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If you're attending the R&R
Convention, please join us for the RAIN Reader
Cocktail Party, in conjunction with the Strategic Media
Research Pizza Party. We'll be on the outdoor patio
of Harper's Bar & Grill,
directly across the street from the Century Plaza Hotel,
this afternoon from
4-6PM!
We've flown in lots of complimentary deep-dish Chicago-style
pizza and will have a nice spread of other excellent appetizers
too. (Albeit a cash bar.) Please join us and bring your
friends!
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In a panel discussion at the R&R Convention moderated by
RAIN publisher
Kurt Hanson
(right), Clear Channel
Interactive president Kevin Mayer revealed that his company may
soon return station streams to the 'Net, and begin testing ad-insertion.
According to Reuters news agency, industry sources are saying the
company will make an announcement related to ad-insertion technology
in the next few days.
Clear Channel, like several major broadcasting companies,
pulled their streams down over two
months ago, at the request of advertisers unwilling to pay additional
AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) fees
for radio commercials running on the Internet.
Mayer (left) said at the panel discussion, "Having streams
available is a real driver of traffic. Not having streams available
has had a
negative impact."
Also speaking on the panel was AFTRA's Matthis Dunn. He told
the audience, "It's easy to say the union and the Recording Industry
Association of America are trying to put a halt to the Internet.
That's not fair. We're saying we need to be compensated in some
manner."
BY RALPH SLEDGE
Radio Free Virgin General Manager Zack Zalon
recently dropped by the Chicago-based RAIN office. He
was in town for a Virgin MegaStore "in-store" appearance
by Chicago blues legend Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater
-- timed to coincide with the annual Chicago Blues Festival, and
Radio Free Virgin's new "The Crossroads" blues channel.
An electrifying set from Mr. Clearwater prompted us to check out
the new channel, and revisit Radio
Free Virgin.
Radio Free Virgin shows very clearly that, when well designed,
oft-misused technologies can make for a pleasant experience. For
instance, the "Flash" animation is rarely straight-up
obnoxious: the station's artists exercised much-appreciated restraint
in keeping it useful and clean. The player's download size is
small, the installation is quick; and generally speaking, it all
runs pretty well.
All of these things are very nice to see, and indicative
of the care you'll see as you dig deeper into Radio Free Virgin.
Radio Free Virgin has 44 channels, of all different flavors.
The music isn't just grouped 
by
genre here: though there are a number of genre stations (Classical,
Country, Pop, a few kinds of Jazz, etc.) there are also stations
with different focuses. There are stations programmed by the DJ's
from various Virgin Megastores around the world, for instance...as
well as stations such as "So Indie it Hurts."
In a recent online audio interview with Streaming
Magazine, Zalon stressed that the programming is really
the strength of the station, and he's right. Thus we see the benefits
of having a company like Virgin behind the station: they have
a long and broad reach, and are able to dip deeply into a talent
pool to program their stations.
"The Crossroads" blues channel is an excellent
example of the amount of work put into a Radio Free Virgin channel.
"The Crossroads" is put together with the help of noted
musicologist Peter Aschoff, Ph.D., a professor of
Social Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. Aschoff
has had plenty of experience with blues music, running a blues
show on NPR and contributing regularly to Living Blues Magazine.
The page for "The Crossroads" contains a mini-history
of blues music: it's not exhaustive; but like most everything
about Radio Free Virgin, it's done with class and gives enough
information to spark further study.
Furthermore, the station itself features blues music from
about as far back as you can go: very early recordings of artists
such as 'Ma' Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Robert Johnson
are both excerpted on an "audio" page, and are part
of the regular rotation of songs on the channel.
Most of the channels really feel as if they're put together
by people who know the genre; rather than by people who
either have a more general knowledge, or who are simply looking
at charts from the past.
So, Radio Free Virgin does indeed seem to be challenging
"typical" radio of all sorts, by programming differently
but not really being "underground" about it. And, the
approach seems to be working. The station hit two million downloads
of its customized player within five months of its launch, and
huge response to a recent contest.
Listeners could win tickets to see a Madonna concert in
LA, round-trip air fare included. Listeners entered the contest
by clicking the blinking "I" button on the player when
they heard the audio prompt on the "Pop Shop" channel.
According to Zalon, Radio Free Virgin racked up close to 23,000
successful entries (that is, people who actually bothered to fill
out the contest form after having clicked the button on the player)
in a two week period. Probably not great news if you were really
hoping to win those tickets, but very good numbers if you're
Radio Free Virgin.
Zalon (pictured) has said that he wants to "challenge"
traditional radio, and indeed he has. Radio Free Virgin seems
to have been done with a certain amount of care and restraint
not common in dot-com's its size, and they have a pretty good
radio station to show for it.
This feedback is in response to Choice Radio CEO Val Starr's
RAIN Guest Essay (here),
and Arbitron Webcast Services president Pierre Bouvard's response
(here)...
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"If
the product is good enough, your listeners should be loyal..."
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My
guess is if the product is good enough, your listeners should
be loyal enough to listen to a few spots and support (I hope)
the products. Ever count the minutes of spots on Howard Stern's
show? He has a product that a segment of the listeners want, they
are loyal and stick through the spots. If your streamies aren't
willing to sit through a few spots then maybe it is time to look
at your product.
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"Advertisers
need convincing..."
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Pierre gets it...Commercial-free sites are not competition.
Listeners know what they like. And many of them appreciate hearing
about a new product or a good offer.
And they DO understand the "other" purpose of advertising. Advertisers
need convincing. I'll compete for them. (And show them advertising
with MEDIAmazing works!)
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Henry Callie, COO
MEDIAmazing.com |
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"The
situation is a little more complicated..."
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I found both commentaries on the use of Internet advertising
to be of interest. Unfortunately, I suspect that the situation
is a little more complicated than noted by either author.
In the case of advertisements before a radio station begins
playing, I rather suspect that the acceptance of such advertising
depends upon the station and its audience. Specifically, I expect
that audiences of commercial music and talk stations would be
more forgiving of advertisements placed before the live feeds
begin than audiences of noncommercial public stations.
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