Auntie Flo announces new 24-hour radio station, Ambient Flo

Auntie Flo is launching a 24-hour radio station named Ambient Flo, aimed at improving sleep, focus and relaxation.

The Scottish DJ, real name Brian D’Souza, recently trained in sound therapy and is hoping to transmit the knowledge he’s gained onto his listeners.

Each month, over 300 tracks will be chosen from the realms of ambient, fourth world and transcendental music, hand-selected by Flo in a bid to stand against streaming algorithms.

“This music helped me through the most intense part of lockdown,” Auntie Flo says. “It was my therapy, my escape and it’s now become part of my daily routine. After the success of the weekly Ambient Flo live streams from my garden, it made sense to make it available for people to listen wherever they are and whenever they need it. And with the struggle that musicians are facing to make ends meet, I really hope our Artist Profit Share model will create an ecosystem that helps provide some much needed support.

One-off playlists will be made by guest curators include Shanti Celeste, Optimo, KMRU, Free Love, Nick Hoppner and Sarathy Korwar.

He is also hoping the model will become a fair economic model and a new source of revenue for struggling musicians via a bespoke Artist Profit Share (APS) system. For every £3 donation, £1 will go to the artists whose music is played, £1 goes to running costs, and £1 goes to Auntie Flo and guest curators.

“I’m tired of independent artists being exploited by the power and tyranny of big tech,” he added. “It’s time we, as a community, mobilise to create new, fairer economic systems. This is our first small step towards asking if this brave new world could be possible.”

The news comes amid growing debate around the fairness of Spotify’s current payout to artists, and the launch of a ‘Justice At Spotify’ campaign demanding increased royalties and transparency from the streaming platform.

Find out more at ambientflo.com. You can also subscribe to the station via Patreon.