Can "music radio" as we currently know it survive profitably in a streaming world?

[RadioGuy1864]

People say the future of radio is streaming. OK, so how will radio survive and be profitable when competing against literally thousands of streams and streamers? Radio's former profitability was based primarily on scarcity, there were only a limited number of frequencies available in a given market. Then Docket 80-90 increased the number of stations and a lot more stations were competing for the same listeners and ad dollars. We all know what happened next.
So now that competition will be 1000X greater, what differentiates 106.7 Lite FM (or insert your favorite station) from any other music stream on the internet and why will listeners seek it out?

 

[TheBigA]

People say the future of radio is streaming. OK, so how will radio survive and be profitable when competing against literally thousands of streams and streamers? Radio's former profitability was based primarily on scarcity,

That's why music radio "as we know it" is changing. There's only live & local talent where it's profitable.

Scarcity of a signal doesn't matter if people don't own radios. If that's the direction of the marketplace, then radio has to go to devices people have.

As for competing, that's just the reality. It depends on the stations, formats, and companies to find ways to compete.

 

[TheBigA]

People say the future of radio is streaming. OK, so how will radio survive and be profitable when competing against literally thousands of streams and streamers? Radio's former profitability was based primarily on scarcity,

That's why music radio "as we know it" is changing. There's only live & local talent where it's profitable.

Scarcity of a signal doesn't matter if people don't own radios. If that's the direction of the marketplace, then radio has to go to devices people have.

As for competing, that's just the reality. It depends on the stations, formats, and companies to find ways to compete

 

[ted chittenden]

People say the future of radio is streaming. OK, so how will radio survive and be profitable when competing against literally thousands of streams and streamers? Radio's former profitability was based primarily on scarcity, there were only a limited number of frequencies available in a given market. Then Docket 80-90 increased the number of stations and a lot more stations were competing for the same listeners and ad dollars. We all know what happened next.
So now that competition will be 1000X greater, what differentiates 106.7 Lite FM (or insert your favorite station) from any other music stream on the internet and why will listeners seek it out?

Keep in mind that streaming has additional costs that don't apply to over-the-air broadcasting. The primary cost is the per-song-per-listener fee required by the DMCA and supported by the recording industry. I expect that to only rise in the future. What Internet-only streamers have done to counteract this is to limit the total number of people who can listen to their streams at any given time. Over-the-air broadcasters have done the same with their Internet streams too, but some, particularly smaller outfits, have taken the additional step of geofencing their streams to the local markets served by the over-the-air broadcast stations in hopes of avoiding the DMCA streaming fees altogether. (The largest radio operators haven't done this yet, probably because they know that if they did, the recording industry would take the radio industry to court and would probably win the case since there is *no* allowance for geofencing inside the DMCA in order to avoid paying copyright fees to the music industry and its artists.) For all of these reasons, I fully expect over-the-air music broadcasters to keep their assigned frequencies as long as they can and then move to a limitation of the total number of people who can listen to their individual stations' streams at any given time (if they haven't done so already).

 

[KC8UOK]

(The largest radio operators haven't done this yet, probably because they know that if they did, the recording industry would take the radio industry to court and would probably win the case since there is *no* allowance for geofencing inside the DMCA in order to avoid paying copyright fees to the music industry and its artists.)

I thought geofencing was used due to international rights issues. Or attempt anyway. Geofencing doesn't work. There has never been a station I've not been able to listen to by either switching to a different app, VPN or both. The anomaly being BBC Sounds and that simply required getting it from outside the Play Store.

 

[ted chittenden]

I thought geofencing was used due to international rights issues. Or attempt anyway. Geofencing doesn't work. There has never been a station I've not been able to listen to by either switching to a different app, VPN or both. The anomaly being BBC Sounds and that simply required getting it from outside the Play Store.

Two points:

1) Geofencing can be done for any given area you want. For example, the Curtis Media Group geofences most of its music outlets to eastern North Carolina.
2) You're right about the technical issues. If you know your technology and specifically how to change your computer's API (is that right?) address, then you can render most geofencing efforts to be pretty much useless. That said, not everyone (including yours truly) either has that knowledge or has the finances to make it happen. (I understand that changing your computer's api address involves the use of some outside groups that often require you to pay them in return.)

 

[KC8UOK]

2) You're right about the technical issues. If you know your technology and specifically how to change your computer's API (is that right?) address, then you can render most geofencing efforts to be pretty much useless. That said, not everyone (including yours truly) either has that knowledge or has the finances to make it happen. (I understand that changing your computer's api address involves the use of some outside groups that often require you to pay them in return.)

VPNs are extraordinarily cheap. About the same price as a Netflix subscription. And just as easy to use. They are also readily available on all platforms. And very common. The result is the ability to pretend you're in one of dozens of countries with a few taps of the screen or mouse clicks.

 

[mrradioguy]

As long as you put effort in to the content and station, yes. Gone are the days of being the "go to" and here are the days of being relevant.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Of course it can survive. If it doesn't, that's the fault of the radio business itself.

 

[TheBigA]

Of course it can survive. If it doesn't, that's the fault of the radio business itself.

It's been well documented that the broadcast radio business model, based primarily on advertising, is in a lot of trouble. But the other factor involved here is the music business, which owns the content, and is now partnering with streaming companies in the ways it once did with radio. I'm not faulting them for that. Their business model now is based on streaming royalties, not radio airplay.

So when you look at the overall situation of broadcast radio having to reinvent itself both technologically and financially, it's not an easy process. It means that people who grew up with broadcast radio will probably not like what it will become. But there's not a whole lot anyone can do about it. The audience has shifted to digital distribution. There's nothing radio companies can do to change that.

 

[cc333]

your computer's API (is that right?) address

Almost.

API is short for Application Programming Interface, which is something for developers to use and not relevant here.

What you meant was IP (Internet Protocol) address. There's two versions currently in use, IPv4 and IPv6, with v4 still being the most common. A typical IPv4 address is in the form of 255.255.255.255, and each of the four sets of three digits range from 0 to 255 (so, for example, 345.567.890.555 is invalid).

IPv6 is different, and I don't really know it too well, so I'm going to ignore it.

And now you know more than you ever wanted to about IP addresses (this is only the most basic of basic details; it gets MUCH more complicated from here, and I advise just ignoring it if computer networking is not your thing).

c

 

[secondchoice]

It's been well documented that the broadcast radio business model, based primarily on advertising, is in a lot of trouble. But the other factor involved here is the music business, which owns the content, and is now partnering with streaming companies in the ways it once did with radio. I'm not faulting them for that. Their business model now is based on streaming royalties, not radio airplay.

So when you look at the overall situation of broadcast radio having to reinvent itself both technologically and financially, it's not an easy process. It means that people who grew up with broadcast radio will probably not like what it will become. But there's not a whole lot anyone can do about it. The audience has shifted to digital distribution. There's nothing radio companies can do to change that.

The post is aimed at sub 100 markets:

Radio could has died when TV came along. The web has taken a lot of the "localness" out of all local media and life on general. The national big box stores concentrate their money nationally and have really messed with locally owned business. Which used to be a huge part of any station's revenue. Even some auto dealerships are part of a national chain now.

Radio can be a very effective tool to drive folks to LOCAL websites. I don't have the studies to back this up but I believe most people when presented with 20 or more business on a goggle query will pick a business they have heard of.

There might be hope: the all digital lifestyle might not be as all consuming in the future. A new trend is the under 30's have started to reduce their use of dating apps. One can only guess they want actually meet folks in a non date pressured environment before actually dating. Also there the the start of folks losing their trust of the tech giants and their AI. The today show had a story about some "old time brands" making a comeback. People want something they have trusted in the past.

 

[tall_guy1]

Because every car has FM radio, and most alarms do too. Its still too convenient to listen to radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Radio could has died when TV came along.

This gets said a lot, but TV in the 1950s wasn't what TV is now. There were only one or two stations that were only on for a few hours a day. So TV really didn't become a viable threat until the 1960s. But still, at the time, the choices were TV and radio. Now there are unlimited choices.

Then you couple that with the collapse of the local revenue market. So the audience has been diluted, and so has the revenue. That HAD to have an impact on radio budgets and how many people they can afford to hire.

The latest layoffs at iHeart are being attributed to some changes in technology. We already know about AI. So there is no status quo in radio. Changes are happening every day, and they impact the ability of stations to hire local staff.

Radio can be a very effective tool to drive folks to LOCAL websites.

I think what some stations are trying to do is make their station website a reference point for other local websites. TV stations are doing that as well. It's easier to send people to one place, and then they pick & choose where to go from there.