Prominent Middle East and North Africa-focused music platform Anghami has launched a new live music and voice experience on its platform dubbed, Live Radio.

The launch of the new feature follows the news in March that Anghami has entered into a definitive merger agreement with publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc.

The deal will result in Anghami listing on the NASDAQ in New York, with the combined company set to operate under the Anghami name and trade under the new symbol ANGH.

Developed in-house by Anghami, the platform claims that this is the first time that a streaming service globally is enabling users and contributors to “create a social audio experience for sharing music and conversation”.

In March, rival Spotify announced its own entrance into the social audio business via the acquisition of Betty Labs, the creators of Locker Room, a sports-focused, live talk app.

On an episode of the “Spotify: For the Record” podcast last month, Spotify boss Daniel Ek revealed that Locker Room will be rebranded as Greenroom, which will also focus on music.

Anghami says that it launched Live Radio in beta back in mid-2020, featuring text chats and other functionality ahead of the full launch which now includes voice chat for the first time.

Available on both iOS and Android, Live Radio lets any user, including artists, DJs, content creators and music influencers talk alongside playing songs, playlists and podcasts from Anghami’s library of over 57 million tracks.

It also lets them create their own virtual events featuring live interaction. Other features include applauding the host, sending text comments, meeting other participants and side-chats.

Musicians and creators will soon be able to create subscription-only channels, says Anghami.

The platform says that data from the beta phase revealed that active social users have a 30% higher retention rate and social users overall stream 33% more average daily seconds than a standard active user.

“The social elements of  music have always been part of our vision.”

Elie Habib, Anghami

Elie Habib, Co-founder and Chairman of Anghami, said: “The social elements of  music have always been part of our vision.

“In fact, ‘live radio rooms’ were part of our  original business pitch in 2011, as we saw the opportunity for social audio features to take  off.

“Having been integrating social features such as stories and chats since 2017, now we are  leading the way in delivering the next level of social audio to our users and our contributors.

“With the pandemic keeping people at home and apart, the intimacy of voice and the need  to be closer to others has become more valuable and we expect to see the social audio  market realise significant growth.”Music Business Worldwide