Search Results for: internet

Internet-only radio is rapidly gaining acceptance as another way to listen to music, according to a national survey that American Media Services released yesterday. The latest AMS Radio Index shows that 27 percent of Americans say they have listened to Internet-only radio on an Internet site. This includes 47 percent of young adults 18-24 and about a third of those under the age of 50. But even as new media, such as Internet-only radio, continue to gain in popularity, regular radio is maintaining its audience. In the latest AMS survey, 73 percent said they are listening to the radio about… Read more »

Online music radio listening hours increased 37.6% to 6.67 billion in 2008, while in-stream audio sold   improved by 46.1% to $74 million during the year, according to AccuStream iMedia Research. AOL’s Shoutcast platform remains the most utilized outlet for online music, capturing 52.5% of total time spent listening, followed by Clear Channel sites with 7.8%. Shoutcast cumulative music hours grew 47% in 2008 after a 47% rise in ’07. Advertising Still Illusive Despite revenue pressure in the form of higher royalties, advertising remains an illusive issue for most webcasters. In fact, ad-supported music hours as a percentage of total… Read more »

The RIAA is telling us they’re going to stop suing and get internet service providers to help them stop illegal file sharing. The RIAA says that it’s worked for the movie industry (sort of) and their talks with ISP’s have been going well. Here’s what they’re not telling you: While a few ISP’s have said they’ll send warning notices to RIAA identified abusers, not one has yet agreed to actually cut anyone off. Shut off without due process leads to lawsuits. More importantly, ISP’s know that attacking customers is bad for business. Just look at how well punishing people has… Read more »

DENVER —  Chalk up another Internet radio casualty of significantly increased royalty fees for airing music online. Yahoo Music once the top music destination on the Web, is handing over the bulk of its Launchcast Internet radio operations to CBS Radio. Under a deal closely resembling that between CBS Radio and Launchast rival AOL Radio, CBS Radio is taking over all advertising-sales operations, licensing and technology decisions for the Launchcast service. That includes replacing the Launchcast desktop music player with a co-branded one provided by CBS. CBS also will add all of its Internet radio stations to those available through… Read more »

China vowed on Sunday to improve the “grave situation” of music piracy in the country, as it hosted the annual music industry event here to learn and exchange ideas with companies from around the world. China has been strongly criticized for its record on Internet piracy in recent years, and a report out this month by the international music trade body, the IFPI, said piracy was responsible for 99 percent of the Chinese market. On Sunday, a delegation from the Ministry of Culture met a small group of reporters to explain their approach to the problem. “Web music is booming… Read more »

The next batch of painful “Jackass” stunts is coming to a computer screen near you. The first two films – spun off from the former MTV series – co-starred Johnny Knoxville and his gang of gross-out pranksters as they performed stunts to the delight of their youthful fans. But for the sequel “Jackass 2.5,” the dirty daredevils pull a new stunt: bypassing the movie theater entirely. “Jackass 2.5” will instead be released to the Internet. The feature – which combines unreleased footage from “Jackass Number Two” and new content – was announced Thursday as a joint venture between Viacom-owned Paramount… Read more »

In one of the final sessions of the Future of Music Policy Summit, panelists discussed how the music industry is going through a process of “disintermediation,” where fewer steps stand between artist and audience, thanks to social networking and Internet distribution. “Someone spoke earlier about a ‘musician’s middle class,’” said Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora.com. “In this world, you don’t need to be a full-time professional musician.” Instead, the speakers noted that it’s possible for amateur musicians or independent bands to reach new and unexpected audiences over the Web. Speaking for promotional service echomusic, Pinky Gonzales pointed to Todd Rundgren… Read more »

A British band has funded its first album entirely via a new Web site which allows up-and-coming acts to bypass record labels and gives fans the chance to buy into their success. Gilkicker, a four-man guitar band from the southern English city of Portsmouth, raised the 15,000 pounds ($30,000) they needed to make their debut album within 10 days of new music site www.slicethepie.com going live. “We told a few people on Myspace and told a few friends to look and told them they could invest in us,” said Sam McCarthy, the band’s 25-year-old singer and guitarist. “It was mainly… Read more »

Amid continued controversy over applying the Fairness Doctrine to radio, the controversy over charging webcasters millions in retroactive royalty fees has seemingly come to a conclusion. On Thursday, the House of Representatives failed to come to the rescue of webcasters in a dispute with record companies over new royalty rates the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) put into place. Still, many broadcasters claim they cannot afford the increased fees and might go silent forever. At the hearing, the committee explored ways of revising the regulations that aimed to maintain a wide variety of listening options while also ensuring that artists are… Read more »

Internet radio is not as big as terrestrial radio. In fact, it takes the combined audience of every station on shoutcast.com to equal the listener numbers KROQ, the nation’s top Rock station. That’s not to say that some station owners do not one day dream of becoming as large as their traditional terrestrial counterparts. However, the royalty rates being demanded by the RIAA will not only put many internet radio stations out of business, but will also ensure that internet radio will never, ever become that large. The process in which internet radio rates have been presented to the public… Read more »