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Loudcaster closing October 1 - alternatives?

I

ironbear

Brandon Casci is circulating the music licensing/stream host's closure notice by email this morning:

"Despite the best of intentions we wound up with a business model not too much different than a hosting company with the added complexities of music licensing. We're solving problems that were solved by other services long ago and we're just not passionate about that."

Although it's been a little rocky, Loudcaster had unique features that made it different from Live365 and LoudCity. That included social networking, default streaming at 32 kbps AAC+ and a graphic rich player and web landing page. Although I used Station Playlist with Loudcaster, they had the best sounding server based automation I've heard.

Perhaps some of these features (especially the graphics) might be picked up by the competition. Who else is worth taking a look at these days?
 
This is verry unfortunate news for Loudcity/Loudcaster customers. It had to be a very tough decision for Brandon.

I really can't think of any other service that offers all the features of LoudCaster at this very moment. Our customers are allowed a custom HTML page where they can integrate Sociual Networking and we do have some code you can use to intregrate with Facebook.

We have been trying to develope some of the features they offered but the process has been very slow and we will not launch them until all the bugs are worked out.
 
I'm sure station owners want to try to cut their operation costs whenever possible - and not every single Loudcaster broadcast station wants their station merging to Loudcity (so I'm hearing from a few Internet broadcasters who are on Loudcaster - Loudcaster stations become Loudcity stations as of October 1, 2012).

I know some broadcasters would prefer to have a company that has both licensing/royalties and streaming all in one, but some sites like Live365 and Loudcity isn't very budget-friendly. Here are two recommendations that I currently use with my station:

DJC Media Group: Streaming & Licensing Services
I know Wes' (I'm referring to wsimkins here) DJC Media Group does a great job with their streaming and licensing packages and I've done business with them for a while. Their customer service is great: prompt responses and they're always willing to help you with technical issues. If something goes wrong, need help on how to get your station set up to be on RadioLoyalty, the best way to list or promote a station, or you're going to be late on your payment, let them know. There's a tutorial section on their website to assist you, so if your question hasn't been answered, send in a help ticket.

StreamLicensing LLC: Licensing Services
Who really wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a royalty-based service when you might only have 30 listeners? Not me. I did that for over a year - and it wasn't even through Live365. $165/month and I got nothing special out of the deal other than a feeling I got screwed over.

So back in January, I discovered StreamLicensing. Royalty-based Internet stream licensing starting at $22.50/month may be too good to be true, but for the station with a limited budget (like mine), it's the best way to go. Each package varies on the basis of TLH (Total Listening Hours) and Income/Expenses. Marvin and his staff is also great when it comes to customer service.

Regarding both of these services: I believe both have a working partnership when it comes to discounts, e.g. StreamLicensing licensing customers wanting to come to DJC Media for stream services. I think it goes the other way around as well for DJC Media streaming customers going to StreamLicensing for their licensing needs, but I'm not absolutely certain. You may need to speak to Wes and/or Marvin regarding that. Regardless, I highly recommend both for stations with a limited budget and limited ad income.
 
I know Wes' (I'm referring to wsimkins here) DJC Media Group does a great job
Click to expand...

I'll second that! I signed on with DJC Media last month and have been super satisfied with the quality of their service and customer support. The licensed flex plans are the way to go for either a beginner or professional. And again, the customer support is top notch.
 
Loud City posts in their forum seem to deny that Loudcaster stations are becoming Loud City stations on Oct 1.

Wayne G. aka radiowayne
 
radiowaynetx said:
Loud City posts in their forum seem to deny that Loudcaster stations are becoming Loud City stations on Oct 1.

Wayne G. aka radiowayne
Click to expand...

Wayne.. their not forcing anyone to change.. Those who wish to covert to Loud city (and bring their own Auto DJ or stream servers) are allowed too.. those who don't well their broadcasting days end 10/1/12.
 
ironbear said:
Thanks for the input, everyone.

...and for something completely different, Europe's free Radionomy is coming to our shores. (A medical cure needed by radio chronics? Ba-da-boom!) Sounds like broadcasters simply curate the service's existing track library into stations, however.

Radionomyhttp://mailing.radionomy.com/HM?a=FtX7CqkVwBq48SA9MKJcE4PnGHxKLJ317wjtS5kGaPNL0bBhOG5mpqVsje_Hhe-id0nn
Click to expand...


Do you know how to upload audio to these guys? The station is created, but I have no audio yet.
 
zburns said:
Do you know how to upload audio to these guys? The station is created, but I have no audio yet.
Click to expand...
On the top menu click "Planner". The page that you get has 3 tutorial videos; might help. Clicking "Audio" will give you the page for uploading. They use "boxes" to hold tracks. Click "Music boxes" in the left column to create yours. I made one for each type of track I uploaded. Once you've made some boxes click on one. You'll get a nearly blank right side of the screen. Click "Transfer" and you'll get a page with a "Browse" window. Find the file on your computer and then click OK. The file will now be transfered to that Music Box.

I'm not much of a tech writer so you may have some better luck on the Radionomy forums, http://board.radionomy.com/ .
 
I don't know of any other Radio Station In A Box services other than Loudcaster however if your on a shoe string budget you can go with RadioLoyalty for the stream host (you can even earn income with in stream ads), StreamLicensing for the license provider, LiveWebDJ for the automation for when you can't go live (you can get a cheap Shoutcast server to relay from and transcode from just Email them).

Hope this helps for those who want to sort of rebuild a Loudcaster experience.
 
has anyone come up with anything for people like us who are on a very tight budget and wont be broadcasting 24/7? I would be using it for maybe 2-3 times a month at 5 hours each time. I want to be legal .... but not BROKE ...
 
unlimitedsounds said:
has anyone come up with anything for people like us who are on a very tight budget and wont be broadcasting 24/7? I would be using it for maybe 2-3 times a month at 5 hours each time. I want to be legal .... but not BROKE ...
Click to expand...

This sounds like me, too.
 
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