For listeners of Pandora Internet Radio sharing favorite songs with friends is a simple click away. The new sharing feature posts a favorite song or station on Facebook or Twitter...or by email. While this type of sharing isn't new, it does prompt me to ask how many "traditional" radio stations are doing this?
This is a great example of how a radio station doesn't exclusively own the megaphone anymore.
If your station has a fan page you could use this type of feature to turn listeners on to the new music you are playing. If they like it they will share with their friends and maybe even turn on your station to hear the song.
Dare I say there is also a sales opportunity here as well.
All one-way streets are now two ways. Look both ways and opportunities abound.
Radio of the Last.FM, Slacker, and Pandora variety that is.
Or so says WIRED's Blog Network:
"With smartphones becoming commoditized -- and with so many excellent music apps being designed for them -- it's becoming viable to leave your MP3 player at home and tune into the cloud."
"the next great thing in music technology will be smartphone applications that replicate the experience of listening to interactive, customized radio stations at a computer."
But, for terrestrial radio there is hope and while the article didn't speak of "old time radio" they did say this:
"...after ten or so years of moving away from programmed music, people are happy to let someone else do the work for a change. We could be moving towards a future when finding music in an online music store or file sharing network, downloading it, then sideloading it onto a portable will be come to seen as a waste of time."
Now, this should be good news, right? I could be, but not so fast. There's still that pesky issue of their content vs. ours. Let's assume that our music content stacks up to theirs, we will still need to address our commercial policies and the tedium of liner card DJ's. Will people consider coming back who largely gave up on FM radio? What would we have to do?
If we believe this article the era of DIY Radio Programming may be taking a breather. That would be a fortuitous event for an industry looking greener pastures and a way to climb out of the current doldrums (or worse).
I downloaded the Slacker app for my Blackberry Curve and it works very well--both at home using WiFi AND to my great surprise in the car on theEdge network (2G and slower than 3G). Still no easy way to get it to play through my car audio system, however.
Addtionally, the pre-programmed format channels I sampled are quite good. The free version features one spot per half hour and I even heard a jock on one of the top 40 channels. The custom stations, in which you select an artist and the system selects a library based on your selection, are also a good listen.
Take a listen for yourself and see what you think.
There's STILL no delivery system that's more convienient or easier than over the air radio--not to mention it is free (minus the spots, of course). But let's not forget convenient and easy are fleeting when you consider how fast tech moves and our competitors are already free or close to it.
Let's assume for a moment that Pandora survives its current troubles with Sound Exchange and let's take a look at what's behind this phenomenon. Whether royalty costs sink this NEW RADIO COMPANY it will be and is one of the programming models of the future we all should be paying attention to.
Let's start with their journey along the superhighway over the last 12 months: Pandora is a unique concept--let's call it customized push based on a specific user input that induces a well received pull. In plain English it essentially reads your mind based on your musical desires when you choose to tap into to it. Along your journey with Pandora you can fine tune the nav system if you feel like it's veering off course.
Up until recently the Pandora experience has been one of laptop and desktop computers. Now with the release of the latest iPhone that has changed with the addition of what might be the hottest app to date-Pandora for iPhone. You can bet the ranch that iPhone will not be the last mobile device to allow Pandora access.
It's pretty clear how this is all starting to unfold. Please do not put your head in the sand. I am not ready to throw in the towel for music radio. I am prepared to change music radio to better compete with what's next. Mass appeal is not guaranteed any longer! If we think we are going to retain any sizable music audience by simply stringing a lot of songs back to back followed by a string of commercials and very little talk music radio is doomed. There isn't a single solution but there ARE solutions. The current tactics will eventually lead us off a cliff.
You have heard this before but it is worth repeating again and again and again. We are no longer in control. "They" are in control. They are the people who listen to our radio stations. They are in control of the music they listen to. They are in control of the personalities they choose to listen to and associate with. They will judge the authenticity of the product and products we push out of our transmitters, streams, podcasts and decide if it fills a need or not.
Of course listeners have always been in control...they could choose to turn of the radio or change stations. 8 tracks, albums, and CD's, certainly allowed for user control, however, it would be naive to not recognize the portability and richness that technology has achieved over the last decade.
Yes, our music discovery, internet radio competitor Pandora. As this article on ReadWriteWeb explains Pandora is in a fight to the finish with the RIAA and Sound Exchange just like "regular" radio is. Now some will argue, let 'em go belly-up; one less competitor we have to contend with. The truth is--their problem is our problem and maybe we, Pandora and us (stick and transmitter radio), should work together and figure it out. Put up a united front and take on music industry cartel. In the end, their royalty issues are our royalty issues.
Doesn't Pandora surviving this challenge ultimately help us?
What am I missing here?
Pandora On the Verge of Closing Shop Written by Corvida / August 16, 2008 5:34 PM
Pandora is an internet radio service that allows you to create your own radio station based on songs and artists that you like. While you can't necessarily pick and choose what you'll hear on the service, you can fine-tune your radio station's tastes by giving the songs that Pandora recommends a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Pandora on the iPhone is one of the best applications for streaming music and finding new tunes. So, what will the service's 1 million plus users do if Pandora pulls its own plug?
The Battle of Music
Founder Tim Westergren has stated that the service is approaching a "pull-the-plug kind of decision" for the service. Why is this happening? Last year, web radio giants were hit with outrageously ridiculous fees by a federal panel for every song that would be played on their stations. This caused a lot of services to either shutdown, or go through what Pandora has been experiencing for the past year. In doing so, it seems the financial problems the music industry has set out to create in order to win the constant battle between rights, piracy, and copyrighted music, are working.
Last Stand, Last Chance
Pandora's founder is waiting for a ray of light in a fight being led by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.). Berman is attempting to arrange a few last-minute deals between web radio stations and SoundExchange, the organization that represents artists and record companies that would reduce the the recent fees. However, Westergren isn't going to hold his breath for too long, stating that, "The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we're doing is wasting money." We don't blame you Tim.
What Will You Do?
There are plenty of petitions floating around the web to help the cause, but the law is the law and petitions may not help matters in this situation. We'd be saddened to see Pandora close its doors. While services like Last.FM aren't showing any of the same signs, we wonder if the same fate may be in the not-so-distant future for our other favorite music services. If it is, what will you do?
