Amazon quietly building live audio business: Report

According to Axios, the effort, which is being led by Amazon's Music division, includes paying podcast networks, musicians and celebrities to use the feature for live conversations, shows and events.

San Francisco: Tech giant Amazon is investing in a new live audio feature that’s similar to other live audio offerings like Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces and Spotify’s new live audio platform, the media reported.

According to Axios, the effort, which is being led by Amazon’s Music division, includes paying podcast networks, musicians and celebrities to use the feature for live conversations, shows and events.

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The feature is being built to focus on live music, but the tech giant is also eyeing talk radio programs and podcasts as an extension to that effort, the report said.

The idea is that users could access live concerts or performances through their Amazon Music accounts. The company is also in touch with major record labels about live audio events with artists, it added.

Axios has previously reported that the tech giant is looking to invest in localised podcast content, like news and sports.

The company bought podcast subscription company Wondery for a reported value of $300 million last year.

The report said that Amazon also plans to integrate live audio into its live video service Twitch.

It also mentioned that the company sees live audio as a way to bolster the types of content it can offer through its voice assistant, Alexa and its smart speaker products.