After launching with much fanfare in March 2022, Amazon is shutting down its Amp “create your own radio show” platform.
Amazon VP/Digital Music stated in a memo shared with Bloomberg, “This decision was not made quickly or easily. It only became clear after months of careful consideration determining the investments Amazon wants to make for the future.”
In a press statement shared by the company, a spokesperson said, “We’ve made the difficult decision to close Amp. In creating Amp, we tried something that had never been done before and built a product that gave creators a place where they could build genuine connections with each other, and share a common love for music. We learned a lot about how live music communities interact in the process, which we are bringing to bear as we build new fan experiences at scale in Amazon Music.”
Amp combined the ability for any user to create a music radio show with celebrity shows that included a daily morning show hosted by Nick Cannon that debuted in April, an evening show hosted by former Westwood One syndicated host Zach Sang since launch and shows from artists including Nicki Minaj, Joe Budden, and Travis Barker. Many radio pros had added shows on the platform including former KROQ Los Angeles morning host Gene ‘Bean’ Baxter and WKTU New York’s Astra.
At launch Amazon described the app as reinventing radio from the ground up stating, “Radio has always been about music and culture. 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.”
We have inquired to Amazon about when the service will shut down and the status of some of the shows that were employed by the company.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com