RAIN readers have been quite vocal about their feelings regarding
webcasting and its most recent challenge. This is just a sample
of the great feedback we've been getting. We hope to continue to
publish more as this ordeal develops.
Please share your thoughts with us and other
RAIN
readers. E-mail us with your insight at
feedback@kurthanson.com,
or feel free to use the "Send a quick message to
RAIN"
boxes. We look forward to hearing from you.
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"Create
an Internet-only station..."
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Sure, you can pay for a outside streaming/ad-insertion
company. That is, IF you have the right automation system. AND
if listeners are using the right software (special players, pre-downloaded
commercials). AND if listeners are using a
Windows
computer (MacIntosh? Wireless phone/radio? Internet appliance?
Future Internet technologies?). AND, worst of all, you no longer
own your Internet-only ad inventory.
I believe that a better strategy is to create an Internet-only
station that targets your P1s.
In the end, you will control your stream, retain advertising
revenues, and be compatible with new devices. Of course, issues
will come up like AFTRA or RIAA, but you will control your stream's
compliance and fate.
There are radio station websites on the Internet right
now with paid logos and links from LOCAL advertisers. They also
have Internet-only stations with ads for LOCAL companies. They
didn't need some other company to do it, they just dedicated the
resources and employees to learn it.
By appealing to their core LOCAL audience, these stations
are beating the "cookie-cutter" Internet-only jukeboxes, and they
are building their brand and listener loyalty.
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Jason Merecki
Former employee of now defunct Internet/radio company
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"We
are determined to have an offering for streaming..."
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FYI... Minneapolis...KQRS & KXXR are at least
streaming our morning shows 24/7. Commercial and
music
free.
Our competitors in the market aren't offering anything.
We are looking into getting a sponsor on the REAL PLAYER Window.
It's a long process of encoding each morning but we are determined
to have an offering for streaming...instead of completely giving
up.
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"We
deserve to lose listeners..."
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Only a business as short-sighted as ours would
take the chance of pissing off many of our most loyal and rabid
listeners (streamers), to kiss up to the cheapest time buying
service in the world!
We deserve to lose listeners; God help us when the satellite
guys start up.
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"The
radio industry was caught asleep at the switch..."
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This does not surprise me at all! This is just
another instance where the radio broadcast industry was caught asleep
at the switch and was taken advantage of by companies that are trying
to control all entertainment provided via the web.
We are at a wonderful convergence in technology and innovation,
similar to the time in the mid
to late 40's. Technology has provided a means for the average consumer
to get access to an unlimited supply of talent and art. There are
thousands of musicians not under contract producing wonderful music
everyday (over 3000 on
MP3.com).
Why isn't the radio broadcast industry finding a way to utilize
this talent to break the stranglehold the "majors" have on them
today?
Today the major radio broadcasters (Clear Channel, Cox, Radio
One, etc..) are so focused on their "bottom line" that they have
become lackeys (a strong term but true) to the major music houses
and the unions. They are so in debt and financially unsteady that
they are unable to take full advantage of the opportunities that
the Internet offers.
The Internet provides the same field of opportunity that
the early days of the small independent AM radio stations that played
that "unprofitable format Rock & Roll". And again they should remember
how the shift of power swung from AM to FM because no one really
paid attention to FM which gave the small independent AM radio stations
the freedom to experiment with new and radically different formats
which peopled loved.
They had better wake up .. "It's adapt quickly or die".
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"The
clients are the losers here..."
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Radio stations did not panic in pulling streaming
audio. Big agencies like Initiative Media did. They told stations
they could no longer run their ads on the net. Stations had no choice.
The clients of those agencies are the losers here !
BY
BRIAN PARSONS
With the recent developments in Internet streaming and
digital rights, radio groups are starting to drool over ad-insertion
technology. This technology is only a Band-Aid solution and will
only work for the next 12-24 months. The real answer is side
channels – broadcasts that are produced for the Internet.
Over the next 24 months the rights issues will be hammered
out, the market and technology will gain critical mass, and radio
will begin to stream. In the meantime, the web portals and labels
will be rapidly building market share with the Internet audience.
Radio will have to win back the current streaming audience
while protecting their core audience
as it migrates to the web. To compete with the portal/label music
entertainment streaming juggernauts they will have to concentrate
on the quality of the product and reduce the number of advertising
spots. This is the same tactic that stations use now when making
a format change or a new entry into a market.
The tolerance level of each consumer is different when
it comes to advertising. Some will tune out at the first commercial;
others might go 3 or 4 spots into a set. Internet technology allows
us to track that tolerance and compensate for it without the listener
even knowing. This means that the number of commercial spots per
hour can be optimized for each listener. This is the most effective
way to monetize the Internet signal.
Digital audio companies
working on the problem
Digital audio management system companies like Prophet
Systems and Scott Studios are building the capability for ad-insertion,
and more importantly, multiple channels into their platforms to
allow one radio station to be 20, 40, or even 100 individual channels.
With this technology starting to roll into stations now,
it doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend so much
time and resources on breaking apart the current broadcast signal
and gluing it back together -- sometimes very shabbily -- for
the Internet audience. With all the audio-parts, music, and resources
sitting on the modern automation system -- wouldn’t it be easier
to build new signals on the fly in pre-production than to try
to modify the broadcast signal post-production?
Niche PDs to shine again
On the Internet, radio’s focus will need to be on product
and programming. PDs that are sitting under the thumbs of large
corporate ownership groups with their wings clipped will once
again be able to do what they do best.
Big “corporate” radio is too homogenized for the web.
Yes, it will find an audience, but on the Internet the larger
audience is fragmented into small groups. The Internet is about
niche. Flavorful PDs and personalities will flourish on the web.
The more it changes, the more
it stays the same
The dynamics of broadcasting are very different when you
compare Internet broadcasting to terrestrial broadcasting.
Radio will have to build a new product for the web that takes
into account effectively unlimited competitors in the market instead
of a handful.
The good news is that no one knows better how to leverage
revenue from an audio signal than radio, and most of the tricks
radio is using today and has used in the past to gain market share
will work on the Internet. Radio can also choose to ignore Internet
broadcasting altogether. Terrestrial broadcasting isn’t going
away anytime soon. Radio people aren’t like that though, if there’s
a way to get a signal to an audience, they will be trying it.
Brian Parsons is the President of nTunes
and editor of RadioHorizon.com.
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From the press release: "
RealNetworks
announced that its content delivery network division, Real Broadcast
Network, has begun deployment of a live ad insertion technology
that offers broadcasters the option to either stream their terrestrial
broadcast advertisement or replace it with an Internet-only advertisement.
"The technology is part of a suite of services known
as RBN's Radio Business Applications, announced last year. This
pioneering live ad
insertion solution addresses the challenges that broadcasters now
face as a result of the AFTRA (American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists) Recorded Commercials Contract, which requires
advertisers to pay a higher session fee if a spot originally recorded
for radio use is used on the Internet.
"Non-AFTRA recorded commercials and Internet-only advertisements
are not subject to these additional fees, making it especially important
now to provide broadcasters a flexible and seamless solution that
allows them to address AFTRA's requirements."
Read the press release
here.
From the press release: "Everstream
has announced a partnership with Broadcast
Electronics. Together,
the companies will present new product packages designed for traditional
radio broadcasters. The new products allow radio broadcasters
to seamlessly take their broadcast signal online or to upgrade
existing online capabilities with exciting new applications...
"Additionally, the Encoder and Ad Insertion option
gives stations the ability to insert local ads into the Internet
version of their broadcasts with fingertip immediacy...Everstream
offers the Comprehensive Internet Radio package...which covers
all RIAA fees..."
Read the press release here.
