shows.”
Amp is creating a space where anyone can collaborate on live concerts with some of the industry’s greatest personalities. Amp is presenting a roster of upcoming shows from some of the biggest names in music as part of the limited beta.
The undisputed reigning queen of hip-hop, Nicki Minaj, will soon bring the highly anticipated return of her radio show, Queen Radio, to Amp, in addition to upcoming shows from Pusha T, singer-songwriter Tinashe, electronic artist and violinist Lindsey Stirling, Travis Barker, Lil Yachty, and Big Boi; well-known personalities Tefi Pessoa and Nikita Dragun; popular radio hosts Zach Sang, Kat Corbett, Christian James Hand, and Guy Raz; and writers from music and culture publication The FADER.
Amp is freely available to use, and it allows producers access to a library of tens of millions of songs that have been used in their shows, as well as the opportunity to invite live callers to participate in their shows.
Listeners will be able to identify and follow creators and forthcoming shows thanks to Amp’s built-in discovery and notifications. Callers can be accepted by hosts, who have control over who speaks and when. They may organize and schedule their shows in advance, as well as listen to music with their audiences in real-time.
Amp wants to introduce many more capabilities in the future, including Alexa integrations, social sharing, and revolutionary new search and discovery features that will connect listeners with the producers delivering the content they want to hear on the radio.
