Customized audio programmer RadioAMP has launched customized Internet radio for the search portal iWon. The browser-based player offers iWon 150 formats of Windows Media- or Real-based streaming audio (some of the more original being Asian Pop, Middle Eastern Pop, and "PG-rated" comedy).

iWon launched just over a year ago, and gives away to its users $10 000 every day, $1 million every month, and $10 million on Tax Day.

RadioAMP announced similar arrangements with web portal AltaVista this past May, and online music retailer CDNow in June.

Read RadioAMP's release here.



BY PAUL MALONEY
From InternetNews.com: "Echo Networks has developed technology that enables its members to create 'group stations' where members experience a simultaneous stream of mainstream music that directly reflects the group's aggregated song ratings. Through a player that requires no downloading, Echo members rate music, chat with other members of their group stations, vote on songs playing, and invite others to listen."

Read the story here.

Neil Berkman, Chief Architect and Co-founder of Echo Networks, explains 'This application is very significant because it solves long-standing problems in the area of streaming media to enable truly synchronous listening in the context of dynamically changing groups of Internet users.'

...

... Interesting concept here, to be sure -- though the jury's still out on whether the joy of hanging out with your friends and listening to music survives the translation to your computer. It's like traditional radio in that it can be shared in real time, yet customizable. The question remains of why you'd want to be part of a musical democracy when the technology exists to rule your own barony. But the interface was very impressive. The color scheme, rollovers, and streaming quality made for one of the most enjoyable listening experiences we've had with Internet radio yet. And our station sounds great, if we do say so ourselves! ...

From Reuters: "Furthering efforts to protect copyrights online, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Thursday said it was developing a standardized system to identify digital files of songs, much like the way bar codes identify physical CDs in stores.

"'We're hoping to have the system (in place) by the middle of next year. It's something that we need for all business models on the Internet,'' said Cary Sherman, senior executive vice president and general counsel of the RIAA...

"Each of the music giants have unveiled their own digital rights management (DRM) systems to track sales on the Internet. Sherman said the RIAA hopes to create a system that is fully compatible with these systems as well as the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), a digital 12 character code embedded in CDs, that identifies the country where the copyright resides, the manufacturer of the CD and other details..."

Read the entire story here.

Have a perspective on this story? Drop us a note! (Or, to use your own e-mail software, click here.)   Your e-mail address:   Your name (if not obvious from your e-mail address):     Kurt, this is deep background -- don't quote me!         Thanks!

Reprinted from the Saturday update:

At the end of a day in which we noticed its corporate website going down, coming back up, and going down again (see 5:45PM CDT screenshot below), Los Angeles-based website developer Feed The Monster finally announced it was suspending operations this afternoon.

At 2:30PM PDT, the firm issued the following press release: "FTM Media Inc. (OTCBB:FTMM), also known as 'Feed The Monster' Media, an electronic media and content developer for major-market radio stations, Friday announced that due to its continuing cash shortfall, it has suspended its operations. The company will continue to seek a strategic partner and/or the sale of the company.

"Feed The Monster was established with a business plan to position itself to become the leading Internet solutions provider to major-market radio stations." Its staff of about 70 people actually launched only seven websites during its approximately 18 months of operation -- all for CBS/Infinity radio stations.

Earlier this week, in an apparent negotiation ploy with CBS (which owns about 17% of the design firm), Feed The Monster briefly shut down all of the broadcaster's websites. (See RAIN story here.)

In its most-recently quarterly financials (for FTM’s fiscal quarter which ended 6/30/00), revenues were $178K, with a net loss of nearly $3 million.

Various sources have suggested to RAIN and on financial message boards that Feed the Monster staffers haven't been paid for the past month.

What really happened with Feed The Monster last week was just a public glimpse of the dirty laundry between FTM and Infinity.
BY BRIAN PARSONS
I don't like to get into rumor or gossip in the industry, but the outright sensationalism that has occurred around the Feed The Monster story [in other trade publications] is very much uncalled for and has left the facts buried under the muck of so-called "journalists" trying to advance themselves in the industry. Here's the real scoop:

Feed The Monster has an agreement with Infinity to develop web sites for Infinity stations for cash...

READ BRIAN'S FULL COMMENTARY HERE.

... RAIN noted earlier this year that the Feed the Monster websites seemed, in general, to be a bit graphics-heavy and slow to download. (Of course, to a certain extent, this is the pot calling the kettle black...) But in looking at their corporate site yesterday, before it disappeared, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. The site had small, monochromatic photos of each of their executives -- and each of the images was 6K in file size. That didn't seem right. So I what any first-week Graphic Art 101 student should have done -- I copied the image into Photoshop, reduced the number of colors in the image, and exported it. Ten seconds later -- voila! -- I had an identical-looking 3K file. (See below.) What this means, of course, is that the image would download to a user's computer twice as quickly. It's just a rudimentary, basic, thoughtful-to-the-consumer step in the design process that they ignored. -- KH ...
	Ron Conquest - Chief Executive Officer, FTM Media, Inc.: Ron Conquest has over 30 years of experience as a businessman, consultant and entrepreneur and, since 1987, has served as partner and Chairman/CEO of Warwick-Clarendon Investors Ltd., a diverse investment/merchant banking entity providing a variety of business, financial and development services to emerging private and public companies. Prior to 1987, Mr. Conquest was Chairman/CEO of an Oklahoma based oil and gas exploration/operating company. Mr. Conquest's experience includes extensive strategic planning, start-up, organizational, corporate finance and public entity operating skills. He attended the University of Oklahoma.
Size: 6K (FTM)
Size: 3K (RAIN)

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BY KURT HANSON
The Z100 "$100,000 Thursdays" contest that the New York Post has recently told its readers is a national contest masquerading as a local one (here) is also presented on the Z100 WEBSITE as a local contest, as best as RAIN's crack team of interns, having scoured the site, can determine.

As show below, the "Details" page ("Here's How to Play") seems to clearly imply that you have to listen to Z100 to win:


And I'll bet that this is the same verbiage that Z100 used when their contests were, in fact, local. There are no further rules or disclaimers on the "$100,000 Thursdays" page (here).

Elsewhere on the site, however, there is a link labeled "Click here for official Z100 contest rules," which brings up the following pop-up screen:

Although worded slightly ambiguously, these rules certain IMPLY that the contests on Z100 are being played "in the Z100 listening area." (And, again, I'll bet that this is the exact same language that was on the site when all contest were, in fact, local.)

Does the disclaimer really reveal? One might also argue that the motor-mouthed once-a-day disclaimer described by the Post's Mainelli -- "This station is participating in a contest with other Clear Channel stations. Odds will vary based on entries from this and other states" -- doesn't really reveal the nationwide nature of the "$100,000 Thursdays" contest. (For example, the reference to "this and other states" could easily be interpreted by listeners as referring to Z100's state of license, New Jersey, as "this state" and the adjacent states of New York and Connecticut as "other states.")

...

... It seems reasonable in this day and age that if a radio station has a website, they ought to be able to post their contest rules on said site. And, in fact, Z100 does post contest rules on their site -- they're just not right. (Note that the New York Post story ran on Monday and it's now Friday, so Clear Channel management is certainly aware that this might be an issue worth addressing.) The larger picture is that radio has established at least a 35-year history of contests being local (and thus, from the listener's perspective, reasonably winnable, because you're simply competing against fellow listeners in your own market). It's certainly fair if a radio chain wanted to debut a national contest. But trying to take advantage of listener expectations to surreptitiously massively reduce the odds of winning doesn't seem like it's good treatment of listeners. If listeners conclude they've been deceived by their favorite station, that may not drive them immediately into the arms of competitors (or competitive media), but it's certainly another brick in the wall. ...

(Re: feedback piece above:) Leave it to a "sales person" to find some credibility in a radio lotto. Clear Channel is not fooling anyone and will face reality sooner than most have predicted. Running radio like a "7-11" chain will leave the CCU a laughable topic in short order.

"Deep background only"

Didn't Clear Channel get their hands slapped by Florida's Attorney General's office for this kind of misleading contest in that state? Now they roll out another contest to confuse the listening public.

There's nothing wrong with having a national radio contest with a big prize. There is plenty wrong misleading local radio listeners. Not revealing the true scope of participation in a contest or camouflaging them in some time-shifted, voice altered promo is unethical at a minimum.

It seems like Clear Channel wants to continue to play these "shell game contests" until another attorney general, the FCC or DOJ steps in.

Edward Ford

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November 5-7	NAB European Radio Conference, Berlin
November 12-14	Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) "Broadcasting 2000: On-air / On-line," Calgary
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
February 1-4, 2001	RAB 2001. Details coming soon.