Is Internet radio really so popular?
Follow @mediaukdiscussI’ve been looking in to the d.n.a.s of many “Internet only” stations over the past few weeks (easy to find if you know where to look), basically these are the live stats from mp3 shoutcast sources which I think the majority of these Internet only stations seem to use. And I chose stations that only had an mp3 stream.
Below as an example is from a station that has been “on air” since at least 2005 that I know of.
Server Status: Server is currently up and public.
Stream Status: Stream is up at 128 kbps with 0 of 250 listeners (0 unique)
Listener Peak: 17
Average Listen Time: 4m 56s
This is from a station that has a full schedule of shows both live and pre-recorded and is not just a 24 hour a day jukebox.
The stats above are typical across all the stations I examined.
I know of another station that has been “on air” for 13 years, yet still struggle to get into double digits.
And I wonder what the virtue is of running such a station, because if if were me I would get very disheartened at seeing such figures after 5 or more years.
The reason internet radio isn’t bigger is simple. There is too much choice; nobody knows what to listen to, when people do find something the novelty wears off after a while or they move on to something else. If people are going on to their computer for a music or speech fix, I suspect they’ll go for something more like a podcast or stint on their own MP3 collection or even YouTube.
David – if it’s publicly posted on the internet, then you’re welcome to link to those pages here and name the station; I’ll happily uphold that, and security by obscurity isn’t security at all! I’ll kick off – here’s Absolute Radio’s 128kbps MP3 stream which currently has 163 listeners, with an all-time peak of 518. The 32k version has 31 listeners, with an all-time peak of 103.
Note, though, that many stations have a large amount of different streams – particularly Absolute – and many of these stations are proxied and re-broadcast using CDNs. Absolute publishes their total concurrent listener figures in their reception; it generally hovers around 12,000 whenever I’ve been there (for the main station).
Dave Hedley says:
Internet radio should be bigger than it is now, especially with younger people.
Why? (Seriously?)
And if you pay for every country and territory royalties will cost you a fortune. Pointless
Well…
a) global coverage is pointless if you’re commercial
b) PPL only have rights over the UK and cannot tell you to stop streaming abroad, despite what they might think – that is up to the rights owner in that country.
I stopped streaming online a few years back. With a hundred listeners a day and two thirds in USA it had no benefit to community audience or local advertisers. Internet reliabilty is so poor around this area also was a factor
There is a UK station – C100 (http://www.c1hundred.co.uk) who streams from UK to UK by Live365.
He/She claims at the bottom of the website “This station broadcasts legally via the LIVE 365 network.
All music copyrights and royalties are paid for via the LIVE365 network as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)”
But to the UK? this is not legal, is it?
Podcasting content brings in an audience. Youtube has had 45 thousand views in four and a half years. But that’s a different issue.
As I understand it, Live365 is a US organisation that is not covered for broadcasting within the UK. (The DMCA is nothing to do with UK law). We do not accept Live 365 stations for listing within Media UK, since we do not believe they are licenced.
PRS and PPL oddly decline to comment.
You can use an account you already have, or register. More info
By logging in, you are consenting to a cookie that personally identifies you to us. Here's more about our cookies.
It varies from station to station. Of course, there are a lot more with no listeners than there are with hundreds, but those with hundreds do exist and some have even more than that.
Internet radio should be bigger than it is now, especially with younger people. I’m not sure why it isn’t, as it’s often more accessible and more interactive, and it’s often right there at any Facebook or Twitter user’s fingertips.