Do you ever miss the days of radio, when you didn’t know what was going to come next, and when every DJ had their own personality and following? Sure, streaming music is awesome, and it’s the way of the future, but does that mean we need to completely abandon the ways of the past?
Music startup urRadio doesn’t think so, and if you are sad to watch traditional radio diminish—but you don’t hate streaming—than you might want to check this one out. The site operates a bit like other internet radio platforms, though the company has made social interaction a pillar of what differentiates them from the crowd. Users can curate playlists by choosing from a library of 30 million tracks (which spans top 40 acts like Taylor Swift and Kanye West to fledgling artists who submit their own music to the service) and then share it with the world, commenting on each song either during the music or in between tracks, as your favorite DJ used to do on your local station.
Screenshots from the urRadio app (courtesy images).
The idea is similar to playing a video game with several others around the world. When you’re interacting with someone across the planet, you can chat with them in real time, as the action is happening. While listening to a song may not be as adventurous as exploring a new world or avoiding enemy fire, the idea of connecting with those who are as passionate as you are about the medium is something that the streaming world has been missing.
Once you conquer the issue of making live chat availble, there are plenty of other options to explore. urRadio can also handle any manner of livestreaming, be it a talk radio-esque program, or a concert. The designers had such ideas in mind when they prepped their system to clean up incoming live audio, which isn’t known for being of the highest quality. Artists can let fans listen in on anything from a practice session to a sold out show. Those uploading their own music (a feature coming soon) can also annotate their work, offering up tidbits about the writing and recording of a song, or perhaps what a certain lyric means. They can also chat with fans in real time via instant messenger, if their vocals are shot from creating all that wonderful music.
The free service is available now on web, Android, and iOs.