Apple iRadio To Roll Out Next Week

[Urban Hitz Radio]

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/119089/bloomberg-apple-focused-on-selling-ads-on-iradio?ref=mail_news

[djgary72]

Just what the radio industry doesn't need another streaming service. it's just making life even tougher for the smaller broadcasters out there.

[saint]

Gary, for main stream music and entertainment - yes it is, HOWEVER, for unique and niche content - the doors are still wide open.

[Urban Hitz Radio]

With that said...we all know, people are not going to pay for unique and niche content. They already get that for free on Shoutcast and Windows Media..

 

In my genre, I can name about 3 stations that play independent music and has a sizeable listener base.

I'm not sure, it's going to work for iRadio for them to sell ads on unique content. And if they are like the other guys, and I bet they are, being that they just signed a huge contract with the RIAA. Everything they do, business wise will revolve around commercial content - because that's where the money is.

 

So iRadio will just reinvent the wheel, along with fresh advertisements. And put other wheel re-inventors out of business. It's a smart move for them, but bad for internet radio.

 

And then they say "independent" internet radio stations can't sell ads, because it will turn off listeners, but all the major corporate players who have taken their FM signal online, do it and do IT well. Hmmm.

We have placed ourselves into this tiny box, with little room to wiggle, by conforming to what they say we should not do. Instead of thinking for ourselves. Now all the major players are pimping ads on commercial content - ONLINE, except the "independent" internet radio stations...Hmmmmm!

 

What's the point?

We take money out of our own pockets to pay for streaming licensing and bandwidth, web hosting, etc. Put it into other peoples pockets, and not get much in return? This model needs to change.

Think about it, someone came up with the bright idea to create a 3rd party organization to collect money to pay for licensing, and you have a few "organizations" that do it. Getting PAID!

Why hasn't there been this bright idea to create a big coalition to for independent INTERNET RADIO stations to sell advertising?

Most of us smaller broadcasters, don't have large pockets. But it seems as if the money keeps flowing out of our pockets back to those with the large pockets. And the large pockets only look out for the large pockets...Business 101?

 

I wonder what's going to happen to the Radio tab on iTunes?

[dotme]

...I wonder what's going to happen to the Radio tab on iTunes?

I suspect it will be toast. Apple already somewhat buried it with v11.x and if they launch their own service, any other stations just take listeners revenue from them.

 

It does look likely that iRadio will be "announced" next week at WWDC, but I wouldn't expect it to actually launch until Fall, along with the public release of iOS7 etc.

[saint]

With that said...we all know, people are not going to pay for unique and niche content. They already get that for free on Shoutcast and Windows Media..

 

The best way to attract and keep a vibrant listener base is to present unique and niche content. Playing the same songs every one else does wont gain you listeners - no matter how you spin the music.

 

You have to blend your content, with your website, and provide a place for community activity. You have to provide advertising placement on different levels of your internet presence.

 

Advertising revenue can be generated, by Independent stations, that do use unique and niche content - I have seen that with my own eyes. It takes lots of work, lots of time and lots of effort. The money is not in the million dollar level or hundred thousand dollar level - but it is there.

 

The key is creativity, ingenuity and vibrance.

[voodoohippie]

I Downloaded the latest update to iTunes Today and so far my station is still there. If iTunes no longer offers third party Internet Radio stations it really could hurt a lot of us since my listener base is 90% iTunes listeners.

[DJ-Wheels]

As an owner of a station I think it's time we all review just how and where we get listeners. Those who have depended on iTunes exclusively may be in for a big surprise if iRadio causes iTunes to drop their Radio station directory. We get about 80% of our listeners from iTunes. We are also going to run PSAs encouraging those who tune in via iTunes to seek another method. (We choose to go with TuneIn). It's time now to start working to insure the future of your station.

 

Personally I think that the iTunes radio directory had needed cleaned up and purged a long time ago.

[dotme]

Sounds like Apple is rolling out in the USA only to start with. So my guess is that the Radio section in iTunes will remain populated with the thousands of existing stations for users outside the USA, and be populated only with Apple's offerings for users in the US.

 

I have no inside info, but that's how I think it will go down.

[Urban Hitz Radio]

Probably. I think that if Apple never added Live365 and Radionomy stations, and had the once dedicated staff to overlook iTunes Radio, the way it used to be many many moons ago, this new iTunes radio would have never come to pass.

As it is now, the current iTunes radio tab is a mess with dark stations (no one is in charge of making sure they work), and stations that have pre-roll live365 ads, telling people you have to subscribe to listen...lol

The way iTunes is now, it is VERY unprofessional and unApple like.

 

There used to a be a nice dedicated staff back in the day over @ iTunes.

 

I certainly hope TuneIn doesn't become OVER flooded with the same junk.

[voodoohippie]

Basement Broadcasting Network is a great place to list your station. One reason is that since my station is on that network I've received Email submissions from great Indie artists that play Album Rock material. I probably would not have had these submissions if it were not for BBN as many of these artists have told me in their messages that they heard from me that way.

 

TuneIn will always be different and better than iTunes because you can type in a song or artist you like and it will tell you when a station is playing that artists or the last time they played it. Many folks will find the stations that play music to their tastes this way. Even Audioreal has this feature as well as RadioTower.

 

Still I love your suggestion about getting the word out so us broadcasters don't slip between the cracks and fail.

[dotme]

Basement Broadcasting Network is a great place to list your station...

Ironically, if my suspicions are true about Apple removing independent stations from the US version of iTunes, the Basement Broadcasting Network is most likely going to be toast too.

 

It runs on a server that's used as part of my station's operations, and those operations will have to be seriously curtailed if I see a 50% drop in listenership. I simply won't be able to maintain the number of servers and systems I do at present on half the budget. If I end up having to take drastic measures, I'll make sure everyone on BBN gets an advance heads-up though. I'm hopeful it won't come to that but if the funds aren't there to pay for that server any more, something will have to give.

[voodoohippie]

I'm hoping that this does not mean that we all have to flock to Live365 in order to get listeners. I'm already using Facebook, but since Live365 is well known this may be our only choice. Radionomy will have to clean up their act and allow easy direct broadcasting with software like SAM before most DJ's will use them. StreamLicnsing is great but they aren't known to the average listener like TuneIn and Live365. Most average listeners will flock to Live365 and tunein (only if they knew about it previous to the death of 3rd party stations on iTunes).

 

I've done extensive Google searches on the topic and it does look like this is the future. So lets start thinking about how we can keep or renew our listeners on D day. Any other suggestions?

[Urban Hitz Radio]

Believe me, as a station that flocked from Live365 in 1999/2000, No! Their main listening core came from iTunes years ago, when they started adding stations to Itunes and started being measured by Arbitron.

 

So, there it is. Once iTunes de-lists stations, there will no longer be a need for Live365 services (en mass). No one is going to pay for a 56kbps upload jukebox, that isn't professionally programmed. At least now that it's not coming through iTunes (a trusted source). This was the main reason I got away from Live365, because back then, running a station on Live365, was seen as being a kiddie station and not LIVE RADIO!

 

Live365's model changed to be what the RIAA wanted as soon as those contracts were signed. They left the independent station owner holding the bag. All of those cooalitiions was all a farce.

 

The Future is WindowsMedia (hope they don't turn on us), TuneIn and quite possibly FilterMusic (If they do it correctly. The model is there), and Nobex.The main reason I hope Live365 stations stay far away from TuneIn!

I sure hope some other options come out of the woodwork, now that we know Apple is going in with the RIAA forever.

They could have taken the current streams, parsed them, extracted the current song playing and created a buy now link for the iTunes store. The RIAA would have still been paid thru Apple.

 

I would not expect the average listener to know what's going on, becauase they are all for the new iTunes Radio, if you read blogs and comments online.

But I would expect the average broadcaster to be very knowledgeable, since this is our arena.

 

If these so-called broadcasters want to be taken seriously, then they need to rent a dedicated server or dedicate a box in their home to their station and pump lots of hours into it like everyone else. Not just upload the song and walk away. Because that just tells the RIAA, that Internet Radio is a hobby run by unprofessionals.

 

As it is, you have all these broke kids, talking about they can't afford to pay for their station, yet they want to run a radio station.

The days of sponsorships are OVER and have run its course. I've been there. You've got to pay for something in your downline.

Sign up with a stream provider. There are many cost-effective providers out there. This wasn't an option back in the day when I was asking for sponsorships. I had a job but could not pay the sky-rocket bandwidth prices or I wasn't one of those stations who received the AOL gift of free bandwidth to grow my station by the tens of thousands. But you know what? The dedication has always been there.

Things have changed so much over the years. It amazes me that people are still broadcasting in 24kbps.

 

There are stream providers out there that will try to pimp you into believing you HAVE TO pay sky-rocket prices to broadcast. That's not true. This is 2013 NOT 2003. Things have changed!

You won't stay with the same provider forever...NO ONE DOES. Get set up with StreamLicensing or LoudCity. We didn't have these options in 2003.

Buy yourself some imaging, etc. Then you'll see that live365 looks like childsplay and a ripoff, when paying over $100.00 a month for 25 concurrent listener slots.

 

There are now options coming to the top where independent stations can make a few dollars on advertising. You don't have to follow what everyonce else does. In due time. Stay calm...the change will be here soon enough. Those on get rich now schemes won't be here in 2-5 years.

 

Live365 is not in it to help us fight the good fight and bring real internet radio to the fore front. Live365 is not the future, because that means this is not serious enough for people to do their own research. And Internet radio will die a slow death. Their adverts are a snore..come on.

The foolish broadcasters are the one's that put L365 on that pedestal, instead of going the independent route.

 

Do you know where most of the listeners listen to radio? Shoutcast! NOT LIVE365.

And where do most of the internet radio streams originate that can be found on places like TuneIn and WindowsMedia? Shoutcast! Not Live365.

 

As far as Radionomy, that platform isn't going anywhere - ever.

Icecast? it's been around since the beginning of time...lol. Will never overtake shoutcasts popularity.

So far the only thing I see rivaling Shoutcast, is Jay's project, and I forgot the name of it.

 

Can you tell i'm passionate about what I do? Can you tell I don't like Live365?

I mean if you're a station that's received one of those dreaded cease and desist letters from the RIAA eeons ago, you know what I'm talking about! Most of the original guys have since given up.

 

WindowsMedia has a very dedicated team, that still answers and replies to email messages.

 

YES, I agree that we need to run those PSA's, because listeners overseas will just think their favorite stations have gone away.

[dotme]

WindowsMedia does provide good exposure... although I saw a post somewhere else a little while ago that the Windows Media Radio guide was missing in Windows 8 - I don't run Windows 8 so I can't confirm this, but if true, then that avenue is slowly closing too. It will take time, as will Apple's global rollout of their Radio service (It's "USA Only" when it launches).

[voodoohippie]

That is exactly what will happen. I googled "iradio" Just like you see it and found an article with a screenshot of the iRadio. So this is not something that "May happen" but something that "Will Happen" and it will happen sometime this fall. When Loudcaster died it happened on Oct but broadcasters were warned about it around the end of Aug. So lets just say that everyone has been warned. So check your listener agents and if your a member of Live365, Loudcity, or maybe even MyRadioStream (like I am) see which one brings the most listeners. I've noticed that people are using stationfinder.org a myradiostream exclusive and yes I'm a Pro broadcaster there because I have a limited income. I also use RadioLoyalty but I don't get as many listeners there as I do the flash players for MyRadioStream so maybe this could be an answer.

 

How about StreamFinder has anyone had much luck with them? We have to find something that the average listener or hobby listener will find. I'm scratching my head on this one. Hope I don't have to use Radionomy unless they start an easier way to get SAM to work with it.

[Urban Hitz Radio]

Hi all,

 

Just completed the Educational Teleconferencing CALL: Directory Submissions, Stream Quality & Licensing

http://djcmedia.com/educational-teleconferences

 

It was dicussed that Apple guaranteed that the current listees will not be delisted from iTunes. A discussion was made that Apple iRadio looks to possibly be run as a 2nd platform for Mobile users.

[ACRadio]

Our station just got listed with Nobex...super nice group to deal with. We're listed with 13 different directories and I'm always looking for more. Tunein was our first. The only service I've had any trouble with is Tuner24. I've submitted twice and sent inquiries and they just don't want to list us for some reason. FilterMusic has no Christian genres.