will.i.am is launching a new radio service that will allow listeners to interact with AI-powered DJs and customize their entire listening experience.
Built under his tech company FYI and titled RAiDiO.FYI, the service will go beyond music and allow for conversations about news, sports, weather and more. People can already start listening for free with the FYI app on all smartphones.
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Talking to Billboard about the new venture, will said: “The request line has always been always been awesome for radio with when the callers get to call in and talk to the DJ or talk to the guests, but they’re limited to one person at a time. And then after the broadcast you couldn’t talk the host.”
He continued: “This is an infotainment revolution where you can go back and forth with information in a deep way, and I’m so excited to be launching that with FYI, and to all the folks out there listening.”
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Still in its early stages, future plans include partnering with real content creators to make their own dedicated stations across a multitude of genres and niches like terrestrial radio.
Ever the innovator, will.i.am recently revealed how he made millions from Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones after being involved with the company from the beginning.
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Talking exclusively to HipHopDX in March, the Black Eyed Peas legend discussed how Beats By Dre came to be and recalled an initial conversation with Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine.
“I come home from tour one day and I’m like, ‘Yo Jimmy, these brands are pimping us, using our reach to sell their product. We need to make our own product, our own hardware,’” he said. “So Jimmy classically says, ‘You know why they call it hardware, Will? ‘Cause it’s hard.’”
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The rapper and producer then proposed to Iovine that they should sell their own equipment and market it using themselves. While doing a spot-on impression of the record executive, Will recalled Jimmy asking him be a part of the company.
“So then a year later, he’s like, ‘I was talking to Dre and Dre was walking down the beach with his manager, and his manager told him he should sell sneakers.’ And I remembered our conversation and I told Dre, ‘Fuck sneakers; let’s sell speakers!’ You wanna be a part of it?’” he continued.
“[Jimmy’s like], ‘With your ideas and Dre’s Dre-ness, we could do something.’ So I was a part of Beats. No one knew it. I was just an equity shareholder. My contribution was to think and brainstorm and see around corners.”
“One of the first commercials for Beats was ‘Boom Boom Pow’,” he added, referencing the Black Eyed Peas song which namedropped the brand and prominently featured its headphones in the music video.
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“You don’t always have to be the dude in the front — no, you just want to be a player that adds points on the board, whether you’re doing it invisibly or visibly. Actually, being invisible is where it’s at at.”
[Ed. note: will.i.am is a Partner/Investor at DX’s parent company, UPROXX Studios.]
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