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New Licensing Company - Competition for Loud City & Live365


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There has been a lot of talk since the demise of SWcast that Loud City has a monopoly on Licensing fees for ASCAP, BMI, SASAC, Sound Exchange, etc. if you are using Shoutcast or Icecast.

 

They swing broadcasters over to their LoudCaster service so they make both the Stream Hosting fee and the Licensing fee. They have closed new sign ups for broadcasters using their own Stream Hosts, resulting in many pulling the plug on their stations. Many broadcasters want to use their hosts because of pricing, Centovacast control panel, etc.

 

Supposedly, this is the first of several companies that are coming out to compete against Loud City. Bring it on !!

 

http://www.streamlicensing.com

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I love Loudcity to death and wish them all the luck in the world, but healthy competition is always great. And considering they are in a bind with no room for new customers, this is also a benefit for those currently looking to jump into legal broadcasting.

 

I do have a beef with the site itself though. It lacks a professional feel. If they are 100% legitimate they need to step that up if they want new customers to take them seriously.

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I do have a beef with the site itself though. It lacks a professional feel. If they are 100% legitimate they need to step that up if they want new customers to take them seriously.

 

Agreed... precisely why i did not followup to an email I received.

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Hi friends,

 

Let me apologize in advance for this lengthy post. I am Marvin Glass from StreamLicensing, LLC. I own and operate All Southern Gospel Radio (Internet only) and also own and operate WGNQ AM1480 / FM 97.7. I appreciate the input on the site and will address the problem with website design immediately. You all have done me a favor helping me know where I have a problem!

 

My mistake is I've invested much time and money to date with attorney's fees getting the legal stuff right and with software development to get the data polling/reporting software up and going and forgot that I needed to address the front end software as well.

 

I agree the legal stuff is too prominent though my lawyer says it must be there. You can do me a big favor by giving me more specific input on what whomever I hire to fix the website needs to address. I am legitimate and have the paperwork to prove it and want to have a website that gives the appropriate info along with putting out the right perception.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Marvin

http://streamlicensing.com

marvin@streamlicensing.com

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I just think that some more time should be taken. Maybe a custom design would be beneficial. Right now, in my professional opinion, it reminds me of those websites that scam people out of their money.

 

I'd be happy to help in any way that I can. Shoot me a PM if you are interested.

Stream101 | Affordable Media Solutions

Shared cPanel? Web Hosting | WordPress Hosting | Premium Stream Hosting

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Marvin, just a observation. Your incorporating Flash in your website. Many of the new generation portable devices that access the web don't recognize flash. I personally detest flash because of their total lack of support for the Unix platform. (They only provide binaries for Linux - not for any of the BSD's or Solaris. Running Linux emulation is a pain just to install Flash Support. ) Why not use a animated image instead ?

 

The rest of the website looks great and very professional. I hope you get lots of business !

You might want to drop by the winamp forums and make some mention over there to drum up support :)

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I'll look at animated images, that will be a new learning experience for me.

 

Posting to other forums including Winamp I do believe would be helpful, however, in reading their forum rules advertising is forbidden. Looks to me like if I post there I am advertising, if someone else posts, simply letting people know the service is available that it can go from there! Especially if I know what forums are being posted so that I can join the discussion that ensues. I guess I need someone with time who wants to work with me on getting the word out, maybe in exchange for free month or two of licensing?

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There has been a lot of talk since the demise of SWcast that Loud City has a monopoly on Licensing fees for ASCAP, BMI, SASAC, Sound Exchange, etc. if you are using Shoutcast or Icecast.

 

If there was a monopoly, then Marvin or anyone else wouldn't be able to do this. I founded LoudCity because I was a customer of SWCast and there were a lot of indications they were not on the level. It turns out that was true.

 

They swing broadcasters over to their LoudCaster service so they make both the Stream Hosting fee and the Licensing fee. They have closed new sign ups for broadcasters using their own Stream Hosts, resulting in many pulling the plug on their stations. Many broadcasters want to use their hosts because of pricing, Centovacast control panel, etc.

 

I've got no problems with opinions or competition, but you are wrong about both businesses, making false assumptions and misplacing blame.

 

We're not responsible for people closing down their stations. That's a decision people made on their own amongst several alteratives to choose from. Also when we put a hold on signups, the activity from SWCast had nearly died down, so I don't that many people had chosen to go dark.

 

If you've been on the LoudCity or Spacial forums, then you know math and timing is the reason why things happened the way they did.

 

Though we're taking new customers again, we were at capacity with the TLH hurdle under the current SoundExchange deal. The next deal up the chain comes with a $25K annual minimum. Besides the considerable hike, you have to wait until January to change agreements.

 

Streaming over the current deal would have meant a sharp price increase for all current broadcasters, including yourself. Possibly as high as 3 cents per listening hour. Do you want to pay $150 per month to broadcast only 5,000 hours? We protected current customers, including yourself, by halting signups, in addition to all the work we put in traveling to Congress several times assisting with lobbying campaigns for webcasters, which thousands of broadcasters had co-signed during the last negotiation.

 

As for Loudcaster, it's a totally separate company from LoudCity. Loudcaster is not dependent on LoudCity's licensing. LoudCity gains nothing when Loudcaster gets a customer.

 

Loudcaster exists because over the years many new broadcasters have abandoned the activity shorty after starting because it is too complicated for them. They buy software from party A, hosting from party B, and they have no idea how to put it together, and hey get little or no help from those parties connecting the pieces. There are people out there that want all the technology abstracted so they can reach an audience in the fewest possible steps. Loudcaster is for those people and it's a response to market demand.

 

Marvin, sorry for getting in the way, but that post was maligning and inaccurate, and needed a response.

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Not a problem, Brandon. I founded StreamLicensing to give more room for broadcasters once SWCast went down and LoudCity was full. It took me three months longer to go live than I anticipated but here I am at last.

 

I was Brandon's satisfied customer until going live with StreamLicensing. We are now competitors in a real sense of course, but I absolutely come with no ill will toward LoudCity or Loudcaster. I believe there is room for both of us. On several forums I've seen participants complaining about pricing and blaming the lack of competition for the price of this kind of service. The facts are bringing in all the competition in the world is not going to change the pricing structure. It is what it is and my hat is off to Brandon for the work he has done over the years and for keeping the price down where someone just getting started as an Internet broadcaster, with little to no funding, can actually afford to broadcast legally.

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I have joined Stream Licensing...you should check them out too!

http://www.streamlicensing.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=29

Mark Evans (AKA CountryJock)

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Hello,

 

I have to say, I've been with StreamLicensing for aa while now, and it's been a real pleasure to be a part of their service. Highly recommend SL.

-- JE

 

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