Live365.com News: Log in Required and Free Music for Personal Broadcasters (12-10-02)

Beginning early next year, listeners will be required to log-in to live365.com (to hear DFSX and DFSXmas) before tuning in to Personal Broadcasts. Registration is a simple and secure process, and will allow the live365.com website to keep listening available to all for free. I'd like to see Clear Channel do that with all their websites!

Logged in listeners will be able to tune in via the Live365 website, or by using Start365 - a stand-alone app that lets you tune in without having to go to the Live365 website. (Download Start365 for Windows here: http://www.live365.com/listen/downloads/start365/index.html - a Mac version is in the works)

The registration data will give the live365.com website statistical (not personal) demographic info about their listeners. As the world's largest Internet Radio network, live365.com is very aware of the diversity of their listening audience. Having a little *statistical* (not personal) information about their community will help the company secure better advertisers who can place their ads with more sensitivity.

Live 365.com has stated in their newsletter that they are extremely protective of personal privacy, and will only use this information in the aggregate to be able to place fewer ads more carefully. This will help them secure the revenue live365.com needs to be able to keep broadcasting as affordable as possible.

There is more information here:

http://forums.live365.com/viewtopic.php?t=2639

Record Labels to Make Music Available for Live365.com Personal Broadcasters

As many of you have noticed, live365.com has recently announced an opportunity for record labels and artists to make their music accessible to all Live365 broadcasters (at no charge to the broadcasters).

This represents a significant change in the way that music is promoted and discovered. Registered listeners will be able to wishlist tracks (some new Weird Al I suppose?), and rank them which will not only give you more info about what they like and don't like, but will be aggregated and sent back to the label for them to use in their own promotional decisions.

http://www.live365.com/community/labelservices.live

Live DJ Pool Service

Live365 is working with labels - indies and majors - to produce an online Music Library. This library will include music from all genres from a variety of diverse label partners.

Live365 broadcasters will be able to preview all tracks in the Music Library. If they wish, they can choose to sideload an unlimited number of tracks directly into their broadcasts.

Tracks will be available to ALL Live365 broadcasters who choose to sideload them.

As part of this package, labels will get audio ads to promote their tracks, in addition to statistical feedback about how well their tracks are doing, and can use this feedback to inform their future marketing decisions.

Broadcasters will also get additional stats about the tracks in their playlist to help inform their programming decisions.

Know a label that might be interested in Live DJ Pool Services? Let live365.com know!

LabelPro Broadcasting

Many labels are creating their own broadcasts with the LabelPro Broadcasting Package to create an Internet Radio station and feature music, artist interviews, tour info, and more!

Stations are on the air 24/7, and listeners can tune in via the label's site, Live365.com, and partner sites with promotion on the Live365 site and in newsletters.

HOT OFF THE PRESS: RadioFreeReleases

To help spread the word about new music, live365.com is starting a new mailing list for people who want to receive info and discounts on music from our trusted label partners.

"RadioFreeReleases" will be customized for your favorite genre(s) and delivered fresh from Live365 to your e-doorstep, starting early next year.

Sign up here:

http://www.live365.com/interact/acctinfo.live

WEB-BASED SCHEDULER: Coming Soon

A new, web-based version of the Playlist Scheduler will be released and available to ALL BROADCASTERS later this week for a month's time. After January 15, it will be available to Premium Broadcast subscribers only.

See your broadcast page (http://www.live365.com/broadcast) to check it out later this week!

WOR-AM Launches Own Make Your Own Radio Station Online (12-10-02)

New York City news/talk WOR-AM has just launched an Internet-only radio service called "The Best of Everything" -- a commercial-free subscription service that is a melange of a dozen different styles of music including pop, country, jazz, classical, and Broadway.

"The Best of Everything" uses RCS's "iSelector" technology to allow users to adjust the frequency of play of artists they like or don't like.

Legendary New York News/Talk WOR-AM has introduced a music-based Internet radio service, featuring a mix of what it calls twelve "categories" of adult-based pop and classical music. "The Best of Everything" also represents the nationwide launch of the the RCS "iSelector" product.

"At first glance it might sound like just another adult standards format, but it goes much wider and deeper than that. It's targeted to the adults who think that radio has forgotten them," said Bob Bruno, WOR VP/GM and creator of the format, in a press release. "You'll hear everything from Mariah to Motown to Mozart, from Sinatra to Springsteen. There are nods to Country, Broadway, Jazz, and Rock."

In our session of sampling "The Best of Everything," we indeed heard a range from Peggy Lee to *NSync, The Beatles, and (as you can see in the screenshot above, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. WOR also managed to secure the services of the likes of Willie Nelson and Christie Brinkley (among others, we assume) for celebrity "liners."

The service is built on the RCS "iSelector" scheduling engine -- the Internet version of the company's "Selector" product, the leading music schedulingLink: iSelector product for broadcasters. For "The Best of Everything," the RCS technology allows the listener to customize the stream to adjust the frequency of selected artists and hear them more, less, or not at all. The player is designed to "learn" the user's preferences and adjust the mix accordingly.

While this type of personalization may raise a "red flag" in the minds of copyright law-minded readers, RCS President Philippe Generali is confident these features are not an issue.

"It has the blessing of all the major record labels and is 100% DMCA compliant," he said in the press release.

Michael Dalfonzo of the RCS Office of Industry and Corporate Affairs told RAIN that the interactivity afforded the listener is based on licenses from the "Big Five" record labels. He confirmed thatLink: WOR compliance with several points of the DMCA (such as the "sound performance complement"), as well as additional security "caveats," was part of each deal.

"We've created 'The Best of Everything' with lots of surprises, unlike the basic cookie cutter format so prevalent nowadays. There are thousands of adults in New York and across the USA longing for programming that recognizes their broad musical tastes," said Bruno.

The commercial-free service costs $4.95 per month, with a free 48-hour "trial" period. According to the press release, that fee will cover costs of streaming, database management, and plus record label and music publishing fees.

There's more in today's issue of "RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter," online now at http://www.kurthanson.com.

Also in today's issue:

Highly rated Internet-only radioio.com and Limelight Networks have teamed for what they say is the industry's first "comprehensive" MPEG-4 based Internet radio service...