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What do you think of paid subsription stream model


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I looked around on Google and the forums here but didnt find any info on a paid subscription/stream model. I can see where it could work for a very genre specific station or other specific niche (ie political talk, Cat lover radio, diet recipes) but for a general music station it obvious wouldnt work with all the other free streams to listen to.

Has anyone ever given this model a thought or had any experience with it?

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That idea has been tossed around for many a year. Di.Fm has a high quality stream that you can subscribe to, and various other stations do the same. Live.365 has a subscription service that cuts out all the advertising in the stream.

 

Some say its good, some say its bad - honestly I think its a 50 / 50 shot. What will will win over the most is the genre. The Internet allows the creation of very niche markets that do amazingly well. What some people would laugh about in a local radio market pulls in a remarkable crowd on a global basis. Bagpipes, Polka, Opera etc. You may laugh but its true.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I've had a couple listeners contact me off our station. We have a very rare collection of music we play. I have thought about starting ads in the stream and then creating a high res stream, ad free, for a monthly fee. The only thing that holds me back is the thought of how many subscribers would we really get and would it justify the cost of the stream..... I'm still kicking it around.

Wes Simkins

We took streaming to the next level!

Help us support charities and get your streaming for pennies a year.

DJC Media Streaming Services

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you know, some time ago I have given it a thought to calculate what a monthly subscribtion should cost, en when you would have succes in this. Whatever ways you set up, you always have to wait if people really want it.

 

You need to make sure that you have a steady format on your station, maybe even multiple streams with multiple formats, so the listener can choose what suits him/her best. Bring stuff like newsupdates every hour (which most internetstations don't do, but listeners really want them), don't mess up the formats every now and then, and advertise. Make sure you have a professional looking website (people need to think there's a big company behind the station, not just 1 person who is working on his hobbyproject).

 

Saint has allready mentioned Di.fm, and you see how they do it. Multiple streams with different (but steady) formats. Good quality streams, and of course you can't have any commercials with paid stream content.

 

So, i think it's possible, if you take the right decisions...

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Well my two penneth is this (for what its worth).

 

The problem with the net is that whatever service you r offering, someone else is gonna do it for free or cheaper.

 

I think the key is that USP, whether its a particular genre, or ad-free that will make or break your project. But good luck with your endeavours

 

John

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The problem with the net is that whatever service you r offering, someone else is gonna do it for free or cheaper.

 

I totally agree that there is a big offer at internetradiostations, but most of them are all cr*ppy in their own way.

 

* Many of them don't bring the hourly news

* Many of them have some bad looking homemade website which isn't clear to use for the listener, and just not attractive enough for potential listeners to even try the stream

* Many of them are hobbyists who are changing their formats every 2 weeks, or don't even have a format

* Some of them stop after 2 months because they don't like the fact that they have no more then 2 listeners a day

* Many of them don't do anything to get known to the public

 

Be different, and do not comply to even one of above points, and you have a chance of surviving, if you also have the patience for it.

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