What determines the cost involved in streaming and how much would it cost a station to stream 24/7?
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Cost of Streaming
- Thread starter Cosmopolite
- Start date
We had a spare ADSL connection that had been unused for about 4 years at our station - So we brought a modem, ran the tuner into the soundcard and streamed our station that way...Because the ISP doesn't charge for uploads, we could have people listen as long as they wanted - All for $29.00 a month!
We used the Broadwave software (cost about $50 I think).
We used the Broadwave software (cost about $50 I think).
The best value in (just) streaming is by far Shoutcast. Many data centers offer Shoutcast hosting/serving. You push your audio to them and they redistribute it. This means two important things. First, since you are pushing your audio at the data center's static IP address, you don't need a static IP yourself. This is frequently a $50 dollar per month price (or more) difference-most DSL or cable that comes with static IP is considered business class, while dynamic IP DSL or cable is priced as consumer. Second, since the data center is buying bandwidth wholesale in bulk (as opposed to you paying retail for it with cable or DSL), they can retail it to frequently for less than you can pay for it yourself. As an example, here's the Shoutcast provider I use for my Barix stream, b2netsolutions: http://www.b2netsolutions.com/shoutcast-servers-hosting.htm
As you can see, you can buy a 25 listener 128 kbps package for $33.75 a month. The cheapest static DSL I can find is here: http://www.dslextreme.com/Services/Internet/DSL/Details.aspx Look at the Express pricing.
It's priced at $44.95 a month for 1500/384 service. This gives you exactly three 128 kpbs streams-and completely maxes out your upload. Another 5 bucks a month gives you another 3 streams (for a total of six). Why would you possibly want to do this when you can buy 1500/384 dynamic service AND a 25 listener Shoutcast package for $53.70 a month?
Actually, it's even less because he's giving a 15% discount right now, so the price is actually $48.65 a month. Another bonus is that since you're only using 1/3 of your upload (only pushing one stream to Shoutcast), you still have the use of the DSL for other things.
His prices are about average-if you Google shoutcast providers you'll find hundreds of suppliers priced similarly. The only thing you DON'T get is music licensing-you have to pay for that by yourself.
The encoder can be free if you use Winamp and the Shoutcast DSP plugin. The plugin does MP3 and AAC+.
Barix Instreamers also do Shoutcast encoding (MP3 and MPEG-2).
As you can see, you can buy a 25 listener 128 kbps package for $33.75 a month. The cheapest static DSL I can find is here: http://www.dslextreme.com/Services/Internet/DSL/Details.aspx Look at the Express pricing.
It's priced at $44.95 a month for 1500/384 service. This gives you exactly three 128 kpbs streams-and completely maxes out your upload. Another 5 bucks a month gives you another 3 streams (for a total of six). Why would you possibly want to do this when you can buy 1500/384 dynamic service AND a 25 listener Shoutcast package for $53.70 a month?
Actually, it's even less because he's giving a 15% discount right now, so the price is actually $48.65 a month. Another bonus is that since you're only using 1/3 of your upload (only pushing one stream to Shoutcast), you still have the use of the DSL for other things.
His prices are about average-if you Google shoutcast providers you'll find hundreds of suppliers priced similarly. The only thing you DON'T get is music licensing-you have to pay for that by yourself.
The encoder can be free if you use Winamp and the Shoutcast DSP plugin. The plugin does MP3 and AAC+.
Barix Instreamers also do Shoutcast encoding (MP3 and MPEG-2).
bmi, ascap and sesac aren't the problem. riaa is the problem. their rates are for performance royalties, and are much higher than the composer royalties bmi, ascap and sesac collect.
you can go through soundexchange to license with the riaa. it's easier to use a service such as swcast, loud city, or live365.
-amos
you can go through soundexchange to license with the riaa. it's easier to use a service such as swcast, loud city, or live365.
-amos
D
DJ Alan
Guest
Take a look at PEERCASTING! ... peercast.org
I use it stream my pirate station 'The WHORE' which is broadcast on 101.9 FM in Seattle.
I checked out a lot of options and peercasting is hands down the cheapest way to stream. You only send one stream out that is 're-transmitted' by that listener, and again, and again... Therefore there are no limits in the amount of listeners you can have. And the best part is that there are NO FEES involved (except of course for the cost of your internet connection). You should at least be able to send uploads at 256K but that is fairly standard for all broadband providers currently.
The only downfalls are that 1) Listeners can lose the stream during high network traffic times, mostly due to poor quality connections, but that will ease as more broadband is adopted. And really now... this is a problem for many standard streams that are fed by expensive services anyway. Peercast does some buffering in the player so that when connections are dropped in the 'chain', the player has time to make a new connection and pick up the stream seamlessly. I have never experienced listening to the stream during this 'hand-off' of connections and I have heard that it can fail occasionally, also due to poor connections or very high network traffic and again I'll say, the 'BIG BOYS' have that problem too. 2) Occasionally the link to the 'Peercast Yellow Pages' goes down and that makes it totally fail if you only use the 'Peercast Yellow Pages' to advertise your stations stream ('The WHORE' is only a stunt brand name that I am using until I re-launch the station with a website and posted streaming links etc.). I am under the impression that having the link directly on my stations website avoids this issue although I have not tested that yet.
Give peercast a shot, it's free. I am glad I use it. Find my station listed on the 'Yellow Pages' and give it a listen. You can go directly to the yellow pages at yp.peercast.org ... then just look for 'The WHORE'.
Have a GREAT DAY!
DJ Alan
I use it stream my pirate station 'The WHORE' which is broadcast on 101.9 FM in Seattle.
I checked out a lot of options and peercasting is hands down the cheapest way to stream. You only send one stream out that is 're-transmitted' by that listener, and again, and again... Therefore there are no limits in the amount of listeners you can have. And the best part is that there are NO FEES involved (except of course for the cost of your internet connection). You should at least be able to send uploads at 256K but that is fairly standard for all broadband providers currently.
The only downfalls are that 1) Listeners can lose the stream during high network traffic times, mostly due to poor quality connections, but that will ease as more broadband is adopted. And really now... this is a problem for many standard streams that are fed by expensive services anyway. Peercast does some buffering in the player so that when connections are dropped in the 'chain', the player has time to make a new connection and pick up the stream seamlessly. I have never experienced listening to the stream during this 'hand-off' of connections and I have heard that it can fail occasionally, also due to poor connections or very high network traffic and again I'll say, the 'BIG BOYS' have that problem too. 2) Occasionally the link to the 'Peercast Yellow Pages' goes down and that makes it totally fail if you only use the 'Peercast Yellow Pages' to advertise your stations stream ('The WHORE' is only a stunt brand name that I am using until I re-launch the station with a website and posted streaming links etc.). I am under the impression that having the link directly on my stations website avoids this issue although I have not tested that yet.
Give peercast a shot, it's free. I am glad I use it. Find my station listed on the 'Yellow Pages' and give it a listen. You can go directly to the yellow pages at yp.peercast.org ... then just look for 'The WHORE'.
Have a GREAT DAY!
DJ Alan
LA_Guy said:
It will also do AAC, which would be my recommendation for bitrates at and above 96 kbps.
AAC is the best codec at these low-to-middle bitrates (96-192). If you absolutely have to go below 96 kpbs (64 kpbs and lower), use HE-AAC (aka aacPlus). Stay away from MP3 - it's an outdated codec and outperformed today by more modern codecs.
Personally I don't like these peer-assisted streaming providers. Abacast is another one like that. If the streamer is up-front and tells me they will be using my upload bandwidth, I might listen to it. But if you don't (and I will notice), I'll never listen to you again.
Regards,
Goran Tomas
Those costs through Sound Exchange can range from $50-$75 per station. Then you will be charged for the number if listeners per hour who listen to your station. Further they require detailed reporting of the music played every day. You will also be charged when you use copyrighted music in any commercial and might be subject to other charges when certain "National" announcers are heard over your stream.
Currently there is a push on by congress to consider exempting FCC licensed stations from paying these royalties due to the fact that they pay and have been paying for many many years fees to BMI, SESAC and ASCAP.
Call or write your congressperson and voice your support for this measure.. (Off Soapbox)
Streaming could also be as easy as using Windows Media Encoder to push a stream to a provider who makes it available to all on a server.
Currently there is a push on by congress to consider exempting FCC licensed stations from paying these royalties due to the fact that they pay and have been paying for many many years fees to BMI, SESAC and ASCAP.
Call or write your congressperson and voice your support for this measure.. (Off Soapbox)
Streaming could also be as easy as using Windows Media Encoder to push a stream to a provider who makes it available to all on a server.
amos said:
Guess I'll stick with Pt 15 AM! I can reach thousands due to the extreme density of my neighborhood for no more than the the cost of leaving the "stereo" and one laptop on continuously. I make nothing, charge nothing, and expect nothing.
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed."
I run spots for free if I like 'em!
There is one good reason to use mp3 for streaming. It's a lowest common denominator format. Without exception, every media player can handle it. It does pose more severe bandwidth-usage/quality trade-offs than a AAC and it's variants, but there are still some players out there than don't handle AAC.
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