Unsigned artists only, paid for every single play.
Paul Campbell had been a musician and a BBC producer before he built an upload site for unsigned bands, and the station came afterwards as a way of actually playing what people sent in. Amazing Radio took over a national DAB slot on 1 June 2009 from a test transmission of bird calls, broadcasting out of Gateshead beside the Tyne Bridge. It launched refusing to play anyone signed to PRS for Music, on the grounds that the licensing terms took money from the unsigned artists it existed for. The DAB slot went in 2012 and the station moved online.
Everything played is by an artist without a label, and they are paid for each spin. Listeners audition new submissions and vote them onto the playlist, which is why a morning can run from guitar bands to bedroom rap to something electronic with no seam. Amazing Sessions bring artists in to record live, and the annual tips list has a long record of calling who breaks next.
The charts, about two years early.
