I'm wondering how controllable Amarok is with the keyboard. I'd like to purchase the FLIRC – RPi USB XBMC IR Remote Receiver and pair it with a remote so I can cotrol Amarok remotely. Does anyone see any obstacles to that?
https://flirc.tv/more/flirc-usb
https://www.buyapi.ca/product/flirc-rpi ... -receiver/

If you look at Amarok's settings menu, you can see the working shortcuts, that should also work on a remote control. Make sure you choose a remote control that supports mapping to LIRC. Mind you, most Android phones can already do that, so maybe you do not have to buy anything

For Android phones there is KDE Connect, which uses the D-Bus interface to control Amarok and other players (VLC e.g.). Amoung that there are some other cool features...