Actually, it's just a matter of filling out information and waiting to see if you'll be "listed". (I've cut and pasted the form to be filled out below.) By the way, it took just about a month to get listed...some people I've talked got on in shorter time, but I figure that they were rolling out the new iPhone in July so that slowed things down on their end!
Word to the wise, don't even think of signing up for this if you aren't ready to invest in listener slots. Apple says that you should "start out with a minimum of 300 slots". While I don't know that you need to start with that, remember that iTunes will probably yank a station that is maxxed out most of the time.
I doubled our server bandwidth after seeing traffic go up dramatically in a single day and will add more as needed.
Looking at the server logs, I notice a lot of iTunes traffic (Mac and Windows - and various versions, too) now so I know that it is working. We are also featured on Nokia cell phones, but that is not where the buzz is.
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In order to better serve our radio partners, we are implementing a new system. As you can imagine, our radio partners are important to us but a small part of what iTunes does overall, so our resources are very limited to deal with the hundreds of emails we receive each day. In order to better serve you, ALL requests must be resubmitted and follow these guidelines. ANY EMAILS THAT DO NOT FOLLOW THESE PROTOCOLS WILL BE DELETED
1) ALL emails must have one of these three subject lines as follows:
Station Submission: (station name) (ex: Station Submission: Cameo's Favorite Tunes.com)
Station Update: (station name exactly as it appears in iTunes)
Other Inquiry: state issue here
2) Each station update or submission must be sent in a separate email (multiple updates to one station or multiple bitrates for one station can be in the same email)
3) We will only accept emails from the contact person that we have on file for the station or a station owner. Listeners, friends, station personnel not listed with us cannot make requests on behalf of a station.
4) Station Submission requests must contain all of the following information:
Station name (this MUST be the name as it is used in positioning on the station, we will not accept numbers or punctuation as part of a station's name unless that is a legitimate part of the station marketing, and yes we do check)
City/State/Country of Origin
Language of broadcast
Station Type (internet-only, terrestrial simulcast)
Is station commercial-free?
station genre(s) for tuner (PLEASE take a minute to look at existing iTunes genres), no more than 1 genre per station
website for station if there is one
Station description (to be shown in tuner, please keep short)
contact person name, email and phone number
bitrate(s)
IP/URL to point to (multiples with different bitrates are acceptable) (please note we only support MP3 streams at this time)
If you are a Live365 station, you must make your request through iTunes at Live365 (
[email protected])
5) Station Update requests must contain the following information:
Station name (this MUST be the name as it exists in iTunes)
contact person name, email and phone number
and of course the specific update you'd like made
6) Timelines:
Most important, iTunes does not guarantee specific times of updates, station addition or station maintenance. If you choose to upgrade to heavy-duty server power or better equipment, that is completely your decision and not something we will consider when periodically cleaning up or de-listing stations. We cannot be made responsible for your livelihood.
-There is no guarantee of being added to iTunes.
-If we do add your station, we will leave it up a minimum of 90 days unless there is an issue.
-Your station can be de-listed at any time, without notice and may or may not be reinstated depending on this issues surrounding the takedown. We will try to contact you when we remove a station, but it is your responsibility to make sure your contact information is current with us.
-Having your listeners spam us with email is not helpful nor appreciated as it fills up the queue...please don't do it.
-We randomly check stations, if we find that a station is 1) abusing the system by using a name that is not part of the on-air marketing of the station or 2) is consistently full and inaccessible, we will remove the station without warning and you will not be able to get your station re-submitted until the issue is rectified
-There is no magic number of slots that must be available for a station to be considered but we do tend to send a lot of traffic to our radio partners. If we find that the station cannot meet the demand we will de-list it. A general rule of thumb is a minimum of 300 slots to begin with.
-If we see that certain genres are getting overly full we may de-list stations to keep the content fresh for our customers. you may re-submit stations 30 days after being de-listed.
Thank you for following these guidelines. We will NOT return phone calls, so please do not call or email incessantly to follow-up on a request. We will send you an acknowlegedment when we receive your email and when you can expect actions from us.
Ryan
iTunes Radio
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Fill it out and send it to:
[email protected]