Songerize: era demasiado bom...

Songerize promete muito; mas «Sorry, couldn't find song» é a expressão que mais vezes aparece...

«Songerize is a dead-simple interface for quickly playing streaming music, and it's destined to become a quick-fix addiction for music fans. Type in a song name, then the artist you think performs it, and hit "Play." If Songerize can find the song, it plays it in an embedded Flash device. If not, try another song. Described as the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button for the more full-featured streaming music search site SeeqPod, Songerize is the perfect tool for clarifying misheard lyrics, quickly playing a song for a friend, or just listening to music one track at a time. Songerize found 8 of 10 songs I threw at it this morning, and I mixed it about halfway between big radio hits and indie hip-hop and rock. Nifty. To get even more out of SeeqPod, download-wise, check out Songbeat.» (aqui))

 

 

BREEDING, Andy (2004), Internet Music Services, Watertown MA: Giant Path

«O que é que há de errado com a rádio tradicional?»

«Many people are dissatisfied with the state of commercial radio in the U.S. today. “It all sounds the same” and “there’s nothing there for me” are common complaints. Observers point to consolidation in the radio industry as the cause. Since 1996, when Congress deregulated the radio industry, a wave of mergers has placed the majority of radio stations into the hands of a few large corporations. During this time the number of independent radio stations shrank. Uniform corporate policies and market research-driven programming have reduced the variety of music on commercial radio. One critic summed up this approach as “play the fewest songs that appeal to the most people.” Also problematic is the requirement that record companies make big payments to promoters in order to get their songs on the radio. As a consequence it is harder than ever for new acts to be heard on commercial radio; only the biggest and best-financed acts get access to the commercial airwaves. Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones recently said, “The Rolling Stones would never make it now.”»

BREEDING, Andy (2004), Internet Music Services, MA: Giant Path, pag 18

Tendências para o futuro? O incerto.

«What are three trends to watch for in 2008 in radio?
(...) A third trend is the unknown.
When people ask, “‘Where’s radio going?,” the thing you can count on is something you can’t even imagine. Something big will happen that we don't have a clue about yet. »

fonte: For radio, expect year of unknowns, Media Life Magazine, By Diego Vasquez, Jan 11, 2008

O poder dos ouvintes na rádio e na internet

«If you want to influence what gets played on traditional radio you have the option of calling in a song request to the disc jockey (DJ). Or, if the station is more technically savvy, you can send requests by fax, e-mail, or instant messenger. This, of course, presumes that the show is live and the DJ is available to review your request—which is often not the case. Most Internet radio stations are similar in this regard: your ability to influence the playlist is limited, and your main choice is whether to listen or not. The Internet is a two-way medium, however, and a number of services have emerged to exploit this fact. As a listener you get some control over the broadcast. At its most basic, this control includes the ability to skip or pause songs that you are listening to. At its most sophisticated, personalized radio allows you to fine tune a broadcast based on your musical preferences. This can range from genre preferences (I like Classical but I don’t like Rap) to artist and album preferences (I like David Bowie but not his latest album), and song preferences (I like the original version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down). While personalized radio does not allow you to control the exact composition or sequence of your playlist—for this you need a true on-demand music service— it does help you control the content of your station. In many situations this is all you need—especially if your intent is to discover new music. Personalized radio gives you the means to follow a musical trail—using favored songs or artists as “scent.”»

fonte: BREEDING, Andy (2004), Internet Music Services, MA: Giant Path, pag 33

Daqui a dez anos (previsões)

«If you want to negotiate with me that it's going to take 12 years instead of 10, okay, 12 years instead of 10. And if you're going to say to me, "My parents will never get there," and I'll say, you're right, maybe your parents will never get there, but then your kids will get there in four years, whatever the case may be.» Steve Balmer

«Todos os meios serão digitais»

« (...) within 10 years, no consumption of anything that we think about as media today -- print, TV, Internet -- everything that we think about today as media will, in fact, be delivered over IP Internet technology, and will all be digital. I don't care whether you're sitting there watching your big screen, whether you think you're reading what we would have called a magazine or a newspaper in the old days; everything will be delivered digitally, delivered digitally, which means, in fact, that the forms of the creative, the creative in the media, the creative in the advertising, the technologies which will be available for targeting, will all be fundamentally different, and be able to be improved by software. (...) as soon as you assume everything is delivered digitally, all media and all advertising will have to take that into account. The notion that you have things that are just text or just pictures or just video goes away, because everything is digital. »

BALLMER, steve, «ANA ANnual Conference», 12/10/07

Uma sociedade cada vez mais egoista?

«notre societé est en train d'inventer un nouveau type d'agregat social mettant en jeu une étrange combinaison d'egoisme et de grégarité (...)» Vivre en troupeau en se pensant libres ,Dany-Robert Dufour, Le Monde Diplomatique Janeiro 2008, pág 20

 

Dois mundos distintos: rádio on line e canais de streaming

Da leitura de mais um relatorio da JPMorgan sobre audiencias na net, o que mais impressiona é, por um lado, a incompatibilidade entre aquilo ali é designado por terresterial radio operators online (ou seja, a industria de rádio que tambem tem streaming) e os internet radio providers (canais de streaming neste giria) e o desinteresse destes por aqueles.  Ou seja, a industria de rádio não se interessou em lançar canais autonomos de streaming e as empresas que os têm tambem não pensam em emissão hertziana. (a excepção é a Last.Fm e a CBS)

Por curiosidade: «Terrestrial radio operators online include Beasley Broadcasting, CCU, CBS Radio & Last.fm, CDL, CXR, Educational Media Foundation, ETM, EMMS, Greater Media, Maranatha Broadcasting, Midwest Communications, NPR , Radio Disney, Radio One, Regent Communications, and Spanish Broadcasting, as well as the individual website metrics for wbal (HTV), wgn (TRB), and wtmx (Bonneville). Internet radio providers include, AOL Radio, Yahoo! Music, MSN Radio, Pandora.com, social.com, windowsmedia.com music, LIVE365.com, Accuradio, accutunes, BigRRadio, 181.fm, Lucksysevenradio.com, orsradio.com, Sky.fm, 1club.fm, di.fm, rock.com, 1.fm, gotradio.com, broadcasturban.net, and 202online.com. Also, getnetradio.com, and myclubradio.com, were included in all months until June 2007 when comScore stopped reporting their metrics.»

Table 4: Unique Visitors to Pure Play Internet Radio's Websites, Dec. 2007 vs. Nov. 2007

Unique visitors in thousands                   

Nov-07 Dec-07 Sequential Growth

Yahoo! Music 21,546 20,685 (4.0%)

Windowsmedia.com Music 3,721 4,086 9.8%

AOL Radio 3,353 3,680 9.7%

Pandora.com 3,774 3,957 4.9%

LIVE365.COM 905 1,069 18.2%

Social.fm 22 NM NM

Accuradio 154 NM NM

181.fm 231 351 51.5%

Luckysevenradio.com 280 173 (38.3%)

A incapacidade da industria perceber o que está em causa

«(...) Clear Channel's John Hogan said "performance and capability is not our problem. Our problem is one of perception".
No.
Consolidators like Clear Channel but not limited to Clear Channel either just don't get it or they don't want us to get it.
1. They try to grow a business by cutting back.
2. They embrace the wrong technology (HD instead of mobile/Internet).
3. They have driven off the next generation -- have no clue what they want -- and think the problem is about perception. No one cares about perception -- they care about content and -- I might add -- how it is delivered. (...) I am convinced that as much as radio groups say they understand the Internet, they don't. It is a delivery system -- plain and simple. It needs content. One would think they would want to be in that business.»

fonte: Jerry del Colliano, Redefine Radio -- Don't Reinvent It 4/02/08 Inside Music Media

À rádio sucederá o mesmo que ao telégrafo e à máquina de escrever? (hipoteses)

Provavelmente sim, se continuar a ser um velho negócio centralizado num mundo cada vez mais descentralizado

Redefinir ou reinventar a rádio?

«I like what RAIN publisher Kurt Hanson wrote the other day when he said the answer to radio's problems is simple -- redefine "radio".

Kurt credits consultant Walter Sabo with pointing out that stand-alone FM radio stations were not allowed to join the NAB as recently as the 70's because they weren't considered "radio".

See, we don't just make stupid assumptions today. We've got a lot of experience in that department.

Kurt's point is worth thinking about: "In 2008, if you define 'radio' as AM, FM, satellite and streaming (both AM/FM stations and Internet-only radio properties like LAUNCHcast and Pandora and a panapoly of others), then, once again, radio is healthier and more vibrant than it has ever been".

I'd add mobile content and podcasting to the mix and call it all "radio", too.

Yes, throw satellite in there, as wel. Mel's a radio guy. Ask any XM or Sirius subscriber what they are listening to in the car and they'll say -- radio.

Call it all radio.»

fonte: Jerry del Colliano, Redefine Radio -- Don't Reinvent It 4/02/08 Inside Music Media

O sucesso do Pandora

«Oakland-based Pandora brought nearly 4 million unique visitors to its site in December, according to JP Morgan’s “Radio Broadcasting : Internet Radio Scorecard December 2007.” December was Pandora’s sixth “up” month in a row» (fonte: JP Morgan)

Rádio? Um sistema de distribuição de música (lealdade...)

«One of the questions posed to the students was whether they thought, here in Portland, they could identify radio stations that were true "brands." A few stood out (KINK, 94.7, KGON and Jammin' 95.5 for music, and KOPB and KXL for news and talk), but most, they felt, were just "stations" that didn't exactly connect with them. There were myriad reasons why this was the case. For the most part, they felt as though most music stations were "delivery systems" with some people telling them what the song was. Part of their reasoning was that there lacked, in most cases, a tangible emotional connection. Most of the people in our class are under the age of 25, pretty brand loyal and savvy and, despite the fact they are in what amounts to a radio creative class, struggled to find, with some exceptions, a reason that a radio "station" could be considered a radio "brand."»

«Brands are, by definition, things that evoke emotional connections. Their value is a function of the fact that you care about them, and you only care about the stuff you maintain an emotional connection to or, in the ideal case of Kevin Roberts, the stuff you "love." Zanger says his students viewed most radio stations as "delivery systems" rather than brands. And in a crowded mediasphere with sound-alike competitors "delivery systems" are commodities. Easily and readily substituted whenever and however the mood strikes. I think we really need to ask ourselves as broadcasters what, exactly, creates value in our brands. What turns a "delivery system," a soul-less music channel, into an emotion-filled "brand"?»

 

Perante uma nova tecnologia: Sobrestimar no imediato; subestimar à distância (lei de Amara)

«"We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run." By Roy Amara, past president of The Institute for the Future.»

«In other words, although we expect tomorrow to arrive in a burst of science-fiction flashiness, it often takes longer to arrive. And when it finally does, the real impact of the change is likely to exceed our initial expectations. Consider where we stand in 2005: Much of what we see happening online today is the long-run, large-scale result of changes that many people dismissed only a few years ago. Amid the great tidal wave of innovation in the 1990s, the most interesting story was the birth of new business models like Amazon, eBay, and Google. But that's clear only in hindsight. The innovative fantasies of the dotcom era did bear fruit, but it took a lot longer--a decade, not five years. (See "Everything Old Is New Again," page 92.) So where will the business world be in, say, 2008? I look for small but telling hints. In my 15-year-old son Benjamin's room, for example, he's uploading a lightsaber duel video he made for a Star Wars fan competition. A digital videocamera and a Mac, and suddenly he becomes Schwartz Productions. Meanwhile, Al Gore's new cable-television venture, Current TV, aims to be almost entirely viewer-produced. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, plans to allow his company's users to develop and share new software applications using simple programming tools. The distinction between consumer and producer, server and served, is beginning to fade, and forward-looking companies understand that making money with your customers is even better than making money from them. (See "Companies Tap Into Consumer Passion," page 84.)»

It echoes a quote by Joseph Licklider that says: "A modern maxim says: People tend to overestimate what can be done in one year and to underestimate what can be done in five or ten years," which occurs in a footnote on p. 17 of Joseph Licklider, "Libraries of the Future," MIT Press, 1965 (

Amara, Roy "The Futures Field", Institute for the Future, Menlo Park, 1980.?

Existe interactividade. E comunicação?

«O contra-senso consiste em confundir interacção com comunicação. Não é por se passar a vida em interactividade na rede que se comunica mais, ou melhor, sem falar daqueles que, depois de se haverem equipado com a mais completa parafernália  para "estar em rede", constatam com angústia que ninguém deseja com eles "interagir", que ninguém os contacta. Que necessidade é esta de estar permanentemente contactável? São as máquinas que se ligam em rede, não os homens.» (wolton, 2000: 183/184)

«O preço a pagar pelo progresso» (a desumanização)

«(...) existe sempre um preço a pagar pelo progresso. Na maioria das vezes, uma nova tecnologia resolve um problema pendente, mas cria outros, e há uma forte tendência para omitir este segundo aspecto. Ve-mo-lo constantemente na automatização dos serviços, dos bancos, dos comboios... Após haver suprimido os homens em proveito de máquinas mais eficazes, constata-se uma profunda desumanização e a necessidade urgente de os reintroduzir no comércio, nos comboios, nos servIços. Amanhá na educação, após se ter querido complementá-los, e por vezes substituí-los, por terminais inteligentes e interactivos, constatar-se-á o mesmo processo. Os investigadores há já trinta anos que fazem soar o alarme face aos riscos da desumanização da sociedade sob o pretexto que a maior parte das tarefas podem ser executadas por robots. » (Wolton, 2000: 183) 

«As técnicas não chegam para criar a comunicação»

«As técnicas não chegam para criar a comunicação. É claro que transmitir, cada vez mais rápido, e nos dois sentidos, suscita uma forma de comunicação. Contudo, para além disso é necessário um projecto e um modelo cultural. Em suma, a "ligação à rede" não constitui por si só um projecto de comunicação, e muitas transmissões não são sinónimo de muita comunicação» (wolton, 2000: 122) 

O futuro da rádio pública

«É muito importante que os meios de comunicação de massas sejam para aqui chamados, no momento em que a moda das novas tecnologias está no auge, fazendo crer que o lugar mais próprio para a televisão é o museu. Os perigos de uma desestabilização da televisão são tanto mais graves porque a sua legitimidade sempre foi contestada e a reflexão a seu respeito bastante limitada.(...)Afirmar uma ambição forte para a televisão pública no espaço da Europa. » (Wolton, 2000: 117)

«(...) ao contrário do discurso dominante segundo o qual a televisão generalista foi ultrapassada pelas novas tecnologias, é necessário afirmar que os meios de comunicação generalistas, centrados na oferta, têm o futuro pela frente. Quanto mais existirem meios de comunicação segmentados, temáticos, individualizados, mais visível será a diferença e o papel essencial desempenhado pelos meios de comunicação de massas, logo mais susceptíveis serão de ser valorizados» (Wolton, 2000: 120) 

«É imperativo recordar incessantemente a importância de uma oferta de qualidade por parte dos meios de comunicação generalistas.  O progresso não se situa em exclusivo do lado da lógica da procura em operação nas novas tecnologias. A lógica da oferta é um verdadeiro desafio, não de natureza técnica, mas cultural, por consistir - e reencontramos aqui o desígnio do conceito de grandei público - em oferecer ao maior número uma gama de produtos de comunicação o mais lata possível» (wolton, 178) 

« Sobretudo, o telefone e a rádio aproximam os indivíduos a partir do sinal que marca a nossa entrada no mundo: a voz humana. A força do telefone e da rádio provém da capacidade para transcender a dimensão técnica, sublinhando a importância do som e da voz em qualquer troca comunicacional. E se a música é desde há muito tempo a única comunicação realmente universal, ligando continentes apesar da diversidade de línguas, é porque através do casamento de palavras e de ritmos os homens partilham algo que lhes é comum. O telefone e a rádio, os dois meios de comunicação "mais velhos", mostram que o essencial do seu papel é a ajuda modesta, embora indispensável, que dão aos homens na tentativa de melhor se compreenderem. "Compreender-se", em vez de "ver-se". (wolton, 200: 187/188)

A necessidade de entender de forma diferente as audiências e os públicos

«Uma vez que a oposição entre as duas escalas do público, individual e colectiva, não é significativa, visto cada um de nós circular permanentemente entre uma e outra escala, coloca-se o problema da reflexão qualitativa sobre a recepção. Tanto mais que as novas tecnologias favorecerão o fraccionamento da oferta, incluindo a dos meios de comunicação generalistas, e que a evolução do comportamento dos públicos implicará igualmente uma reflexão mais qualitativa. A simples contagem será cada vez menos importante. O público, cada vez mais crítico e exigente nas suas escolhas, não hesitará em adoptar comportamentos por vezes contraditórios, obrigando a uma nova reflexão que o tenha por objecto.» (Wolton, 2000: 116)