What's all the noise about... replays?
Stop. Rewind. Play
This week there’s been a whole lot of noise about replays in the social audio world. More details have emerged following Amazon Amp’s announcement that replays are available on the platform. It seems the feature will only be available for selected shows and for a limited time only.
Amazon Amp was launched last Spring with the promise of letting anybody (in the US) with “a phone, a voice and a love for music’ become their own DJ, alongside the platform’s array of invited celebrities and athletes. Unlike other social audio apps Amp offered hosts the chance to include music from the Amazon Music catalogue, thus navigating a massive headache for creators who would otherwise have been up to their ears in licensing and copyright issues.
So what’s the fuss about replays? Well, while social audio has it’s foundations in live-streaming, our habits nowadays are such that we are accustomed to on-demand consumption. We love podcasts because we can tune in when we want to, we no longer check the listings for our latest show; it’s all about catch-up TV. And so we expect social audio to follow suit. If we can’t catch a Space live because of a diar clash or timezone issue, we want to be able to go back and listen later. And hosts find the replay stats grow over time. A room with 20 people in it live can gain hundreds of listeners over the following days and weeks. But for now, unless we are desperate to catch up on the latest Nicki Minaj appearance on Amp, there won’t be a full catalogue of Amp replays for us to sift through and pick at our leisure. Those being featured initially include Minaj’s Queen Radio, Love Sick Radio, The "Radio" Show and the Black Barbie Show.
Meanwhile on Twitter the future of Spaces replays could be in doubt. Twitter launched recorded Spaces in September 2021 with replays following closely behind. Currently replays are available indefinitely on the host’s timeline. But an announcement this week stating Twitter is removing ‘previously recorded broadcasts’ has us wondering if our days of replays might be numbered. There’s currently no further definition as to what classes as a ‘broadcast’ in this instance. Some say it’s referring to video only and is likely to mean the removal of video and livestreams left over from the Periscope days. However, if Elon’s beef with paying the AWS bill for storage keeps up, it seems unlikely the platform will be looking to store any user-generated content and that may include the Spaces replays.
Hear what we had to say about it on this week’s episode of All Things Audio
#Podcasting
#SoundDesign
#SocialAudio
TikTok introducing free-to-use audio elements to help businesses include audio in promotions
Discussing Film welcomes Guillermo del Toro to TwitterSpaces
Amazon Amp announces replays are to be made available for selected shows, for a limited time
#AudioFuture
AI used to mimic loved one’s voices in imposter scam
What would your personal workspace soundtrack sound like?
A unique approach to audio storytelling is revealed in this episode. Brian Harnetty defines himself as an audio ethnographer mixing composition, found sound, oral history and archive recordings with days out in the woods.
“The very nature of sound means it is always to some degree common property. As it moves freely through the air, it demands a certain live-and-let-live ethos.”