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Q: Web Radio ( Answered 4 out of 5 stars,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Web Radio
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Music
Asked by: msc77-ga
List Price: $200.00
Posted: 04 Jan 2004 16:36 PST
Expires: 03 Feb 2004 16:36 PST
Question ID: 293140
I want background information on web radio. How it works, who the main
players are, International variations, market size and dynamics etc
Answer  
Subject: Re: Web Radio
Answered By: easterangel-ga on 04 Jan 2004 21:55 PST
Rated:4 out of 5 stars
 
Hi! Thanks for a very interesting research project.

I will try to answer your questions in a point-by-point manner. I will
provide small snippets from the articles I will cite to save you time
but I highly recommend that you read them in their entirety to get a
better understanding of the concept.

Web Radio: Overview

?The term Web radio refers to a radio re-broadcasting service one can
receive via the Internet. Because the radio signal is relayed over the
Internet through the World Wide Web, it is possible to access the
stations from anywhere in the world?for example, to listen to an
Australian radio station from Europe or America. This makes it a
popular service for expatriates and for people who have 'niche'
interests that may not be adequately catered for by their local radio
stations (e.g., country music). Some of the web radio services
available via the Internet offer news, sports, talkback, and various
genres of music?everything that is on the radio station being
re-broadcast.?

?Not every Web "radio station" has a corresponding traditional radio
station. Many web radio stations are completely independent from
traditional ("terrestrial") radio stations and broadcast only on the
Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as
webcasting.?

?The first Internet "radio station", Internet Talk Radio, was
developed by Carl Malumud in 1993. Malumud's station used a technology
called MBONE(IP Multicast Backbone on the Internet). In February,
1995, the first full-time, Internet-only radio station, Radio HK,
began broadcasting the music of independent bands.?

?Web radio? 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_radio
 

?Although the majority of radio available on the Internet seems to be
Webcasts, that is to say real-time broadcasts of RF radio stations, a
number of Internet only services do exist. These services can be
broken down into two main classifications.  The first is analogous to
RF radio from the listener's perspective. The user launches an
application or browser window, and has high-level control over the
content. That is to say, the listener chooses between programs, not
content. A program could be loosely defined as a collection of audio
programming presented in a certain order. This `untargeted' category
can be further broken down into true broadcasts, where every listener
gets the same stream of bits, and multicast, where every user gets an
automatically generated program. The main observable difference is
that with multicast stations, you always start listening at the
beginning of a song, but there is often lag as the next song is
loaded.?

?The second, `targeted' group of services, perhaps surprisingly not as
common as the untargeted stations, consist of those that attempt to
provide each user with a different, unique, program, tailored to the
user. These can be broken down into the sub-categories of personalised
and customised. A customised service allows users to directly affect
the programming by the use of detailed feedback. A listener could,
perhaps, give a high rating to a song, causing the song to play more
frequently. A personalised service takes this further. By analysing a
listener's preferences, an attempt is made to provide music that the
system believes will be appreciated.?

?On the evaluation of Web radio?
http://www.ub.utwente.nl/webdocs/ctit/1/0000006f.pdf 


---------------------------------------------------
Technical Elements:

How Web Radio Works:

1. ?The audio enters the Internet broadcaster?s encoding computer
through a sound card.?

2. ?The encoder system translates the audio from the sound card into
streaming format. The encoder samples the incoming audio and
compresses the information so it can be sent over the Internet.?

3. ?The compressed audio is sent to the server, which has a high
bandwidth connection to the Internet.?

4. ?The server sends the audio data stream over the Internet to the
player software or plug-in on the listener?s computer. The plug-in
translates the audio data stream from the server and translates it
into the sound heard by the listener.?

?There are two ways to deliver audio over the Internet: downloads or
streaming media. In downloads, an audio file is stored on the user?s
computer. Compressed formats like MP3 are the most popular form of
audio downloads, but any type of audio file can be delivered through a
Web or FTP site. Streaming audio is not stored, but only played. It is
a continuous broadcast that works through three software packages: the
encoder, the server and the player. The encoder converts audio content
into a streaming format, the server makes it available over the
Internet and the player retrieves the content. For a live broadcast,
the encoder and streamer work together in real-time. An audio feed
runs to the sound card of a computer running the encoder software at
the broadcast location and the stream is uploaded to the streaming
server. Since that requires a large amount of computing resources, the
streaming server must be a dedicated server.?

?How Internet Radio Works?
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-radio.htm/printable 


How to create your own radio station:

a. ?Using A Third Party With or Without Using Your Own Or Someone
Elses' Computer As A Server?

?Live 365 is the premiere provider of independent web-based streams,
otherwise known as web Radio or webcasting. What Live365 does is act
as your ?transmitter?. They have constructed the infrastructure that
allows thousands of audio streams to use their computers. It's easy to
begin broadcasting with them and it's easy for listeners to hear your
broadcast.?

b. ?Flexible and Cheap Personal Broadcasting Using Your Own Computer?

?If you want to set up a broadcast but either don't want to pay the
fees for Live365, go through the trouble of configuring your computer
for SHOUTcast, or just cannot devote your computer's time and
resources to being a dedicated server, there is still an option. You
can broadcast from your computer whenever you want, for practically
nothing, using only your dial-up connection (or broadband connection
if you have it)?

You can use the following software:

i.   Pirate Radio
ii.  Helix Universal Server
iii. Quicktime Streaming Server
iv.  Quicktime Broadcaster
v.   Peercast.org
vi.  Icecast.org
vii. Andromeda

?How To Create Your Own Internet Radio Station?
http://radio.about.com/library/weekly/aa013003b.htm 
http://radio.about.com/library/weekly/aa013003c.htm 


----------------------------------
Business Models & Processes:

?Second, for streaming audio to succeed it must follow the revenue
model of traditional broadcasting, analysts say. Content has to be
provided to consumers freely or very cheaply, not only to compete with
traditional broadcasting for listeners but also because it's what
consumers are used to. It would be hard to get listeners to pay a
significant amount for what they are used to getting for free.?

?Streaming audio takes on radio challenge - Web radio requires wider
accessibility and competitive business models to flourish.(Technology
Information)?
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0IFW/21_22/62241802/p1/article.jhtml 


?Cost can be a big factor in choosing Internet-based radio over traditional radio.?

"?We didn't have to buy an FCC license, a transmitter or a tower, or
rent space on someone else's tower,? Dimmel said. ?We also don't have
the cost of land for a tower.??

??The average price for a FM station is $15 million to $20 million,
plus FCC licenses are getting fewer and further between. The majority
of our costs are in our computers.?"

"?It costs us $1,500 per station to set up broadband broadcasting
through our host service," he said. ?Plus the cost of a $1,500
computer.?"

?Worldwide exposure, availability create market for Internet radio?
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2000/12/11/focus6.html
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2000/12/11/focus6.html?page=2


?If you decide to broadcast with Live365, they cover your royalties.
It's built into the price you pay.?

?If you endeavor to be a profit-making webcaster, depending on your
status you might qualify to pay royalties based on a percentage of
your revenue. For instance: qualifying small webcasters pay 10% of the
first $250,000 and 12% on revenues exceeding $250,000 in royalties.
Larger commercial broadcasts fall under other guidelines.?

?Your expenses are going to vary greatly depending on how big of a
broadcast you plan to create. Aside from fees paid to a third party to
host your broadcast, you may decide to invest in a computer to act as
a server which can cost up to several thousand dollars.?

?What You Need To Know To Put Your Webcast Online?
http://radio.about.com/library/weekly/aa013003d.htm 

 
-----------------------------------------
Web Radio Market:

Demographics:

65% Male, 35% Female
Adult Listeners Between 25-54
Audience Distribution: 85% US, 15% Rest of the World

Household Income $50K+ =46%
Clicked Web Advertising = 42%
Purchased Online = 73%
Average Amount Spent Online = $1039 
Total CDs Purchased Last Year = 16.1

?Reach and Profile?
http://www.moontaximedia.com/reachandprofile.html


?The number of Americans who have ever used Internet audio and video
(Internet broadcasts) has crossed the 100 million person milestone. As
of January 2003, 44% of all Americans had ever used Internet audio or
video which projects to approximately 103 million Americans. This
represents nearly six out of ten of online Americans.?

?The percentage of those who listen to Internet audio on a regular
basis has tripled in three years, while growth in regular tuning to
Internet video has been stagnant. The proportion of all Americans who
listened to Internet audio in the last month tripled from 5% in
January 2000 to 17% in January 2003. Over the same period, there has
been virtually no increase in monthly Internet video audiences (7%
January 2000, 7% January 2003) among the total U.S. population.?

?Approximately 24 million Americans say they have watched or listened
to Internet broadcasts in the last week. Those who have listened to or
watched content online in the last week represent 10% of the U.S.
population and 14% of all Internet users. Nearly half of those that
have consumed Internet broadcasting in the last week have broadband
Internet access at home.?

?The more habitual the Internet broadcast consumer, the more time they
spend on the Internet. The average Internet user spends about 9 hours
per week online, while Streamies (those who ever used Internet audio
or video) spend 11 hours per week online. Monthly Streamies spend more
than 14 hours and weekly Streamies spend nearly 17 hours per week
online.?

?Internet radio listeners say they listen most often to local stations
(46%) followed by radio stations from other parts of the U.S. (40%)
and stations from other countries (7%).?

                                                                      
                                                            Monthly
Streamies

$75,000+ annual household income                            29%           
College graduate or higher level of education               41%            
Have residential Broadband                                  39%            
Two or more computers in the home                           51%            

Estimated Market Size:

?If the entire current Internet audio audience were sold as a single
radio network today, it could generate up to $54 million per year in
advertising revenue. Based on the estimate from this study, the
current weekly cumulative audience of approximately 20 million people,
listening for an average of 5½ hours a week to Internet audio
generates an Average Quarter Hour (AQH) audience of approximately
655,000 people. Therefore, the advertising value of the weekly
Internet audio audience would be $54 million-per-year, based on a
typical network radio cost-per-thousand of $2.50 and an average of
five commercial units per hour.?

?The number of Americans who have ever used Internet audio and video
(Internet broadcasts) has crossed the 100 million person milestone. As
of January 2003, 44% of all Americans had ever used Internet audio or
video which projects to approximately 103 million Americans. This
represents nearly six out of ten of online Americans.?

?The percentage of those who listen to Internet audio on a regular
basis has tripled in three years, while growth in regular tuning to
Internet video has been stagnant. The proportion of all Americans who
listened to Internet audio in the last month tripled from 5% in
January 2000 to 17% in January 2003. Over the same period, there has
been virtually no increase in monthly Internet video audiences (7%
January 2000, 7% January 2003) among the total U.S. population.?

?Internet and Multimedia 10? (See page 12)
http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/Internet10_Summary.pdf 


MAIN PLAYERS:

Top 10 Web Radio Networks:

1.  AOL Radio@Network
2.  LAUNCH
3.  MUSICMATCH
4.  The Adsertion Network
5.  Virgin Radio
6.  Educational Media Foundation
7.  ABC Radio Network
8.  AccuRadio
9.  KillerOldies.com
10. KPLU

?Virgin Radio Is the Top Commercial Internet Broadcast Station in
November According to Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings?
http://www.arbitron.com/newsroom/archive/WCR12_19_03.htm 


----------------------------------------
Legal Issues of Web Radio:

?The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has upheld a
ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office requiring radio stations that
stream broadcasts over the Internet must pay royalties to recording
companies and artists as well as to composers. Traditional
over-the-air radio stations only pay royalties to songwriters.?

?While AM and FM stations have long enjoyed the royalty exemptions to
artists and labels on the premise that radio airplay promotes sales,
Congress decided in passing the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) that Internet-only radio stations would not have the
exemptions.?

?Court Rules AM/FM Simulcasters Must Pay Royalties?
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3096481 


?More than 200 Internet-based radio stations have shut down because of
a royalty fee that takes effect in September, and more are closing
daily. Most of the estimated 10,000 radio Webcasters are expected to
follow suit, ?with the exception of Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and other
deep-pocketed conglomerates who can afford a loss leader,? says Kurt
Hanson, editor of the Radio and Internet Newsletter.?

?Payments are due Oct. 20 for this year and are retroactive to 1998,
which could add up to tens of thousands more in arrears. The fee
applies to both commercial and non-commercial stations; many
non-profits have closed their Web stations, including University of
California-Los Angeles and New York University. KPIG of Watsonville,
Calif., the first commercial station to stream its signal over the
Internet in 1995, has stopped Webcasting, as have others with
dedicated followings such as All80s, GrrlRock and SavageRockRadio.?

?Many Web stations already pay copyright royalties to songwriter
organizations. This new fee ? which traditional over-the-air radio
stations don't pay ? goes to record companies.?

?Royalty fees killing most Internet radio stations?
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-07-21-radio_x.htm 


?The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel first set a rate of
14-hundredths of a cent per song, per listener. When Webcasters
balked, asking instead to be allowed to pay a percentage of their
revenues, the rate was halved.?

?That's still too much for many of them. More than 200 stations have
closed, and more are expected to follow. Because the rate is
retroactive to 1998, huge checks are due Oct. 20. ?We shut down
because we were scared of the liability,? Hodge says. ?We were looking
at a payment of $60,000 to $80,000.?"

?Mourning the end of small Net radio sites?
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-07-21-net-radio_x.htm 


-------------------------------------
The international web radio industry is unlike the one in the US. The
industry isn?t as matured as the one in the US so data isn?t readily
available. But there are numerous web radios in different countries.
If you want to listen to them, the following web directories provide
links to online radios in different countries.

Pandia
http://www.pandia.com/radio/ 

Radio Locator
http://www.radio-locator.com/ 

Media Station
http://www.org.mk/radio/media.asp?genre=world  

Radio Free World
http://www.radiofreeworld.com/ 


Searched strategy:
"internet radio" "web radio" ?business model? demographics dynamics
"web radio" international directory 

I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                 
Thanks for visiting us.                
                 
Regards,                 
Easterangel-ga                 
Google Answers Researcher

Request for Answer Clarification by msc77-ga on 05 Jan 2004 03:44 PST
Thank you, this is very helpful. I have a couple of questions after
scanning your answer, I may have a couple more after going in to more
detail!

1. In the legal issues, the text refers to "this year" and Oct 20th,
which year are these referring to?

2. You mention that there is little International information
available. I'm especially interested in Europe, particularly the UK.
Could you have another look? I'm particularly interested in market
demographics, rates, major players etc.

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 05 Jan 2004 03:57 PST
Hi!

1. The year referred to in that article is the year 2002.

2. Before posting an answer, I have already searched for such
statistics in Europe. I will try to find some more but it seems
thereis really a lack of market data in the UK.

Thanks!

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 05 Jan 2004 04:58 PST
Hi again!

I was able to find additionals report for the UK although these came
from  October and November 2002 reports.

Top Online Radio Stations in the UK

1. Virgin Radio UK
2. Musicmatch
3. Radioio
4. Jazz FM102.2 FM
5. WQXR-FM
6. K-Love Radio
7. Musicmatch Top Hits
8. WBLS FM
9. Beethoven.com
10. WBLS-FM

Jack Meyer's Report (Nov. 2002)
http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/jackmyersreport.pdf

Measurecast Report
http://www.measurecast.com/news/pr/2002/pr20021011m.html


Please take note that due to the international nature of the Internet,
some radio stations listed are also from the US.

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

Request for Answer Clarification by msc77-ga on 05 Jan 2004 07:05 PST
Thanks once more!
I guess that means there are no easily available stats on size of
market (UK/Europe) etc?

Thanks...

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 05 Jan 2004 15:18 PST
Hi again msc77-ga!

Yes I have tried looking for deeper market information for the UK and
Europe and it seems that such figures are really not readily
available. I hope you understand.

As regards to the criticism of the answer by haldane-ga, it is true
that web radio is not only a re-broadcast. I am a big fan of web radio
and I rarely listen to re-broadcasts over the Internet. As I have
posted in the original answer above, I also cited this concept...

?The second, `targeted' group of services, perhaps surprisingly not as
common as the untargeted stations, consist of those that attempt to
provide each user with a different, unique, program, tailored to the
user. These can be broken down into the sub-categories of personalised
and customised. A customised service allows users to directly affect
the programming by the use of detailed feedback. A listener could,
perhaps, give a high rating to a song, causing the song to play more
frequently. A personalised service takes this further. By analysing a
listener's preferences, an attempt is made to provide music that the
system believes will be appreciated.?

?On the evaluation of Web radio?
http://www.ub.utwente.nl/webdocs/ctit/1/0000006f.pdf 


It is evident that such music data and software exists only on
computer servers for it to have the capability for customer
personalization. However, I would still like to thank haldane-ga for
the fine points he mentioned.

Thanks! :)
msc77-ga rated this answer:4 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $10.00
Very helpful and comprehensive. Some reports a little older and UK
stats thin on the ground but overall, extremely good...and fast!

Comments  
Subject: Re: Web Radio
From: haldane-ga on 05 Jan 2004 09:49 PST
 
If I may help you a little:

Firstly, try the RAB for more information on the UK.  See
http://www.rab.co.uk  - click on MARKETPLACE for interesting stuff.

Secondly, some of the extracts early on in the answer are in my view a
little dubious.

1. "The term Web radio refers to a radio re-broadcasting service one can
receive via the Internet"  - Nonsense, as pointed out in the second
quote, web radio need not be re-broadcasting.

2. "...broken down into true broadcasts, where every listener gets the
same stream of bits, and multicast, where every user gets an
automatically generated program."  - Nonsense.  Multicast is a term
that should not be used that way.  Multicast refers to a IP technology
that enables many users to receive the same internet broadcast without
each having an individual connection to the source server.

3. "How web radio works - The audio enters the Internet broadcaster?s
encoding computer through a sound card" - Well it could do in the case
of re-broadcasting, but in many cases the audio will be stored on the
hard disk.

4. "There are two ways to deliver audio over the Internet: downloads
or streaming media" - Just being pedantic - note that downloading
audio files has nothing to do with web radio, although this is
informative.

5. "Since that requires a large amount of computing resources, the
streaming server must be a dedicated server" - It depends, but at
least if you are using windows media this is usually the right answer.

Best wishes,

Haldane
Subject: Re: Web Radio
From: msc77-ga on 05 Jan 2004 10:56 PST
 
Thank you Haldane, I take your points. I also found the RAB site very useful too :)
Subject: Re: Web Radio
From: easterangel-ga on 13 Jan 2004 14:43 PST
 
Thanks for the kind words, nice rating and for the generous tip! :)

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