 RAIN 10/27: Royalties aren't Net radio's only obstacle ·Oct 27, 10:46 AM EVEN WITHOUT ROYALTIES, NET RADIO REVENUE “ELUSIVE,” SAYS NY TIMES ARTICLEEven with Internet radio stations and SoundExchange reportedly nearing an agreement over webcaster royalty rates, the New York Times points out (here) that, “Internet radio stations have never found a way to make substantial money from streaming music that listeners expect to hear free.”
The economic downturn, the ineffectiveness of visual ads on an audio-based medium, and the reluctance of many webcasters to introduce audio ads (which they say drive away listeners) combine to make profitability difficult independent of the royalty situation. Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Ratings, Pandora’s Tim Westergren, Richard Ades of SoundExchange, former Yahoo! Launchcast exec Dave Goldberg, Rusty Hodge of SomaFM, AOL Radio’s Lisa Namerow, TargetSpot’s Doug Perlson were all interviewed for the article. HOW-TO DEMONSTRATES ADDING NET RADIO STATIONS TO APPLE’S FRONT ROWApple’s Front Row application is media center software for Macs and AppleTV, made for viewing and downloading video, photos, podcasts, and music. Yet it has no Internet radio option. But the website EntertainMac has a short, easy-to-follow tutorial on how to add links to your favorite webcasts to Front Row (which basically involves adding m3u files to your iTunes library). Check it out here.
USB DEVICE DESIGNED TO ENHANCE SOUND QUALITY OF COMPRESSED AUDIOPop Gadget writes about the Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! USB stick from Creative Labs, which they say is effectively improves the sound quality of compressed audio played through a PC — including Internet radio streams. Coverage here
ECONOMIC DOWN-TURN CAUSES WEB START-UPS TO GET THRIFTYBoth Imeem and Pandora have laid-off employees of late, signaling a new cost-cutting trend in web start-ups in the face of a worsening economy. For more, read the New York Times article here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
Whether it is terrestrial or on-line, music-based programming is a going to be an increasingly difficult strategic position for broadcasters to defend. There are simply too many options to get music…particulary through the internet. Radio must invest in other unique, defensible content (spoken word, dramatic, contest centric, comedic and more). This will attract a more loyal audience…and an audience more inclined to pay for content they cannot get anywhere else.
— Chris Bell · Oct 27, 11:45 AM · #
i think that the best way to listen to radio is at work from your PC
— radio guy · Nov 12, 01:59 AM · #