The Future of Aural Moon

[wombat]

Originally posted by Avian
By paying the $5/mo subscription fee, we pay NOTHING to the RIAA. Otherwise, they get a lot of the station's money.

How does this work? Audiorealm's website says a couple of things.

One: "Complete DCMA and RIAA/Sound Exchange sound performance record keeping and compliancy tracking and reporting system." Does this mean that Audiorealm pays the fees out of AM's subscription fees?

Two: "When applying to the Audiorealm Network, you agree that all materials on your site and originating from your Webcast are licensed by you or owned by you." Er, is this not applicable for the particular service AM is considering?

Three: "Multi-format Streaming support. - Mp3, Lame, Ogg, WMA" Any chance of hearing AM via Ogg?

Four: "Automated Advertising and Syndicated content insertion including "LIVE" content like Breaking News, Weather, Talk Shows, Concert Events, etc." Hopefully this is optional and not completely automatic.

[Avian(Admin)]

Originally posted by wombat

How does this work? Audiorealm's website says a couple of things.

One: "Complete DCMA and RIAA/Sound Exchange sound performance record keeping and compliancy tracking and reporting system." Does this mean that Audiorealm pays the fees out of AM's subscription fees?

Yes, Audiorealm does pay them. They also pay for our bandwidth, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. They will negotiate a blanket license with the RIAA that we will fall under. Any fees are their responsibility.

Two: "When applying to the Audiorealm Network, you agree that all materials on your site and originating from your Webcast are licensed by you or owned by you." Er, is this not applicable for the particular service AM is considering?

This means that you are licensed for any material you use. RIAA-qualifing music, no problem, you're covered by audiorealm. If someone wanted to stream the audio from Star Wars, Episode I, or the BBC broadcast of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, then audiorealm requires you to have the license from the MPAA and the BBC respectivley.

Three: "Multi-format Streaming support. - Mp3, Lame, Ogg, WMA" Any chance of hearing AM via Ogg?

Absolutley, but what I will probably look at first is Windows Media. Windows Media 9 beta is out, and when it's released, nothing else will compare to it. Shouldn't be too long, either.

Four: "Automated Advertising and Syndicated content insertion including "LIVE" content like Breaking News, Weather, Talk Shows, Concert Events, etc." Hopefully this is optional and not completely automatic.

Audioream has personally assured me that they will not run ads in their stream. Probably not even IDs, but they wanted to reserve the right to throw an ID in there every once in awhile, if need be.

Good questions!

[Vermillion]

I have always thought it absurd that ANY radio station has to pay to play somebody's music. When a radio station plays an artist, it promotes that artist and stimulates sales of that artist's work. But the RIAA is so greedy that it tries to get still more money out of airplay.

In the past, I have voluntarily contributed money to this station, because it went to AuralMoon; but I will NOT pay $5 a month because I do NOT want any of my money going to the RIAA. Pay that money and the RIAA wins.

My suggestion: delete all artists whose record companies are too stupid and/or greedy to see that they benefit from free airplay on AuralMoon. Like others here, I have bought CDs from artists (all on non-major labels) that I first heard here. I listen to AuralMoon to discover new music; if I need to hear "Close to the Edge" for the 1000th time, it's in my collection and I'll go play it myself.

The sooner the major labels go out of business, the better....

[JR42]

Avian

As a Mac user I worry when the word 'Windows' starts to appear, as this normally means that something will no longer be available to me. Is there any assurance you can give me that, if I do go with the $5, I won't find your station unavailable to me 'cos you've changed your streaming format?

Whats wrong with MP3?

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Windows Media would be offered in addition to MP3

[Avian(Admin)]

Hey don't forget - Microsoft owns a substantial portion of Apple Computer!

Windows Media Player is also avaialble for the Mac, so don't worry. Windows Media offers much better quality sound for the same bitrate than mp3. Say you listen to the 56k connection on mp3.. on a 56k Windows Media 9 stream, you'll get near CD-quality. It will especially benefit overseas listeners whose latency and bandwidth can't support a 128k mp3 connection. Even low bitrate connections, like the 21k one we feature here, sound a LOT better than mp3 24k connections.

Plus, Windows Media streams go right through most workplace firewalls.

Avian

[JR42]

Thanks for reassuring me.

I have tried the Mac version of Windows Media player in the past (Mac OS 9 version) and it was virtually unusable (flaky, causing crashes all the time etc), so I've avoided it. Is there a Mac OS X version available? Is it usable?

[Avian(Admin)]

Yes, there is an OSX version:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...ad/default.asp

[Snard]

RIAA

Like several others, I have bought CDs strictly from hearing them on AM.
Now, a question: Does Congress or the RIAA care about how much money a station pays? In other words, say AM has 1000 subscribers each paying 5 bucks, and AM has a playlist of 10,000 titles.
Now, what if RadioGaGa has a million subscribers each paying 5 bucks for an equivalent 10,000 titles.

Am has collected 5 thousand dollars, and GaGA has collected 5 million dollars for an equivalent amount of titles.

Does this matter? Is there a chance the RIAA will charge more per listener for a station with a smaller audience?

[Avian(Admin)]

Hold on - I think you're getting confused.

Your $5/mo does not go to the RIAA. It goes to audiorealm. Audiorealm pays a flat fee to teh RIAA for all of its station (some negotiated amount). The $5 goes toward our bandwidth, our website and all the royalties and performance fees.

The size of the playlist doesn't come into play whatsoever.

If we were not with audiorealm, the fee is based on how many listeners listen to each song. Each of those "units" is called a performance. 10 folks listen to a hour that contains ten songs - that's 100 performances.

[tracynorton]

it's nice that someone is getting 128k stream

Davin,
How do I access 128k stream? I paid $50 and sent you 2 emails and have not gotten a reply.
TIA

Outstanding station.

[Avian(Admin)]

I sent you an email. When I get back home today, I'll send it again.

I think some outgoing mail was lost when our webhost's mailserver went belly up about a week or so ago.

Sorry for any confusion.

Avian

[Avian(Admin)]

Progress may be happening between small webcasters and the RIAA.

http://www.kurthanson.com/