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BY
PAUL MALONEY
An interesting article in
today's New York Times
on the failures
of traditional entertainment on the  Web
may hold a valuable lesson for Internet radio.
The piece deals mostly with the failings of two video-based
entertainment destinations, Macromedia'
s Shockwave.com;
and Pop.com,
whose principal backers include DreamWorks,
the uber-studio founded by David Geffen,
Steven
Spielberg, and Jeffrey Katzenberg,
and Ron Howard's and
Brian Grazer's Imagine
Entertainment. Shockwave is laying off 15 percent of its
staff. Pop.com is calling it a day before they even launch.
"Many of those in the field say they have learned at
least two important lessons,"
the article explains. "First,
it is difficult, if not impossible, to
sell enough online advertising to defray the unexpectedly
high costs of producing and maintaining an entertainment-only
site, particularly if that site has no other source of revenue.
And second, as might have been expected, Web
surfers turn out to be
more interested in entertainment
that exploits the medium's inherent interactivity, like
games and virtual communities, than in traditional, old-style films
and animation that can be more easily and pleasantly viewed on television."
Shockwave's chairman, Lawrence Levy, put it this way: "In
my view, the Web is not about repurposing
content that works in other media...it's
about leveraging the powers of this medium."
AtomFilms and
WireBreak Entertainment
are two examples the article sites of companies that are
making money in ways other than on-site advertising. And Shockwave's
Levy promises that his company will refocus "on creating entertainment
that is truly interactive, including games, music and other 'interactive
creativity applications.'"
Click here
to read Rick Lyman's excellent New York Times piece.
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The issues raised here can certainly be applied to Internet
radio:
-- Could it be that radio (in its current incarnations)
is another example of a "traditional" medium that
doesn't take advantage of the "inherent interactivity"
of the Internet?
-- How can Internet radio outlets raise the level of
interactivity to make it worth users' time?
-- If a company backed by the likes of the luminaries
mentioned above (Pop.com also counts Microsoft
cofounder Paul Allen
among its investors) doesn't think it can attract enough online
ad money to stay afloat -- albeit against very high costs
-- what are the implications for Internet radio?
-- Some Internet broadcasters are producing radio for
third parties, often retail sites. Others had hoped online
CD sales would become an additional, viable revenue stream...but
that hope has yet to be realized. Are there other creative
approaches by which Internet radio can make money?.
...
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Have
an opinion on this article? Share it! Simply click
the headline at left to bring up a convenient pop-up form. |
Reprinted
from this morning's edition:
BY KURT HANSON
In a move that could add hundreds of thousands of new Internet
radio listeners to the industry's total cumulative  audience,
MSN -- Microsoft's answer to AOL -- is in the process of
adding Internet radio stations to each of its hundreds of "chat
rooms," with Chicago-based RadioWave providing the programming.
In a test version that has been running for the past five
days, MSN has been featuring five "MSN Chat Radio rooms"
-- one each for Top40/Pop ("High
energy hits. Top down tracks"), Country
("Dixie Hits: The home for today's country music"), HipHop
("Madd sounds 24/7"), Urban
("Smooth sounds and slammin' jams"), and Electronica
("PLUR is the word, people! Ravers online").
In each chat room, the MSN radio station launches immediately
(as the default), with a small integrated
player in the bottom inch of the page showing the song's
title, artist, upcoming artist, and a "Rate this song"
option.
The feature is designed so that all individuals in the room are
hearing the same station -- and the same songs -- at the same time.
The firms intend to provide 40 different channels of music
to the various MSN-created chat rooms. MSN's "hosts" of
each room will determine which channel of music their room will
be listening to. Eventually, user-created chat rooms will also be
radio-enabled.
MSN is offering an FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions)
about its MSN Chat Radio (here)
that includes the following:
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Why don’t I get a choice
of stations when I go into a room?
We thought it would be more fun if everybody in the room heard
the same music, so you could share your thoughts and feelings
about what you’re hearing with others in the room. |
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My favorite
chat room is playing music I can’t stand. What should I do?
You’ve got choices. You can push the red ‘mute’ button to make
the music go away, or, mute the music, then open another window
to find a second room with the type of music you like and listen
to that while chatting in the first room. |
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Who chooses the music?
Some of the nation’s top radio programmers
are choosing the music you hear in the rooms. They consider
mood, tempo, artist and style of music before putting any songs
into a station. |
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RadioWave's staff of in-house programmers includes ex-WaxTrax
Records executive Matt Adell,
former WJMK/Chicago MD Ron Smith,
former KNRX/Kansas City PD Sean Smyth,
former Q101/Chicago Electronica show host Tom
Pazen, and former Tower Records buyer Brain
Keigher.
This move is a continuation of RadioWave's evolution from
a firm that enables radio stations to webcast their programming
with  coordinated
visuals that include ads (see 5/22/00 RAIN article on B101/Philadelphia
here)
to a firm that's producing Internet radio programming for others.
They've previously launched Internet radio websites for Blue
Note Records and Alligator
Records. Next month, they're scheduled to launch multi-channel
stations for ArtistDirect
and RollingStone.com.
(The RadioWave website currently mentions July and August launch
dates for those two ventures, but the actual launch dates are currently
set for early October for both.)
Founded in 1998 as a division of Motorola, RadioWave
raised $22 million in its first round of outside financing last
year from Warburg, Pincus Equity Partners, Susquehanna Radio, Intel,
and FBR Technology Venture Partners.
RadioWave's deal with MSN includes four minutes of spots
per hour with each party selling two
of those minutes. (Over the weekend, the only spots being run were
promos for various MSN services.)
Hear "MSN Chat Radio" yourself by going to www.MSN.com,
clicking on "People & Chat" at the top of the
page, and then "Chat." (Shortcut is here.)
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This looks like an impressive leap forward for Internet
radio (and for RadioWave).
If this feature spreads to AOL, one could also envision
hundreds of thousands of AOL chat room participants listening
to  various
channels of AOL-owned multichannel Internet radio operation
Spinner.
More importantly, once those chatters become comfortable
with the concept of listening to Internet radio, one could envision
many of them switching from the Spinner default offered by AOL
to their choice of any of the many
other Internet radio alternatives that are currently
available.
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You should also note that RadioWave's business model has
evolved into providing Internet radio for other
firms due largely to a lack of interest on the part
of broadcast radio operators
to move aggressively into this space.
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PLUR is word, people! Rave on!
... |
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Have
an opinion on this news story? Share it! Simply click
the headline at left to bring up a convenient pop-up form. |
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"Wacky Morning DJ Faces Crisis Of Journalistic
Ethics "
"OAK
PARK, IL--Controversy embroiled Oak Park's Q102 FM Morning
Zoo Tuesday, when wacky morning DJ "Madman" Mike Antony claimed
that a proposed on-location promotional broadcast at the Bob
Adler Chrysler/Plymouth auto dealership would contradict the
ethics of broadcast journalism."
Read the news story from The Onion's archives here,
or visit The Onion's current home page here.
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Earlier this week, we wrote about RAIN's Summer interns'
"class project" to build an Internet-only station, and
about Tim Martz's FMCities.com
venture. RAIN readers commented...
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"This
ain't radio and it ain't local..."
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Just a minute. Let's check the math.
If you launch the same 50 stations 19 times, how does that qualify
as 950 stations? There is no local content. Zero. Zip. Nada. (Nor
is there any original content. The so-called "News," "Weather" and
"Traffic" are nothing but Internet links--no audio and nothing proprietary.)
This ain't radio and it ain't local. It's just another dull, boring
Internet jukebox. 50 channels of nothing worth listening to.
Launch them 1,000 times, call it 50,000 stations and it's
still crap.
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Jack
Messmer
Executive Editor
Radio Business Report |
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"We
have been playing by the rules..."
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Hello, Kurt. Long time, no correspondance.
We are aggressively hammering out deals with ISPs to supply
them with our DMCA-compliant streaming  technology
and RIAA-accepted reporting technology so today's article on FMcities.com
raised my eyebrow.
It is our understanding through our conversations with the
RIAA attorneys in the past that allowing "pause" and "skip" functionality
is a violation of the DMCA. Do you know if this has changed? If
not, how are stations like these allowed to offer these functionalities
without reprecussions? Do you think the RIAA will soon go after
all the webcasters who do not possess and RIAA license and pay royalities?
If not, we have been playing by the rules and paying royalties
for over a year, all for nothing.
Thank you kindly, O' wise man.
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Dale R. Smith
V.P. of Operations
Cablemusic Networks, Inc. |
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"Three
of the functions you mentioned are prohibitied..."
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Hi, Kurt. If you are doing a follow-up interview, you might
want to focus on the fact that three of the functions you  mentioned
are prohibited under the DMCA.
This is probably as much a problem for Everstream as it is for FMcities.com
(and the other Everstream affiliates). The functions in question are:
-- "Pause a song" for a minute or an hour and resume at the note you
left,
-- "Next selection" tells you what artist is up next,
-- "Skip to the next song" lets you jump immediately to hear the next
song,
Even if Everstream signed an agreement with RIAA (which I do
not think they did), such an agreement would not grant them the interactive
functions as stated above. Those can only be granted by the record
labels directly. I do not believe that Everstream has negotiated for
those licenses.
I think this is an interesting aspect for your readers, in
light of the record labels legal activities to protect their rights
under the DMCA. I know that I would be interested in reading how EverStream
and FMcities.com have been able to maneuver around the existing laws.
Perhaps they know something we don't?
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"I
think you idea to set up a RAIN station is right on track..."
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Hi, Kurt. I think your idea to set up a RAIN station is
right on track. I like the proposed content and agree that it will
fill a vacant gap for my listening which, as you correctly say,
takes place mostly in my office. Incidentally, I also like the California
Rock Weekend format. Thanks by the way for introducing me to the
most enjoyable waby.com which I have added to my list of favourites.
Keep up the good work. I really look forward to receiving your
excellent information.
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Steve
Grbic
Director
Core Commuunications
Auckland, New Zealand |
|
Simply click the headline at left to
bring up a convenient pop-up form! |
 |
| September
12-14 |
Digital
Coast 2000, Los Angeles, featuring a panel on Internet
radio moderated by RAIN's Kurt Hanson |
| September
20-22 |
Gavin.com:
Music on the Net, San Francisco |
| September
20-23 |
NAB
Radio Show, San Francisco |
| Sept.
29-Oct. 1 |
MOBE/Internet
& Technology, Chicago |
| October
5-7 |
Billboard/Airplay
Monitor Seminar, New York |
| October
9-12 |
QuickTime
Live! Conference,
Beverly Hills |
| October 10-12 |
Streaming
Media Europe 2000, London (NEW!) |
| November
5-7 |
NAB
European Radio Conference, Berlin
|
| November 12-14 |
Canadian Association of Broadcasters
(CAB) "Broadcasting 2000: On-air / On-line," Calgary
(NEW!) |
| Nov.
28-Dec. 1 |
Radio
Ink Internet Conference, Santa Clara, CA, featuring
a brand-new national study on Internet radio usage presented
by Eric Rhoads & Kurt Hanson |
| xxx |
 |
|
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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