Amazon to Launch Audio Feature That Plays Music, Concerts, Podcasts, and Talk Radio

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 31 August 2021, 06:08 pm

Amazon is developing a new live audio feature similar to that of Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, and Spotify's live audio platform.

Amazon to Roll Out Live Audio Feature

According to Axios, Amazon will be joining the bandwagon as it sees live audio to boost the contents that it offers.

Amazon's live audio can be activated via its voice assistant, Alexa, and other smart speaker products.

Amazon's Music department is leading the project. The company will pay musicians, podcast networks, and celebrities to use the feature for concerts, shows, events, and live conversations.

Amazon wants its users to access live concerts and performances through the Amazon Music accounts. The company is now in touch with several major record labels about the live audio events and how the artists can use them.

The feature is built to focus on live music, but the company is also expanding to talk radio programs and podcasts.

Also Read: You Won't Be Able To Upload MP3 Files To Amazon Music Storage Anymore In 2019

According to Engadget, Amazon wants to invest in localized podcast content, like sports and news. The tech giant had recently bought podcast subscription company Wondery for $300 million in 2020.

Amazon has also aquired the podcast company ART19 earlier this year, and will use it for its podcast plans in the near future.

The tech giant is also reportedly planning to integrate live audio into its live video service Twitch.

A lot of companies have decided to launch their very own live audio services because they became very popular during the peak of the pandemic last year. It has seen massive investments from Silicon Valley.

Social Media Platforms on Live Audios

On Aug. 29, Clubhouse stated that users create more than 700,000 live audio rooms every day. In May, 300,000 live audio rooms were created.

Earlier this year, Spotify bought Betty Labs, an app developer. It also bought the live audio app developed by Betty Labs called Locker Room as the platform builds its live audio feature.

Spotify has since launched Greenroom, which is a live social audio app that is focused on talk radio, sports, and music. It has launched a livestream feature for events and concerts.

Meanwhile, Twitter had rolled out ticketed live audio events for its Spaces feature.

Earlier this year, Facebook launched a couple of audio products, including a live audio app that could compete with Clubhouse called Live Audio Rooms.

Also, Discord launched Stage Channel this year, a feature for audio-only chat rooms. The feature will let users see a list of channels that they might be interested in that is chosen via machine learning, according to The Verge.

Users can listen to the audio right from the feed, and they can hop into the room so that they can be part of the audience if they want.

While in a public room, users may also see a link to join the Discord server where the channel is being hosted if they wish to join the community hosting the conversation.

Despite the similarities with the feature, Amazon is not looking to create an audio, social network like Twitter Spaces or Clubhouse.

Instead, the tech giant wants to create a digital radio-like took for live-streaming conversations and performances.

While the feature may include podcasts and talk radio programs in the future, the tech giant is mostly focused on music, concerts, and live events for now.