Internet radio idea -- update
I did some poking around, learning about licensing, technology, and other things one would need to know about to run an Internet radio station. Let's say that it's a little daunting. The licensing and tracking alone is a real headache. (See http://soundexchange.com for a little taste of RIAA ugliness. Not that I mind paying honest royalties to artists, mind you -- it's all just, well, complicated. And Internet radio pays full freight on these things, unlike over-the-air or satellite stations.) You need specialized software to do this right. Plus, I'd like to be able to support a wide range of listener technologies -- itunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, handhelds, TiVo, and others. I don't know how to do all that yet.
So if I built it all myself, it would be a larger capital investment than I'm prepared to gamble on something like this. I don't have any clue yet whether such a radio station could make back its investment, let alone become a steady income stream, which I'd like it to be.
However, Internet radio is growing. According to one site that studies these things (http://bridgeratings.com), it reaches a larger audience in total than NPR does. And they'd like you to think that there's money to be made there. I wouldn't doubt it.
Now I'm thinking to myself, I can't be the only person who's looked at the first-tier information and come to these conclusions. Has someone closed the gap on the technology and licensing? Isn't there a turnkey service that can do this for me, and let me focus on content and market?
Enter Live365. (http://live365.com)
Yes, there is a way to start a radio "station" with a very small investment. The service leaves a bit to be desired -- they insert their own obnoxious commercials into your sound stream, for instance -- but it's not bad for a few bucks a month. At the cheapest levels of service, they handle all the storage, bandwidth, licensing, reporting, and playback technologies (which are extensive). You can upgrade through many tiers of packages until you reach "pro" level, at which point you can do your own advertising and lots of other things.
I might just do this. I'd like to test the market and see how many listeners are interested in a mix of kid's music and "gentle" grownup music. Stay tuned!
So if I built it all myself, it would be a larger capital investment than I'm prepared to gamble on something like this. I don't have any clue yet whether such a radio station could make back its investment, let alone become a steady income stream, which I'd like it to be.
However, Internet radio is growing. According to one site that studies these things (http://bridgeratings.com), it reaches a larger audience in total than NPR does. And they'd like you to think that there's money to be made there. I wouldn't doubt it.
Now I'm thinking to myself, I can't be the only person who's looked at the first-tier information and come to these conclusions. Has someone closed the gap on the technology and licensing? Isn't there a turnkey service that can do this for me, and let me focus on content and market?
Enter Live365. (http://live365.com)
Yes, there is a way to start a radio "station" with a very small investment. The service leaves a bit to be desired -- they insert their own obnoxious commercials into your sound stream, for instance -- but it's not bad for a few bucks a month. At the cheapest levels of service, they handle all the storage, bandwidth, licensing, reporting, and playback technologies (which are extensive). You can upgrade through many tiers of packages until you reach "pro" level, at which point you can do your own advertising and lots of other things.
I might just do this. I'd like to test the market and see how many listeners are interested in a mix of kid's music and "gentle" grownup music. Stay tuned!