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Internet radio

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Internet radio (aka e-Radio) is an audio broadcasting service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means but is delivered over the World Wide Web. The term "e-Radio" suggests a streaming medium that presents listeners with a continuous stream of audio to which they have no control much like traditional broadcast media. It is not synonymous with podcasting which involves downloading and therefore copyright issues. Nor does e-Radio suggest "on-demand" file serving. Many Internet "radio stations" are associated with a corresponding traditional "terrestrial" radio station or radio network. Internet-only radio stations are usually independent of such associations.

Internet radio "stations" are usually accessible from anywhere in the world—for example, to listen to an Australian station from Europe or America. This makes it a popular service for expatriates and for listeners with interests not adequately served by local radio stations (such as progressive rock, anime themed music, classical music, 24-hour stand up comedy, and others). Some Internet radio services offer news, sports, talkback, and various genres of music—everything that is on the radio station being simulcast over the internet with a netcast stream.

Internet radio technology

Streaming

One of the most common ways to distribute internet radio is via streaming technology using a lossy audio codec. The MP3 format is most popular, followed by Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media Audio, and RealAudio; use of HE-AAC (sometimes called aacPlus) is gaining in popularity. The bits are "streamed" (transported) over the network in TCP or UDP packets, then reassembled and played within about 2-10 seconds, depending on server characteristics. This delay is referred to as lag time.

There are three major components to an audio stream:

  1. Audio stream source.
  2. Audio stream repeater (server).
  3. Audio stream playback.

Creating a stream

There are many methods for creating the audio stream source. Those more technologically savvy may opt for the SHOUTcast service, which utilizes Winamp and the SHOUTcast DSP plugin to deliver MP3 audio at higher bitrates. Other methods include open source technologies such as Streamcast and MuSE, and patent-free data formats such as Ogg Vorbis. Using open source stream source tools allows for interesting web interface possibilities like phpStreamcast. Other applications include Broadwave which delivers audio in mp3 and relies on the listener's default media player to open the stream.

Two of the most popular internet radio networks are Live365 and SHOUTcast. Open source alternatives include Icecast and Xiph.org, which include Ogg Vorbis streamings that can be P2P clients.

History

The first Internet "radio station", Internet Talk Radio, was developed by Carl Malamud in 1993, using a technology called MBONE (IP Multicast Backbone on the Internet). Later that year, Austin Arts BBS began providing (later netcasting) Screenprinters Radio, pre-recorded interviews, stories, tips and tricks and music for members of the Austin, Texas screenprinting BBS, founded in 1983 by Bill Hood.

WXYC (89.3 FM Chapel Hill, NC USA) was the first radio station to announce broadcasting on the Internet on November 7 1994. WXYC used an FM radio connected to a system at SunSite, later known as Ibiblio, running Cornell's CU-SeeMe software. WXYC had begun test broadcasts and bandwidth testing as early as August, 1994. WREK (91.1FM, Atlanta, GA USA) also claims to have started streaming on November 7[1], with no outside help and using their own custom software called CyberRadio1, although that was their beta launch date and the stream was not advertised until a later date.

In 1994, the Voice of America became the first broadcast news organization to offer continuously updated programming on the Internet [2].

KJHK 90.7FM in Lawrence, Kansas, began to stream its live broadcast using CU-SeeMe on December 3, 1994. KJHK was the first radio station to maintain a continuous, live signal over the Internet. This has been verified by the National Association of Broadcasters, Sports Illustrated, and CNN.

In February, 1995, the first full-time, Internet-only radio station, Radio HK, began broadcasting the music of independent bands. Radio HK was created by Norman Hajjar and the Hajjar/Kaufman New Media Lab, an advertising agency in Marina del Rey, California. Hajjar's method was to use a CU-SeeMe web conferencing reflector connected to a custom created audio CD in endless loop. Later, Radio HK converted to one of the original RealAudio servers.

KPIG also began to transmit a live, 24/7 feed, in August 1995, first using Xing Streamworks and later switching to RealAudio. Bill Goldsmith, who was KPIG's Operations Manager & morning DJ at the time, and the one responsible for starting the webcast, now operates the popular Internet station Radio Paradise.

Netradio (Net.radio, NetRadio, NetRadio Network) founded by Scott Bourne and radio veteran Scot Combs in 1994. Netradio began the first all internet radio network using RealAudio 1.0 in November of 1995. Starting out with four formats and expanding to more than a dozen two years after. The radio network became so popular it was included as a preset in RealAudio (aka RealMedia) 2.0+ players. NetRadio was the first Internet Radio network to receive an experimental license from ASCAP which later became a standard license for all online radio stations. In July of 1996, NetRadio accomplished another first by offering the first weekly live internet only concert series[3] hosted by NetRadio Webmaster Nathan Wright.

HardRadio The first .com Internet-only radio station debuted on New Year's Eve 1995 at HardRadio.com with its hard rock and heavy metal format utilizing Xing Streamworks technology. HardRadio.com remains the oldest surviving internet-only radio station. During its history, HardRadio.com was the first internet-only radio station licensed by both ASCAP and BMI, the first internet-only radio station with broadcast trade journal playlist reporting status, the first internet-only radio station serviced by the recording labels, the first internet-only radio station to feature world premieres of new artist releases, and the first internet-only radio station featured in Radio & Records Magazine.

WUEV launched its live simulcast in January 1996, also using the Xing Streamworks technology at first, then adding RealAudio and moving from the Xing platform to Windows Media Technologies as equipment (and budget sizes) changed.

The first radio station to stream 24-hours a day in Europe was the UK's Virgin Radio, who started streaming a live simulcast using Real Networks in March 1996.

Tuning in to a broadcast like a traditional radio is not possible on internet, so finding different broadcasts has to be done with a search engine or a website that collects on-line radio broadcasts.

In 1996 GBS Radio Networks, founded by radio veteran Guy W. Giuliano, was one of the first to launch an internet radio programming service. The firm syndicated two commercial formats, hip-hop station BombRadio, and hard rock format LoudRadio. In 1998, GBS was purchased by Kent Kiefer's eMusic corporation in a highly publicized cash and stock deal. In 1999, LoudRadio.com became the first online radio station to be syndicated on a commercial broadcast station via KLOD-FM in Flagstaff, AZ.

On November 13,1998, Australia's first internet radio station NetFM commenced broadcasting using Real Audio format then transferring to Windows Media Format in 1999. NetFM's first show was "The Vinyl Lounge" which has been netcasting continuously until the present day making it the longest running internet radio show in the world.

In 1999, one of the first University/College stations to operate was in Antigonish, Nova Scotia at St. Francis Xavier University CFXU.

In 1999 Scour.com released the Mycaster software tool and website, that allowed users to simply operate their own internet radio stations. The MyCaster MP3 player (like Winamp) streamed the user's local music files to the Mycaster.com website which listed the stream and reflected it to listeners using webbrowsers or local stream-playing software [4]. MyCaster succumbed during the dot com bust, shutting down in May, 2001[5].

Peercasting uses P2P technology. Its requirement of communicating a URI before transmission and the lack of a centralized repository of such addresses reduced peercasting's widespread adoption.

Mercora IMRadio, a combination of social networking and Internet radio, streams music in the Ogg Vorbis format. Mercora allows users to webcast music and pays royalties to the copyright collectives such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange.

RadioVague, in 2003, acquired a transportable satellite internet broadcast system and started broadcasting live shows from events and music festivals around Europe using only free and open source software, broadcasting in OGG/Vorbis format using Icecast and Icecast2 servers, their first event being the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest. Since then they have extended their distribution platform to allow both traditional FM radio stations and other internet radio stations to achieve a global audience.

In 2004, one of the more popular torrent websites, SuprNova, partnered with an amateur internet radio group and formed SuprNova Radio.[6] The radio station was operated by an amateur DJ staff, which usually consisted of converted listeners, who worked on a voluntary basis. Much of the content played on the station was gathered from pirated material.

2006 World's first Malayalam Internet radio for Malayalees all over the world Radio Dum Dum started from Kerala. Radio Dum Dum is first of its kind. Its unique desktop standalone player is designed by a teamn of young developers in association with bruhi. It caters the thirst for malayale music lovers all over the world.

2007 Internet Radio makes further strides in becoming a viable mobile option, as DHTML code specifically created for Windows Mobile Internet Explorer is made available [7] . This code allows others to create their own Mobile Internet Explorer website, so that they may enjoy Internet Radio through their Windows Mobile Phones via Internet Explorer.

Business models

Most on-air stations broadcast the same commercial advertisements on their internet radio players. The costs of royalties and delivery are covered by the advertiser's payment to the station.

Others, which have no advertisements, like the BBC, simply send out their stream. The BBC is funded by the Television license which must be paid by all owners of a television in the United Kingdom. This fee funds the operation of the BBC's television radio and internet services. It should be noted however that the BBC is looking at methods of charging international users of its content through its commercial arm BBC Worldwide[8].

Other stations and shows charge a subscription monthly fee or a direct per-program fee for the internet radio broadcast.

2006 commercial licensing changes in the UK

In 2006, Phonographic Performance Limited in the UK informed broadcasters that it could only provide stations with licences to broadcast to listeners in the UK. From April 1, 2006, the streams of all independent internet radio stations were restricted so that they could only be listened to from within the UK. This deprived many overseas fans of popular stations such as Classic FM and Capital Radio from listening to their favourite radio programmes.[9]

On March 2, 2007, the United States Copyright Royalty Board approved a rate increase in the royalties payable to performers of recorded works broadcast on the internet. The rates include a minimum fee of $500 (U.S.) per year, per channel, with escalating fees for each song played. The decision is retroactive, so for 2006 the applicable fee would be $0.0008 per performance. Since a performance is defined as streaming one song to one listener, a webcaster with 10,000 listeners would pay 10,000 times the going rate for every streamed song. The fee increases 30 percent per year, which amounts to $0.0019 per song by 2010."[10] If enforced, this decision will undermine the business models of many Internet radio stations.[11] These rules went into effect on July 15, 2007, but apply retroactively to January 1, 2006.

According to a report released in March 2007, under the newly proposed rates, annual fees for all station owners are projected to reach $2.3 billion by 2008. This figure is more than four times that for terrestrial radio broadcasters who, due to terms set forth in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, are exempt from the additional royalties imposed on digital broadcasting outlets, which compensate the performers of recorded works. Both terrestrial radio and Internet/digital radio broadcasters are responsible for royalties collected by performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) on behalf of the composers of recorded works.

Many performers of recorded works have voiced their opposition to the Copyright Royalty Board's rate increases, fearing that the rate increases would cripple the internet broadcasters that have given them valuable exposure. Others have proposed moving Internet broadcasts to foreign jurisdictions where US royalties do not apply. "For example, Mercora, a service that allows individuals to launch their own webcasts, has established a Canadian site that falls outside U.S. regulatory and royalty rules."[10][12] Business leaders fear that the royalty change would simply move the majority of the industry to Canada where royalty rates are equivalent to radio.

On 26 April, 2007, the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR 2060) was proposed to reverse the CRB's decision.[13] This bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL). Its Senate counterpart was introduced on 10 May, 2007 by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas). As of June 25 the legislation has over 100 Congressional co-sponsors.

Day of Silence

US Internet broadcasters organized a nationwide coalition to oppose the rate hike and in support of the Internet Radio Equality Act. On June 26, many of them participated in a "Day of Silence" — either shutting off their audio streams entirely, or replacing their streams with static, ocean sounds or other ambience, interspersed with brief public service announcements — to dramatize the consequences of the impending rate hike.

Rhapsody, SomaFM, Live365, MTV, Pandora, SHOUTcast and Digitally Imported were among the participants in the Day of Silence. Last.FM did not participate, saying that they did not want to punish their listeners for the station's problems.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ Mycaster.com website, circa August2000. A Scour.com company. From Archive.org
  5. ^ the last Mycaster.com website, May 9, 2001. From Archive.org
  6. ^ [4]
  7. ^ [5]
  8. ^ "BBC Worldwide". BBC. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  9. ^ "UK music industry silences radio for overseas listeners". 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  10. ^ a b Web radio may stream north to Canada, The Toronto Star, 9 April, 2007 Cite error: The named reference "Web North" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ Stagnant royalty rates may bring end to Internet radio, The Daily Collegian, 26 April, 2007
  12. ^ Legality under Canadian Copyright Law,
  13. ^ "Broache". CNet News. 2007-04-26. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  14. ^ [6]

Bibliography

  • "VOA: First on the Internet," by Chris Kern (2006)
  • "A Radio Giant Moves to Limit Commercials", by Nat Ives, The New York Times, Monday, July 19 2004.

    "Clear Channel Radio plans to begin limiting number of commercials played on its more than 1,200 stations; revenue growth in radio industry has slowed despite long-term run-up in number of minutes in each hour devoted to commercial, by one estimate, up to 20 minutes today from 10 to 12 a decade ago; expanding volume of commercial has bred frustration among advertisers and radio audiences; proportion of people who turn on radio at least once a week remains high, but average time they actually listen each week has slid downward during last 10 years; Clear Channel's new limits on commercials is expected to create pressure for other station owners to do something similar ..."

  • "Business Models on the Web", by Dr. Michael Rappa [7], North Carolina State University
  • "Managing the Digital Enterprise", by Dr. Michael Rappa
  • "Will NPR's podcasts birth a new business model for public radio?", by Mark Glaser, November 29 2005, USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, Annenberg Center for Communication at USC.
  • "Internet Radio: This Year's Business Models" - 2004 Streaming Media West Conference session.

    'Recent developments in "web radio" indicate that this arena may be turning a corner on the path to profitability. After years of battling over royalties and programming restrictions, the industry is now looking at how to operate a successful business. Internet radio is expected to reach nearly 60% of the U.S. population by 2004, and there are signs that the medium is gaining acceptance as a viable distribution and advertising model. But questions of audience measurement, program availability, and the cost control still face the industry. This panel of Internet radio and broadcasting executives will discuss the state of digital radio today, how the industry can address the issues that affect this business, and where they see the industry headed. Speakers:David Oxenford, Partner, Shaw Pittman LLP, David Rahn, Partner, SBR Creative Media Inc, Paul Strickland, President, Ando Media, Inc., Raghav Gupta, COO, Live365.com, Track: B - Great America K, Tuesday, October 26, 2004, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM'

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