Music Industry Discussion

What do you guys think? Is it the wave of the future? Will it make FM the next AM?

No.
The net is too big and too easy for everyone to access.
Just look at the numbers of people on BandMix who think they are musicians. ( like me LOL )
Enjoy it while it lasts. The goal of the O.W.O. is to control all media outlets. We are next.

I dunno. Lots of radio stations are also on the www. I guess it depends on the next wave of technology bringing the web to our car radios or somesuch.

And what's wrong with AM, anyway? LOL

My truck radio is on AM most of the time. I quit listening to FM almost completly years ago. The same old songs just grate on me anymore.

I like what I am getting with Pandora. I know a lot of people who love Satellite radio too.

The landscape is changing.

There's still a huge place for local radio, though. Local news, events announcements, advertising...satellite can't do that, & there's a need for it.

What makes internet radio so intriguing is how specific it can be and how inexpensive to get your tunes played. The proliferation of internet radio sites will eventually limit your audience however. More and more sites, less and less people logged onto each site. Right now is a GOLDEN opportunity for independent artists to get significant exposure (which reminds me we HAVE TO GET INTO A STUDIO)

What makes internet radio so intriguing is how specific it can be and how inexpensive to get your tunes played. The proliferation of internet radio sites will eventually limit your audience however. More and more sites, less and less people logged onto each site. Right now is a GOLDEN opportunity for independent artists to get significant exposure (which reminds me we HAVE TO GET INTO A STUDIO)

Are you going to send MyRuralRadio.com some songs?

What makes internet radio so intriguing is how specific it can be and how inexpensive to get your tunes played. The proliferation of internet radio sites will eventually limit your audience however. More and more sites, less and less people logged onto each site. Right now is a GOLDEN opportunity for independent artists to get significant exposure (which reminds me we HAVE TO GET INTO A STUDIO)

you hit the nail too much on the head there bob, not only are there too many stations and not enough listeners, but there's no regional barriers or measurable demographics on the internet...

It's all spread just a bit too thin for any of them, outside a lucky handful (stations) to garner any real success.

Other than that, I've heard of people getting famous from myspace (lily allen, tila tequila), but not from internet radio. It could be that not enough of a listener base will mean that nothing will ever see the mainstream from that standard.

Too bad. But understandable.

This is the way of all new technology though. We've seen this happen repeatedly the last 15 years.

When a new technology becomes available that is cheap/free, everyone hops on board. You end up with hundreds of copycats as everyone is reaching for a piece of the pie. Gathering 'eyeballs' as we like to say in the industry. But eventually the cream rises to the top; the consumer weeds out the chaff.

We saw it with auction sites when the web was new. Now Ebay rules with Craigslist filling a local niche. Everyone else is gone.

We saw it with dating websites (and still are, to an extent), but eHarmony is clearly the king.

We saw it with search engines (anyone remember Dogpile?) but Google eventually won out.

We have seen it with social apps; but it's clear now that Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are the top of the pack and everyone else is dying off or getting bought out.



Internet radio is new, and anyone with the expertise can put something up. And that's fine; that's how it's supposed to work in the beginning. But eventually the consumer is going to be drawn to the best available offerings. And those sites will get more and more of the listeners until they dominate the marketplace.

And, of course, the other thing to consider is revenue. It's one thing to have an internet radio station, but eventually someone has to cover the cost of the bandwidth. Pandora has advertising now, which I don't mind and actually anticipated.



I expect a bunch of sites to make it a competition. Pandora, etc. The people who do the best job of providing internet radio, with the best music, tailored to what people want to listen to, they are going to come out on top. The consumer will make sure of it.


What I find exciting about internet radio is that it has the possibility to be ruled by the consumer, and not by music executives and record labels.

Right now, if you turn on the radio, you get what the record label wants you to hear. If they want you to hear the new Nickelback, even if it sucks ass, that's what you're going to hear.

But if I turn on Pandora, it is going to tailor the musical selection to what I want to hear.

Now, maybe when there's oodles of money to be made with internet radio that will change... But maybe it won't. At least there's a chance. But with radio... Well, radio has had its shot. And it's clear that radio only cares about ad revenue and selling what the record labels want them to sell. The days of the DJ having any say to give a radio station personality... those days are gone.


So bring on the internet radio.

Last.FM is doing it. And doing it right. Greedily, but right.

Last.FM is doing it. And doing it right. Greedily, but right.

I would have said the same of Pandora.

Pandora's got a long, LONG way to go. LastFM's incredibly diverse that it's mind-boggling. Pandora's interface is shit and it's only been getting around for a short period of time. Most people have no clue who they are, for a reason.

One of the things I am SO intrigued about Jango is the ability to put your own songs alongside very famous artists who play the same or similar genres to what you're playing. I've been listening to a wide variety of different "stations" on Jango. I put the word "stations" in quotes because you pick artists to form your own stations. For example my Muddy Waters station plays a lot of Muddy and similar artists, mainly Chicago blues artists. I've got a Dwight Yoakum station that plays Dwight and simlar style country artists. Along with the famous artists on your stations, an unknown artist will pop up and the listeners get to rate the new artist and if you really like the artist you can become a fan. The new artist gets your e-mail address and can send you notices when they put out a new DC, or when they might be playing in your region, etc. Jango is a VERY USER FRIENDLY website. There's all kinds of really neat features. There's an occasional pop up fifteen second advertisement, but it's not annoying me. I only hope that Jango remains an affordable alternative to market your music to listeners who probably would like what you do (if it's good). Kramer mentioned about no regional barriers and I agree. I wish I could put all my played tunes in one state or better yet just in the Kansas CIty region. They don't have the ability to pinpoint where the tunes are played. It's not going to do me much good if a large percentage of my plays are in Bombay, India for example...

Bombay, hummm not many Christian rock bands to compete with there I'll wager.
This Jango thang sounds ever more intriguing.
Alas, I have a fatal form of procrastination.