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From
InternetNews.com: "The [Australian] Federal  Government
has announced that it will not regard audio and video streaming
over the Internet as a form of broadcasting.
"In response to industry outrage at the concept, the
government has ruled out the
requirement that content providers would require traditional broadcasting
licences to stream their products...
"Senator Richard Alston said that the decision to make
it absolutely clear that Internet video and audio streaming are
not regarded as broadcasting will apply to all Internet video and
audio streaming other than over the broadcasting services bands
which will be regulated under the recent digital television legislation..."
Read the full story from InternetNews.com here.
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Of
course, it makes perfect sense that since webcasters are
not broadcasting on the public airwaves -- a scarce resource
allocated by goverment licenses -- they shouldn't be regulated
by the same set of laws. |
From PRNewswire: U2's final weeks in the recording studio
completing their long-awaited new album can now be viewed by fans
around the world at www.u2.com. After striking an alliance with
World Online, who will be hosting the site, U2 will give their fans
a sneak peek into the recording process. Since going live, the site
has attracted over 3.2 million page requests which represents 509,000
visits to the site per day.
The site, a precursor to the official site, will track the
developments on the new album, and includes live, constantly updated
images 24-hours a day from the band's Dublin studio. These will
show Larry, Adam, Bono and The Edge -- along with producers Brian
Eno and Daniel Lanois -- as they put the finishing touches to their
first studio album since 1997's Pop. Visitors to www.u2.com will
be able to explore the studio online via a 360-degree revolving
web-cam. They will also be able to register to receive e-mailed
updates with band news.
The overall official U2 site will launch in September and
will feature a host of ground breaking features illuminating the
past, present and future of the band. While it is estimated that
there are thousands of unofficial U2 websites, with the exception
of a temporary touring site during the PopMart world tour in 1997-8,
u2.com is the first time the band has developed their own internet
presence.
Last week, RAIN ran a story on EMI's launching of a plan
that prices legal music downloads at up to $16 per album and asked,
"Are they nuts?" (See second
story in this
issue.)
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"Where
they're stupid is in thinking they're better off stonewalling..."
|
In response to your recent "Are they stupid?" question, my
guess from this article is that no, they aren't stupid enough to believe
this or any other comparable "secure system" will be embraced by consumers.
Where they're stupid is in thinking that they're better off
stonewalling the public rather than offering a pay option for what
can now only be stolen. If 10% pay, that's 10% more than are paying
now.
This author's Napster parallel (below)
is perfect. You can get all of this stuff for free, and shutting down
Napster won't stop that, so why not give those who are willing to
pay for downloads the opportunity to do so without enduring the equivalent
of FBI security clearance? The answer...they're STUPID!
From Inside.com: "Download wallets. Passports.
These are but two of the new trappings of the euphemism-rich, law-abiding
digital-music market.
"Rightly or wrongly, like it or not -- and despite any
warm and fuzzy language -- the music being offered  by
the majors as they begin the daunting task of selling their most
precious content online comes shackled. Big brothered. Locked down...
"The results of this sampling of the new, legitimate
download frontier aren't really surprising. Although EMI took steps
to work out the kinks ahead of time, it's clear that the kinks,
especially on the backend, are substantial...
"At
a certain point, I had to admit that copyright protection worked
even better than anyone thought: They had my money, I had nothing..."
Read the full piece -- which is excellent -- in Inside.com
here.
|
 We'll
send you RAIN's e-mail news updates on a regular basis,
plus bulletins when important news breaks. (In addition, we'll
appreciate knowing that you're reading our efforts -- and
you'll hopefully appreciate reminders to read RAIN.)
You should be receiving
a confirmation e-mail from us shortly.
Thanks!
|
Reprinted
from Friday's issue:
From Radio & Records: "Arbitron  posts
station info profiles online: The database, accessible at www.arbitron.com,
contains station names, call letters, broadcast times, frequencies,
formats, programs, on-air personalities and addresses for all Arbitron-measured
stations as submitted by  stations
on their SIP forms.
"The SIP site had been undergoing beta-testing until
yesterday, and is now available to the entire radio industry."
Read more news in R&R Online here.
BY RALPH SLEDGE, RAIN intern
About six weeks ago, Radio Business
Report became the first radio trade publication to put their
own  radio
station on the web -- and they did it for $99. "We got some recording
equipment, and we already had a computer and a partnership with
WebRadio," says Vice President Ken Lee. "We're all radio
guys here, so it was easy."
At the core of the broadcast is a two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half
minute news broadcast, voiced by Executive Editor Jack Messmer,
which cycles throughout the day.
The broadcast also contains old radio airchecks, advertisements,
and jingles -- ranging from old "Lone Ranger"  and
"War of the Worlds" episodes and Steve Dahl's 1978 "Disco
Demolition" aircheck to the Mercury Award-winning Budweiser
Frogs commercials.
The archival material seems to be popular: According to Messmer,
the average listening time per user for the broadcast has been
21.9 minutes -- a time span substantially
longer than the short newscast. (This statistic is based on 3,002
users listening for a total of 1,060 hours in June.)
"The people who grew up in the environment [with the older
material] enjoy hearing it again" says Lee. He noted, "We're looking
for help from the industry. If you've got any old jingles or broadcasts
that you think people would like to listen to, send them in!"
Visit the RBR.com website here.
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"If I ever get real rich, I hope I'm not real mean
to poor people, like I am now."
Buy this fine item from Amazon here.
(RAIN doesn't have an affiliate deal with Amazon or
anything. It's just a great book.)
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Try it
out! Explore
the wide world of Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.
Miss an issue?
Visit the RAIN News Archives here.
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