Ask the Honcho of Internet Radio's SomaFM 145
This week, Rusty, the general manager of Internet Radio's SomaFM, is the subject of the Slashdot Interview Spotlight. Some of you may remember Rusty from a recent Salon interview. Now he's making himself available to Slashdot and I'm sure you all can figure out a few questions to ask that weren't covered before. I'm sure many of you have questions about CARP, the future of Internet Radio, and the technology behind it. So let's get to it! As usual, we'll send off the 10 highest moderated questions on to Rusty, and we hope to have the answers for you sometime next week. <PLUG TYPE=SHAMELESS>BTW - If you haven't checked out the streams available at SomaFM, give it a try. Taste the Groove Salad, and the other 8 commercial free streams available on SomaFM. Ah, if only normal FM radio could be this good!</PLUG>
Money (Score:2, Interesting)
I've listened to squid radio and groove salad for quite sometime and am a big fan so if your main source of income is donations, please make it known so we can help!
how much does the recording industry really care? (Score:5, Interesting)
Starting up your own station. (Score:2, Interesting)
Thoughts about Digital Rights Management? (Score:5, Interesting)
BTW, keep up the good work. I can say with total sincerity that your stations have introduced me music that I would otherwise never have heard. I thank you, (and so does my iPod).
Pirate Mythology (Score:5, Interesting)
However, my guess is that as it grows and becomes more profitable, most Internet radio is bound to end up owned by 2-5 big players, as is the case with most other media. Do you expect internet radio to get bought up like the movie studios, local TV stations and radio stations, or do you think it will be able to stay independent?
Would mergers and consolidation ruin internet radio, or would it help it?
Thanks
tcd004
Will CARP (crap) affect overseas operators? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, better yet, just run amok of the law? Last I heard, the Library of Congress is a library, not an authorized body to create policy. Since they are attempting to do so, why not block them on the grounds that they are exceeding their charter, and therefore, acting against the constitution?
Also, the fact that internet based transmissions are treated differently than FM based transmissions is ridiculous. This is the foundation of the "separate but equal" crap that CARP is funnelling.
128k MP3 (and less) is not a perfect reproduction of sound, as the LoC contends. It is no more perfect than FM, and no less perfect. Both formats mangle stereo separation, both add audio artifacts, and both deduct from clarity and depth of the source's timbre. The only real difference is one is digital, and the other analog.
And both formats HELP drive record sales. The big difference to the RIAA is that they don't control the channels of distribution for MP3 servers. All SomaFM, or any other internet broadcaster needs is a music library, a fast connection to the net and powerful servers. In order to broadcast on the air, you need to give some slimy FCC official a kickback, and/or be owned by TimeWarnerAOL, Vivendi, or Viacom.
I can't help but see the future of the RIAA - all the offices burned to the ground and the leadership decapitated. This another one of those infuriating instances where their feeble attempts at limiting distribution channels so that everyone listens to the same, soulless crap that record producers are puking at us.
What am I missing? (Score:4, Interesting)
So why should your money-earning radio station be different because it's sending a signal over IP packets instead of radio waves? I'm sympathetic (somewhat) to Joe Cable-Modem who is doing a just-for-fun broadcast, and my understanding of CARP is that is has some retroactive charges that are disturbing, but why should I defend your right to run a radio station for free?
I keep reading about all this great unrestricted music that's distributed through P2P networks. If that's so, leech off them.
Business Model (Score:3, Interesting)
How does SomaFM compare fiscally to a traditional FM or AM business?
Specifically, are there any fiscal advantages to using an internet-only format to outweight the disadvanges (like a lack of big-name advertising)?
Advice on Starting up your own station (Score:3, Interesting)
But there are many reasons NOT to do it:
Fortunately, there is a solution to ALL these problems: OPENdj [opendj.com].
OK, it's kind of a shameless plug, but here it is: OPENdj is the world's first public-access Internet radio station. Anyone can sign up for a show, and using nothing more than a 56k modem, you can broadcast to the world, from anywhere in the world.
And for the truly insane, if you don't like streaming through someone elses radio station, and you really want to run your own station, you can: The software that powers OPENdj.com [opendj.com] is open source software - check out OPENdj.org [opendj.org] for info on that.
Drop me a line if any of this has piqued your interest - I'm always interested in getting feedback on how to improve things.
Finally, a shameless developer plug: OPENdj is very much in active development. There are a lot of great features in place already (automatic archiving of all broadcasts, etc) and there are a lot of great features yet to be built, so if you're looking for an itch to scratch, this could be it.
- jonathan.
Just broadcast from elsewhere (Score:2, Interesting)
What about talk radio? (Score:2, Interesting)
Ruger
Royalties loophole? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's what the law [copyright.gov] says in Title 17, 114. Scope of exclusive rights in sound recordings: It doesn't require you to be a licensed or noncommercial broadcaster, simply that your performance is broadcast freely over the airwaves.
Has the webcasting industry looked into this loophole at all? Seems to me that cutting your operating expenses roughly in half could be the difference between economic life and death for most companies.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer (thank God!), but I am a pirate radio broadcaster.
question (Score:3, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
If the content barons win..... (Score:3, Interesting)
What requirements would a distributed, untracible, pirate* broadcast network have? (besides the obvious)
I have some thoughts:
- Java. (fast to write/platform indy)
- IP/UDP? (less trace-able connections than
- Ogg. (I like Ogg)
- Peers can hand off streams to less busy servers. And probably should after a fixed amount of time.
- use standard clients (xmms, etc) in combination with server (peer) component? Or force use of client/peer?
- how to initially connect to the network?
Sounds like a fun project to me!
luv SomaFM. 'xcept when
Cheers,
-B
* I say "Pirate" here in jest, of course...I just don't want the *RIAA* to get any of my money. Artists need better pimps.
Popular (internet) music on the Radio? (Score:4, Interesting)
Best of luck and keep up the good work!
Going commercial or no? (Score:3, Interesting)
Good luck and keep up the good work!
Big Earl (Score:3, Interesting)
I wanted to know what you use for Big Earl's voice synthesis. It sounds awfully similar to Dr. Sbaitso from the early 90's.
Also, I noticed that there are many songs that have disapeared from groove salad's playlist from around last year. (GOOD songs). I wanted to know if this is because you were forced to remove them, and how many other artists/labels are being held back this way. This music is so good it gives me goose-bumps, and I can't stand the thought that there is more that I am missing.
my letter is off to my controllers^H^H^H^H^Hrepresentatives,
-metric
International Broadcasting? (Score:2, Interesting)