Amazon is quietly shutting down a preferred app in a service shake-up that may have an effect on lots of of music followers

Amazon has quietly pulled the plug on its live-music app, Amp, solely a yr and a half after the service was first launched.

The shakeup will little question come as a disappointment to many music followers as Amp’s closure will depart numerous standard music discuss exhibits in limbo.

The closure of the radio-style app, which let customers launch their very own present and name in to talk with different hosts, marks the top of Amazon’s first enterprise into dwell music streaming.

Regardless of bringing in large celerity hosts resembling Nicki Minaj and Travis Barker, the app’s customers dropped off since its launch and Amazon has now made the choice to wind down the app on October 31.

In a press release shared with MailOnline, an Amazon spokesperson mentioned: ‘We have made the tough determination to shut Amp’.

Amazon’s Amp app has now been shut down not even two years after its preliminary launch in 2022, disappointing followers of the app’s numerous radio exhibits

Amp allowed any person to host their very own radio present in addition to chat with their listeners and different hosts by ‘calling in’ to dwell exhibits 

The spokesperson added: ‘We realized rather a lot about how dwell music communities work together within the course of, which we’re bringing to bear as we construct new fan experiences at scale in Amazon Music.’

Saying the closure in an inner memo, Steve Bloom, vp of Apple Music mentioned that the choice had been within the works for months.

‘This determination was not made rapidly or simply, it solely turned clear after months of cautious consideration figuring out the investments Amazon desires to make for the longer term,’ Bloomberg reported.

Launched in March 2022, at which level John Ciancutti, vp of Amp, mentioned: ‘We’re creating a brand new model of radio that may have an infinite dial of exhibits.’

Amp promised customers entry to a listing of ‘tens of thousands and thousands’ of licensed songs which might be performed on their exhibits and shared with listeners utterly freed from cost. 

Nevertheless, Amp skilled numerous difficulties following its launch, as Amazon lower 150 jobs – equal to about half the staff – from the Amp division of the corporate.

John Ciancutti, vp of Amp, mentioned that the dwell music app would create a brand new model of radio, permitting anybody to share their music and discuss with their listeners in actual time

Nicki Minaj’s Queen Radio was at one level probably the most listened to indicate on Apple Music earlier than making the transfer to Amp in 2022 together with numerous high-profile celeb endorsers 

Amazon confirmed the information on Twitter, thanking followers for ‘creatig with us’

On social media, followers of Nicki Minaj’s Amp station, Queen Radio, have been notably upset by the announcement. 

Nicki Minaj joined the platform shortly after its launch in 2022, after leaving Apple Music the place Queen Radio had at one level been probably the most listened-to present on the platform.

Nevertheless, this growth now leaves the favored present with out a residence.

‘Amazon is shutting down amp.. the place the h*** nicki gonna do queen radio?’ one upset fan requested. 

Different followers of the present have been much less involved in regards to the finish of Amp, with one writing ‘that simply means queen radio is on to greater and higher’.

Amp is at present nonetheless working and can solely start winding down on October 31. 

Nevertheless, MailOnline has confirmed that the app is not out there for obtain on the UK App Retailer and hyperlinks from the app’s web site don’t direct to any potential downloads.

What was Amazon’s Amp?

• Launched in March 2022, Amp was extensively believed to be a rival to the wildly profitable Houseparty app which had launched shortly earlier than.
• Amp permits customers to host their very own radio exhibits and have interaction with their listeners by ‘calling in’ to numerous exhibits and chatting dwell on stream.
• Amazon differed their product from different related apps by focusing extra on the music streaming facet of radio, fairly than attempting to construct massive chat rooms for customers to hang around in.
• Customers may make use of a listing of tens of thousands and thousands of licensed songs from Common Music Group, Sony Music Leisure, Warner Music Group, via Amazon. 
• On launch it secured offers with numerous big-name musicians together with Niki Minaj, Pusha T, Tinashe, Travis Barker, and Lil Yachty.
• Nevertheless, person numbers dropped off after the top of the pandemic and Amp quickly adopted its rivals in being dropped or pulled from the App Retailer.