Internet Radio

“Radio Connected” Research ProjectPaul DwyerCAMRI, University of Westminster

Internet & Radio

Being the gatekeeper was the most profitable place to be, but now we’re in a world half without gates. Digital distribution gives everyone worldwide, instant access to music. And filters are replacing gatekeepers Courtney Love (2000)

“radio in the digital era will produce new forms, battles over gateways and increased interactivity on the part of listeners … rather than a fundamental reorientation: a limited increase in choice for the listener, and greater industry concentration among producers” David Hendy (2000)

• substitution mass audiences/advertisers switched from radio to TV as main medium

• Radio delivers a continuous linear stream of live (real-time) or pre-recorded music audio

• differentiation Costs of operation enables tailoring services to niche audiences/advertisers

Record Company (Catalogue)

Advertisers

Sele

ctio

nNiche Audience

Playlist(format)

Audience Research

Music Sales Data

Music Knowledge

Targe

tData

Call

Problem: Playlist Selection

Music Knowledge - Recommendation

1. personal taste/musicology – genre experts search and recommend new/quality music

2. ‘professional’ – search & recommend on tastes of ‘typical listener’ Ahlkvist (2001)

Problem: Standard Formats

economies of scale (share marketing, audience research and advertising sales) and scope (developing standardized music formats and playlists (for stations in different markets) favour networks over stations

Target most profitable demographic groups

networks succeed vs independents/small groups

standard formats succeed vs diverse or niche content.

Many case studies Canada (Berland, 1990, 1993; Grenier, 1993), Sweden (Wallis and Maim, 1993), Britain (Bamard, 1989), France (Miller, 1992), and Australia (Tumer, 1993)

Playlist (chart)

Established music selection was responsibility of network management

music selection based on audience research/advertising sales not music knowledge

DJs/presenters (at best) responsible for the non-music elements

reduce diversity by reducing the number of different songs played

Select songs with big sales (hits) or airplay or industry promotion

Tendency for playlists to become shorter and more similar to other stations/the charts (Alkhvist and Fisher 2000)

Internet & Digitisation

Reduce economies of scale and scope

technical and 'on air' staff costs are low, presenter costs can be nil

cost efficient to serve very small niche musical tastes

Server logs provide instant, free 100% accurate audience research is (e.g. songs/playlists with biggest audience )

enables the listener to interact with music databases to select their own playlist

reduces radio networks power as gatekeepers between record companies, advertisers and audiences

Record Company (Catalogue)

Advertiser

Mu

sic

Meta

d

ata

Niche Audience

Playlist Audience Data

Music Listening Data

Music Knowledge

Fan

Data

Find

Pull Pull

Long Tail and Internet Radio

From selecting ‘hit’ songs for playlists to making all music available for listeners to create customized continuous music playlists of almost unlimited diversity

A niche of one – last.fm

internet radio stations compete on:

‘findability’/discovery

control/customisation

cost (amount of ads/subscriptions)

size of songs database

Findability & Customisation

Music metadata (e.g. pandora 400 music genes – find ‘genetically similar’ songs)

Fan metadata (e.g. folksonomies “love/ban”)

Audience metadata (e.g. last.fm’s audioscrobbler which tracks your music habits across devices – PC, ipod etc.)

Supplier Power

Big Four record companies want new royalty stream but don’t want ‘radio’ to compete with ‘music download’

Only cooperate with internet stations which mimic functionality of radio – live streaming not free ‘on demand’

Limits to skip and pause functions

• Live radio provides communication and company which music stream cannot• entertainment, comfort, security• Mood management– Getting you up or calming you down• Information – esp. music

Ofcom (2004) iPod generation

DJ Chat (Monologue)

1. “fun atmosphere” (mood management)

2. “what I’m doing now” (company, communication)

3. comments on topical issues, pop music, sex and relationships (information)

4. Phone-ins (interact with celebs)

5. Dave says hi to Maggie (peer to peer)

Brand & Scannell (1992)

Twitter

1. “playful self”

2. daily chatter

3. reporting news – leaders and followers

4. Conversations (peer to peer)

Java et al. (2007)

Ferguson & Greer (2011)