Amp is a new live radio platform that allows users to host their own shows by streaming music from a catalog of millions of licensed songs.
; personalities Tefi Pessoa and Nikita Dragun; radio DJs Zach Sang, Kat Corbett, Christian James Hand and Guy Raz; and writers from the music and culture magazineOn sign-up, Amp listeners can add tags, genres and other criteria to help personalize their experience on the platform, which will surface shows most aligned with their interests. Listeners can also “heart” a show while listening, follow creators and opt to receive notifications for upcoming shows.
“What we’re focused on is really taking the best of traditional radio…[and] build an experience around that that simply wasn’t possible before the internet,” says Ciancutti, who arrived at Amazon after working in engineering roles at companies including Netflix, Facebook, Google and Coursera. The appeal for users in our highly curated age, he adds, is to “find exactly the experience” they want, as opposed to being limited to the stations on the radio dial.
Once a creator or listener is flagged, an operations team can enact an “escalating set of repercussions,” says Ciancutti, including by removing a show entirely.