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gimmenoise said on Sunday September 21, 2008 06:09 AM

Kbps Reply

Yeah, sure...if I can raise a bunch of money to do it! I'm looking at the prices on Live 365 now. https://store.live365.com/orders/orderform.live Eek! I left Live 365 a few years ago for several reasons, but I guess I'd consider going back since they're all in one (cover royalties to ASCAP, BMI, SoundExchange, etc AND listener slots). They offer streams up to 128K now. I think they only went up to 64K a few years ago. Also check out this page to get an idea of the going rates just for the listener slots at different bitrates: http://www.wavestreaming.com/?section=products&page=shoutcast Note that the prices are only for the slots and do not include the royalties.

However, even if I DID raise the money, I'm not sure if I would want to try to start up something new if I just have to shut it down soon. No one knows what's going on with the royalty rates. Even Pandora is talking about shutting down if the rates go up as much as the Copyright Royalty Board wants! http://www.savenetradio.org/about/index.html

So to answer your question: Probably not! Unless a crapload of money falls out of the sky into my lap AND the CRB rethinks their decision and makes the royalties reasonable for a still growing industry. Sorry. I really DO wish I could do it, believe me.

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>>>> Kbps Posted by gimmenoise on Sunday September 21, 2008 06:09 AM

This is a typical station page.

Here station fans can tune in, discuss, tag the station, and join a station's group. Groups provides a closer connection with listeners and allows you to build a community around your station.

Tags are a way for listeners to bookmark your station and also provide a way to classify your station for searching. For instance, the more people that tag a station 'Alternative', the higher that station will appear when someone searches for or clicks an 'Alternative' tag.

new!When you purchase a broadcast package you are given a number of Listener Units. You divvy your Listener Units up among the four bit rate options: 32kbs, 64kbs, 96kbs, or 128kbs*. We came up with the idea of Listener Units so that you can re-allocate your bandwidth at any time.

For instance, let's say you start broadcasting thinking all your listeners will have a broadband connection. Eventually you start hearing from people that can't tune in because they're (unfortunately!) still on a dial up connection. All you have to do is re-allocate some Listener Units to the lower quality 32kbs stream!

*bit rates correspond to stream quality - a higher number means a higher quality stream

Basic stats are provided for your station. You can see what's happening 'now' and the last thirty days.

Weekly spin charts are generated for your station. They contain the top 100 most heard songs you played during the week. Charts are often linked to by artists which drives traffic back to your station.

There are many ways for your station to be found on LoudCity

All active stations are randomly rotated and appear on the homepage as a featured station.

The most used tags appear on the homepage. Click next and you'll see what happens when someone clicks the 'Alternative' tag.

This is the search results for all stations tagged 'Alternative'. As mentioned earlier, the stations most tagged 'Atlernative' are listed first.

When someone clicks on an artist name anywhere on the site they're taken to an artist page where they can see the stations that play that artist. Again the stations that play that artist most are listed first.

Yet another way for listeners to find stations they're going to like.

In addition to all the features you've just seen we also offer a Custom Launch Page option. This allows you to upload your own html page(s) to LoudCity. Since our webcasting licenses require our broadcasters to 'launch' their streams from the loudcity.com domain, the Custom Launch Page option is a great way to keep the look and feel of your existing site when you send listeners over to tune in.

Whether you're a seasoned online broadcaster or just want to try it as a hobby, LoudCity provides a great set of tools and features for you to be successful. Give it a try!