RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter: RAIN 8/4: RAIN Site of the Day; Social.fm/Mercorca closes

RAIN 8/4: RAIN Site of the Day; Social.fm/Mercorca closes
·Aug 4, 11:34 AM
Posted by: Paul Maloney

“THE RACKET” LETS YOU PICK THE TRACKS…FOR A PRICE: New Zealand Internet radio service The Racket has finally launched, at last revealing how it would deliver its boast of “truly personalized Internet radio.” It turns out this means users can create their own radio stations, but not in the same way as Pandora of Last.fm. For around $15 a month ($20 NZ), users select up to 500 tracks out of The Racket’s music library to create their own radio station, which then can be streamed by other users. Though The Racket allows the selection of specific tracks when creating a station, will users really pay a monthly fee when very similar services are available for free elsewhere? Listening to user-created stations is free, but includes no personalization. The web-based player — which requires a quick installation of Microsoft’s Silverlight program — features only a pause/play button and volume toggle. Considering listeners have some level of control of the stream, the absence of a song-skip feature is strange. No cover art is displayed either. There aren’t too many stations up and running just yet, but interestingly a few of them have been created by artists to promote their music. For example, industrial rock group Shihad has created a station featuring only their music, specifically promoting their most recent album. The Racket is a decent service that has plenty of room for improvement, and it will be interesting to see in what direction the site grows. — MS

SOCIAL.FM (FORMERLY MERCORA) SHUTS DOWN: Music streaming service Social.fm has shut down. A very short message on its home page informs users, “The Company is unfortunately no longer in business and therefore cannot continue its service to you,” and gives no reason for the closure. The service, begun in 2003 as Mercora, allowed users to stream music playlists to each other. For more, read The Register’s coverage here.

NPR BUYS PUBLIC INTERACTIVE: Public Interactive, a provider of online services for public media, has been purchased by National Public Radio. Formerly a division of Public Radio International, PI was formed in 1999. NPR plans to build the service to “provide the strongest tools, services, and solutions for public radio and television stations, producers, and distributors around the country.” Said Dennis Haarsager, interim CEO of NPR, “NPR is committed to supporting stations and producers with viable digital tools and services that will help enhance their multimedia presence, help grow audiences, and build new community partnerships.” For more, read Radio Ink’s coverage here.

MOBILE-MRI TO TRACK MOBILE USAGE: Nielsen Mobile and Mediamark Research and Intelligence have partnered to launch Mobile-MRI, a service that will track usage and audience size of mobile content. This will provide advertisers with detailed reports for customer analysis. “This new partnership will enable media planners to obtain a greater understanding of where they can find specific consumer target audiences on mobile…our survey data will enable companies to accurately track who they are reaching through cross-platform advertising,” said President and CEO of MRI Kathi Love. For more, read Radio Business Report’s coverage here.