Shout Cheap

[Gadfly]

Hello all,

 

I am about to sign up to ShoutCheap and I was wondering has any body used them and if so, how would you rate them.

 

Thank you in advance.

[andhow]

I used them for about 2 years. Had a lot of issues with up-time and them making changes to my servers without notifying me and no notification of scheduled outages, etc. I am with ICast now for about a year and have never been happier! There are discounts for paying 6 months and 1 year in advance, something that ShoupCheap never offered. Plus I had lots of problems with ShoutCheap support and was reading once that the admin/owner had been taken to court for fraud in Florida.

 

The one time that ICast did have an outage they notified me immediately. The scheduled outages when they moved to their new network distribution platform were well notified ahead of time and they were a fraction of the the time that they had predicted. They have never made ANY changes to my servers either. I also monitor my servers' up-time with PRTG and have for a while along with other server metrics and the latency from the studio to the DNAS is a lot lower as well since the move to ICast. Their support is top notch as well.

Edited January 7, 2016 by andhow
remove salutation

[Gadfly]

Thank you.

 

I did in fact send SC an email with a query, and it took three days to get a response; that was enough for me.

 

Gadfly.

[saint]

Gadfly, one thing you need to make sure of, the stream host must be able to do Geographical Blocking. According to the latest rant by the US based royalty agencies - if your music stream can be accessed within the United States - you are subject to the new Streaming Royalty Rates. The legal premise is - regardless of where your station is Licensed - the content is available in the USA. Therefore, with the content available in the USA - royalty rates are due as outlined by US Copyright rules.

 

Also ......

 

There is a group of ex US broadcasters that were forced off the air because of the royalty rates, and these people have decided to form a vigilante stream monitoring group. If this group finds a station that has content available within the confines of the United States and the station is not paying the appropriate royalties - this group will be document the stream and report the station to RIAA. I guess these guys figure they can help spread the hate and discontent to everyone.

 

This whole RIAA debacle will end up killing Internet Radio for everyone, and it won't take long to do it either!

[djgary72]

There is a group of ex US broadcasters that were forced off the air because of the royalty rates, and these people have decided to form a vigilante stream monitoring group. If this group finds a station that has content available within the confines of the United States and the station is not paying the appropriate royalties - this group will be document the stream and report the station to RIAA. I guess these guys figure they can help spread the hate and discontent to everyone.

 

Who made them Judge/Jury/Executioner? We know of several stations listed on Shoutcast who have NEVER held a licence to stream some of them have been on the go for over 15 years.

 

The world of Internet radio stopped being fun a few years back and is full of people who just want to make others life a complete living hell for others. This latest Royalties hike is just going to make more pirate stations not less.

 

I know how sad and pathetic some people can be I regularly receive abuse for promoting RadioDJ over paid for software.

 

Some people really do need to GET A LIFE!

 

No one likes a GRASS!

Edited January 8, 2016 by djgary72

[javier]

I used them for about 2 years. Had a lot of issues with up-time and them making changes to my servers without notifying me and no notification of scheduled outages, etc. I am with ICast now for about a year and have never been happier! There are discounts for paying 6 months and 1 year in advance, something that ShoupCheap never offered.

 

Really lol, that sound like a total sales pitch from a competitor.

 

I have been a client of Shotcheap for many years and I had no problem, I am very satisfied. IF you really was a former client "that I doubt it" and you find another provider that fits your needs, good for you.

 

 

That is why exist AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and sprint, so clients can pick which one suit their needs.

 

 

I dont know if you have a problem with your emails; but; I receive all notifications from shoutcheap and quick response via support tickets.

 

 

I'm Happy with shoutcheap

 

 

Before shoutcheap I was with one of those companies that give you unlimited everything for a ridiculous low price and that was a mess.

[BWorld]

Before shoutcheap I was with one of those companies that give you unlimited everything for a ridiculous low price and that was a mess.

 

This is the most important piece of this whole post.

[Gadfly]

Gadfly, one thing you need to make sure of, the stream host must be able to do Geographical Blocking. According to the latest rant by the US based royalty agencies - if your music stream can be accessed within the United States - you are subject to the new Streaming Royalty Rates. The legal premise is - regardless of where your station is Licensed - the content is available in the USA. Therefore, with the content available in the USA - royalty rates are due as outlined by US Copyright rules.

 

Also ......

 

There is a group of ex US broadcasters that were forced off the air because of the royalty rates, and these people have decided to form a vigilante stream monitoring group. If this group finds a station that has content available within the confines of the United States and the station is not paying the appropriate royalties - this group will be document the stream and report the station to RIAA. I guess these guys figure they can help spread the hate and discontent to everyone.

 

This whole RIAA debacle will end up killing Internet Radio for everyone, and it won't take long to do it either!

 

Hello Saint,

 

Thank you for this invaluable information. Is there Ia way I can find out which server provides Geo Blocking?

 

This royalties debacle is really taking the fun out of internet radio, even for a part-time hobbyist like me.

 

Gadfly.

[ShoutCheap]

Plus I had lots of problems with ShoutCheap support and was reading once that the admin/owner had been taken to court for fraud in Florida.

 

That statement is not true, ShoutCheap have been in business since 2009 and in good standing, providing affordable online radio services to thousands around the world. ShoutCheap has never been taken or been to court over anything.

[Urban Hitz Radio]

As someone who has been in the "webcasting business" for a few years. Same station, same name, same format. Nothing changed. Hmmm... as for me making thousands and millions...negative! I'm just good at what I do. I am 100% better than any music director that CC can hire! And I do it for much less than the MD's hold the FCC licensed stations under ransom for! You don't need a special Masters degree to know music and match beats. And play music that appeals to your listeners. People who really know music, know what's entertaining and can specifically tailor the programming to their station. No need for PTP. If your track is good, maybe it can get a spin. Depends on how it stacks up against the competition.

 

The same thing that is going on today in regards to Royalty Rates, is the same thing that went on in 2001-2004, and beyond. So, No Royalty Rates have not forced ANYONE to shut down their station. If you can afford to play, then you can afford to pay! I believe! If you can't afford to pay a monthly rate north of of $50, than you better find a streaming service that caps you off at 10-25 listeners. And deal with that!

 

If you cannot afford the extra expense in your budget, it's not forcing closure. It's not being able to finance any extra expenses!

 

There is a new resource that is available, that was not available in 2001-2004 and beyond-until a few years ago. "Stream Licensing". I think their intro model started out at $22.50 a month. But, unfortunately due to Copyright law changes, their monthly base subscription is now starting at $39.50.

There were others entrants into the licensing arena over the years, but since they were punks and took the easy way out, there is no need to mention em! So now you have StreamLicensing(TLH up to 7,000) and ProNetLicensing(TLH over 7,000).

 

So, if anyone is still doing this as a hobby in 2016, and have been doing this as a hobby for more than 10 years...GIVE IT UP! Time to get real! You do this as a FOR PROFIT venture! No matter if you make $1 or $1,000. We are no longer people in our 20's and ignorant/unaware of rules, etc.

 

***If you listen to ANY internet station that plays ads, then you are guaranteed they are making $$$, Whether it be $1 or $1,000!*** That's not a hobby, that is a BUSINESS!

Now if a station has pimped themselves to serve ads and is not making any $$$, they're a fool.

 

Yes artists deserve to get paid, but their representatives and lawyers are barking up the wrong tree and demanding ubiquitous amounts of $$$ from the wrong group of broadcasting participants.. If it has to be, then, EVERYONE should share the same rate across the board. No matter what platform the works are being accessed through!

Now I will say since people are hiding under this: "I do this as hobby" BS, then where it concerns the webcasters, we'll have no representation. Because the well-listened to stations that are very well considered under this umbrella will never support the cause. Because they're NOT PAYING ANYTHING! And probably never will. LoL! But are they making $$$? HELL YES!

I have never used shout-cheap. I'm sure since they have been around for over 5 years, and are still UP selling the same suite of services. Something must be going right! More than 10 people are buying from them every month.

The industry has enough room for everyone. If they were not reliable and people didn't trust them, they sure would be closed own. I have never ...ever been one to pay through the nose for the top tier so-called "premium" service slots that many providers pitch. It's just not suitable for ME.

 

I have used a very reliable discounted "cheap" arm of a well-named top tier provider for years with no issues.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Urban Hitz Radio

[djsoft]

Gadfly, one thing you need to make sure of, the stream host must be able to do Geographical Blocking. According to the latest rant by the US based royalty agencies - if your music stream can be accessed within the United States - you are subject to the new Streaming Royalty Rates. The legal premise is - regardless of where your station is Licensed - the content is available in the USA. Therefore, with the content available in the USA - royalty rates are due as outlined by US Copyright rules.

There are about 300 countries in the world, and each one of them has its own laws. Do you say that a broadcaster needs to study all those laws before launching a station? This is impossible.

[Matt Skills]

this thread is ridiculous , there is absolutely no way that you must pay royalties to every company that represent's rights holders in every country in the world. if you target your station at a US audience then you pay royalties to US companies, if it's targeted at the UK then you pay those. I doubt that anyone in the united states is paying PPL because technically someone from the UK or 40 other countries might tune in.

 

you pay royalties to which ever company represents rights holders of the content you are using in the country you operate and target your audience at.

 

also it is impossible to abide by all laws in all countries as at least 1 country's laws are going to contradict another's. follow your own country's laws and target your station at your own country's audience and you can't go wrong. if you use a geographical domain name then that will help to cover your back as well (e.g .co.uk shows that you are targeting the uk , where as .com might imply that you are targeting the us) .

 

i also just want to point out that royalties agencies are not government agencies, they are just companies that represent rights holders and of course they are going to try to scare anyone running and online station into paying them.