Are you the one who jumps up first to change the music when there’s a lull at a party? Think you’ve got all the answers when it comes to international politics? Why not use your talents to broadcast live or pre-recorded radio shows and share them with your friends? Spreaker is a new service to hit the US that offers aspiring web DJs, music lovers, and the generally opinionated the tools to create their own web radio shows using a variety of music, voice and sound effects. The simple interface and social elements make Spreaker a contender for the next up-and-coming music sharing phenomenon on the web.
Spreaker emphasizes community, a growing trend among music services on the web. Users create and share their radio stations with fellow Spreaker enthusiasts as well as their own social networks like Facebook. This way, your friends can access your rockin radio station next time you’re stuck listening to listless tunes at a party.
One of the most innovative features of Spreaker’s service is its Deejay console. This is the interface that users user to choose tracks and prepare the structure of their radio program. All of the available music in Spreaker’s music library, along with recordings done by the user and a plethora of sound effects can be tapped directly from any web browser through Deejay’s intuitive interface.
The community that Spreaker is building is one of the main pulls of the site, other than its great ease of use. It follows what can now be called tradition in that it lets users share the content they create on Facebook, but it also works hard to build a community within the Spreaker website itself. Aspiring musicians are encouraged to publish their music on their radio stations to share with the music critic community on Spreaker, and talk radio hosts can have debates with one another in joint programs. For those who want to join the Spreaker community without creating their own radio show, the “listener” option allows users to compile a variety of their favorite shows into a single radio station and listen to it on the web.
In the crowded online music space, it’s hard to stand out – but Spreaker’s simple yet powerful Deejay interface and its emphasis on social interaction and community-building give it an edge above the competition.
