O que significa a ideia dos Radiohead

Os Radiohead decidiram «leiloar» as músicas do seu novo disco e obtiveram enorme impacto mediático com essa novidade. Provavelmente muito mais do que aconteceria se fosse um lançamento clássico, através da rádio...

«O novo álbum dos Radiohead, disponível para compra apenas no site oficial da banda por preços determinados pelos próprios fãs, foi descarregado 1,2 milhões de vezes em apenas dois dias» OU seja, a rádio está a passar para trás, há cada vez mais alternativas para os músicos se afirmarem, junto dos fãs, sem que tenham de passar pela intermediação. E apesar de muitos não terem pago ou da pirataria, «Os Radiohead arrecadaram 4,8 milhões de libras com a operação «In Rainbows». Em média, cada pessoa pagou 4 libras para receber o disco por via digital. Grande parte dos lucros vai para a banda já que não há nenhuma editora envolvida. Se tivessem recorrido a um serviço online para distribuir o álbum, calcula-se que não teriam recebido sequer um quarto do valor acima referido».

Jim Kerr destaca um outro aspecto, típico da nova ideia de web social: «The press has focused on different aspects of the process, from the economics of its pricing model to its role as a incredibly effective marketing vehicle. Both of those are relevant—the band will make money on the downloads, and the band and the album are all over the press—but the biggest benefit of Radiohead’s strategy hasn’t been mentioned by anyone, and it may be the most powerful benefit indeed: The database of users who downloaded their music.
In essence, Radiohead is potentially giving away their album to create a database of fans that they can leverage for future income, whether it is from merchandise, concert tickets, fan club memberships etc. This is lead generation in its most basic form: Pay a fee to gain access to a consumer who is interested in your product.
The standard value of reaching a new subscriber in the mobile and Internet space is often valued at 10-15$, which is, perhaps not surprisingly, the price of an album. For Radiohead, even their worst case scenario risk—that everyone downloading their album would pay nothing—is still worth it for the future income from the leads they will have generated.»

O fim do «um-para-muitos»

«Satellite and terrestrial radio alike were designed as one-way, one-to-many experiences. This had better change»

Há cada vez mais alternativas (convergentes) à rádio

«From Inside Radio:

TiVo ... is teaming with digital music service Rhapsody to deliver thousands of Internet radio stations and four million songs through any broadband-connected TiVo box. The feature will allow users to search for music directly from their TV where they’ll be able to browse charts of Rhapsody’s most popular artists, find weekly lists of new releases, or listen to thousands of radio stations. Current TiVo subscribers will get a free 30-day trial of Rhapsody. They then can opt to pay $12.99 a month to keep the service.

Mark Ramsey não acredita na ideia: «where's the need? If I have a fancy audio system hooked up to my TV I can ALREADY listen to a slew of digital audio channels on a cable system (as well as radio stations on my Time Warner one). So that "convenience" - in case it is convenient - already exists. What this process adds is complication, not simplicity.»

Mas há quem não concorde: «You could use the same argument you're making here against iPods: "Where's the need for an iPod? I can already listen to a slew of audio channels on my radio!"As to simple, how hard is it:
1) You don't need to buy any hardware
2) You don't need to fiddle with wires or new desktop boxes
3) You don't need to use a docking station, USB cable, or any other method to get the music on your stereo
4) You sign up, press a few buttons on your remote, and you're listening to your music through your own stereo in the order you want.»

fonte: «The beginning of the end of "one-to-many"», Ramsey, Hear2.0, 11/10/07

O erro de se limitar ao simulcasting; propostas

Mark Ramsey: «My belief is this: It's not radio's fault that we lost this audience. But it will most definitely be our fault if we fail to get them back.»

O que é que Ramsey sugere?

«Why is your stream limited to your station's audio? Why not stream your station's video as well? And why not include chat capability in the streaming window so that listeners can talk to each other and to your talent? We're making the mistake of envisioning a station's stream as "our over-the-air station online," but this is wrong. The medium, as the saying goes, is the message. And a book is different from the movie based on that book in large part because the medium requires them to be different and the medium enables them to be different» e «Very few stations provide more than one stream on their website. That is, if you can brand one version of your station, why can't you brand several? And why can't they be tailored to different genres or moods or content elements (e.g., the All-Morning Show stream)? This is a tremendous lost opportunity, and I'm surprised more stations don't get this. As I recently reported, less than half of commercial stations stream their programming at all, let alone go "beyond the call" in the ways I'm suggesting. Yes, I know there are fears about licensing costs and bandwidth costs and the costs of losing rated on-air listeners to unrated off-air streams. But until you build these streams, the listeners can't come. And until they come you can't monetize them. And until you monetize them you will stand by and wait while your audience gets what they want and need from elsewhere online»

Um exemplo a seguir para a rádio de palavra

«NowLive is a social broadcasting network that lets anyone create a live, interactive talk shows, take callers, share media, syndicate podcasts, and more. NowLive empowers you to connect any time with peers, fans, friends, and new and interesting people. Communicate and promote the things that matter to you most! Who uses NowLive? Celebrities! Join Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, Bobbi Billard, Christine Dolce (ForBiddeN), Somaya Reece, and more! Bloggers (sport, political, travel, fashion, music…) - take your blog to the next level and host a weekly call in show at your blog site. MySpacers: create an interactive party line with all your friends. As one of our members said, "It's like MySpace on Crack". Bands: Start an international live concert from your garage. YahooGroups: add live teleconferencing to the group. Fantasy Sport: Have the commissioner of your league host a weekly get together so teams can negotiate real time trades and brag about last weeks standings. Businesses: invite your customers to an online Q&A session; Friends & Family! - this is a great way for your friends or family to share great conversation and experiences from different locations, all within a rich-media environment»

A BBC vai começar a difundir video (streaming)

«The BBC's iPlayer web catch-up service will include video streaming for PCs and Macs when it is launched at the end of the year. The broadcaster is to use Adobe Systems' Flash Player software to deliver on-demand streaming, which will be accessible to users of Macintosh, Linux and Windows. The relationship with Adobe will also allow the BBC to standardise most of its streamed video and audio content on bbc.co.uk. The BBC is to launch the iPlayer as a downloading and streaming service to consumers in time for Christmas. The platform will also include radio. It currently enables registered users to download and view around 400 hours of programmes up to seven days after their TV broadcast, and to store them for up to 30 days. The BBC has also become the first UK broadcaster to make all of its online content available for free via wi-fi at 7,500 hotspots operated by The Cloud. Users will be able to access bbc.co.uk via an interactive video, highlighting a range of content available or via a BBC logo. A further deal with Telegraph Media Group will see telegraph.co.uk offering visitors the chance to click through from its TV listings to iPlayer to watch BBC programmes.»

fonte: «BBC iPlayer to include video streaming»,Robin Parker, Broadcastnow, 16/10/07 

Um concorrente para o iTunes

«Universal chief Doug Morris is enlisting other big music players for a service to challenge the Jobs juggernaut. Relationships in the entertainment world can be famously fraught. And few are more so these days than the one between Steve Jobs and Universal Music chief Doug Morris. You may recall that Morris recently refused to re-up a multi-year contract to put his company's music on Apple's iTunes Music Store. That's because Jobs wouldn't ease his stringent terms, which limit how record companies can market their music.

Now, Morris is going on the offensive. The world's most powerful music executive aims to join forces with other record companies to launch an industry-owned subscription service. BusinessWeek has learned that Morris has already enlisted Sony BMG Music Entertainment as a potential partner and is talking to Warner Music Group. Together the three would control about 75% of the music sold in the U.S. Besides competing head-on with Apple Inc.'s (AAPL ) music store, Morris and his allies hope to move digital music beyond the iPod-iTunes universe by nurturing the likes of Microsoft's Zune media player and Sony's PlayStation and by working with the wireless carriers. The service, which is one of several initiatives the music majors are considering to help reverse sliding sales, will be called Total Music. (Morris was unavailable for comment.)» fonte: «Universal Music Takes on iTunes», Business Week, 22/10/07).

Como Ramsey diz: «So what do you call a wide selection of music, wirelessly delivered and mobile, that offers all your favorite songs as well as the chance to discover new ones - and it's all free? You call it "radio." Except in this case, it's radio with no commercials. What's the difference between streaming and downloading if all the music is free? Isn't it likely that this service, if it materializes, will offer "streaming stations" as well as individually downloadable songs (just as Yahoo's Music service does)?

 

«Pandora vai matar a rádio tal como a conhecemos» (concordo)

«Tim Westergren, chief strategy officer and founder of Pandora, stopped by Portfolio yesterday and talked to our staff about the future of his online radio company. He's working to eventually take Pandora public and describes its growth as linear, with half a million new users each month, capturing a total of .2% of radio listeners in the U.S. Pandora sets itself apart from other internet radio sites by allowing users to personalize their own radio stations through a 'music genome' that analyzes songs for rhythm, lyrics, genre, etc. and then feeds similar songs into the user's play list. Though this is a great way to discover new artists and appreciate ones you never thought you would, as one Portfolio staffer pointed out, play lists can tend to sound homogeneous sometimes. But Westergren assures that there are ways of mixing up one's radio selection. "The secret sauce is that people interact a lot with Pandora."

Users can give a recommended tune a thumb up or a thumb down, and they can also learn how their play list was selected for them. To expand on the user interaction the company right now is considering ways to incorporate into the site elements of online social-networking.
(...) By using Pandora, bands can find out where people live who listen to their music and send out alerts notifying them of tour dates and performances. Westergren even noted how hobbyists who mailed CDs into Pandora got their music included in the site's massive library of songs. It's one big free for all for artists and fans alike and the number of songs and genres available on Pandora keeps on growing; classical music will soon be available in the coming weeks.

Profits for the site come from visual advertising. "Music is not a subscription business," says Westergren. He emphasized the shift of advertising money to the internet and how it's changing the music industry. He even predicts that soon Clear Channel, with its monopoly on traditional radio stations, will soon get a rude awakening with the advance of internet radio. Pandora doesn't do any of its own advertising, and Westergren credits the half a million new users a month to word of mouth and the blogosphere. "Catch a wave of the bloggers and it explodes from there."

To grow Pandora right now the company has a partnership with Sprint to provide its service on Sprint cell phones for $2.99 a month and more deals with major cell phone companies are in the works. With its growing success, Pandora continues to stand by its original intent: support the music industry by giving air time to all kinds of artists. But it suffered a major hiccup with the Copyright Royalty Board ruling on content licensing and now can only provide service to users in the U.S., enforcing this by checking zipcodes against a user's IP address. Westergren's solution to fight illegal downloading? "If you give someone a service that satisfies and gives them what they want, they won't steal." » (fonte: «Pandora Will Rock Radio As We Know It», Portfolio.com, Maney e Lenzo, 11/10/07

«Cada estação de rádio transforma-se numa estação de tv»

«Basic terrestrial radio might be the last of the truly “free” media available, requiring no costly equipment, content subscriptions or on-demand fees. But local ad revenues have been eroding and the industry is fighting to respond to satellite radio, Internet radio and downloads, MP3, a music industry in chaos, new radio HD technology, and competition from multiple new sources. Therefore terrestrial radio is struggling to define its core mission and place in the information/entertainment landscape. What to do?

Dan Mason, president of CBS Radio division has said: “For years we tried to figure out how to make the product compatible for the audience, but the issue was the platform, not the content. In the near future, every radio station will have the ability to become a TV station. We will see webcast and webisodes. There’s no reason we can’t have our own webcast shows with talent. Radios will evolve and occupy more share of the digital space.”» 

(fonte: «Every radio station can become a TV station» IBL News 9/10/07 

Nova linha de de telefones da Motorola tem rádio

«Enter Motorola's new "W series" phones.
And the W160, W180, W213 and W377 (pictured above) all feature integrated FM radios.  Motorola said the phones, which would sell at an affordable price point, are meant for people who just want to talk and send text messages on easy-to-use phones or who are looking to upgrade their basic cell phones. For many future W series owners, this will be the first - and only - handheld FM radio they own. Sure, some people might have a handheld FM radio to listen to the game - but most people don't see the value at carrying around a radio with them. Radios aren't something you buy, they just happen to be there. But with an integrated radio in a common everyday phone, now it's just automatically in their pocket.» fonte: «Motorola unveils FM radio enabled cellphones», Orbicast, 12/10/07

Rádio digital chega à Austrália com imagem

«FUTURE mobile phones are likely to include digital radios that use their screens to show images and text broadcast by radio stations.Industry group Commercial Radio Australia is planning a commercial trial of the service next year after teaming with technology and broadcast software companies to develop the system.

Digital radio is to launch in Australia in 2009 and instead of broadcasting music only, radio stations will be able to broadcast data such as images, artist and track data, news headlines, weather and competitions.

"Australian radio broadcasters are committed to getting digital radio and its exciting multimedia features into mobile phones," CRA chief Joan Warner said.

"When digital radio is launched we will be able to demonstrate some of the exciting possibilities that digital radio is capable of bringing to handsets."» (fonte: «Digital radio coming to mobiles», Schulze, Australian it 15/10/07)

Wall Street reduz nº de analistas de rádio

«Over the last several months firms have either reassigned or fired their analysts covering radio. A year ago 24 analysts were assigned to radio. Now, only a dozen cover the industry. Just as stocks have sunk to multi-year lows and their worth has been reduced, some of radio’s biggest companies are going private. Deutsche Bank’s Drew Marcus says radio’s trading value “has dried up” and “that’s decreased the need for analysts.”»

fonte: «Radio is falling off Wall Street’s radar. Inside Radio, 15/10/07

A identidade da rádio do futuro define-se pelo discurso

«Meditsch defende que a identidade do rádio na era eletrônica se dá pela especificidade de seu discurso, não importando se a difusão da mensagem é feita pela forma tradicional (AM, FM) ou por outros suportes de transmisão como o satélite, a Internet» (Baumworcel, in MEDITSCH, org, 2005: 340) 

Criar a palavra após o conceito

«(...) é necessário ainda criar a palavra após o conceito» (Gaston Bachelard, in MEDITSCH, org, 2005: 130)

Sobre as novas tecnologias

Se se pensar - hoje - numa ideia (tecnologia?) como o Pandora.com, poder-se-á pensar que, mais do que o software em concreto, essa ideia poderá ser a rádio do futuro - a dos conteúdos personalizados. É óbvio que a tecnologia (o software) não só não vai desaparecer como até evoluirá. Mas - a esta distância - que relevância terá no futuro? será apenas um dos muitos programas disponíveis para descarregarv e usar (ou seja, terá uma utilização minoritária) ou irá marcar o futuro daquilo que hoje ainda se chama rádio (o pós-rádio)?

As previsões sobre o peso e influencia da tecnologia num futuro tão incerto como o futuro são sempre incertas

A era electrónica não traz a democratização?

«A ilusão de que a era eletrônica traga necessariamente consigo a democratização do acesso, da produção e da distribuição do conhecimento é um engano corrente que a observação do percurso do rádio informativo ajuda a elucidar» (MEDITSCH, 1999:278).

A rádio precisa dos telemóveis

«This move by Nokia is another wake-up call for broadcast radio.  While there may be long-term value in introducing something totally new to the gadget world - that is, HD Radio - it is even more imperative that radio find its way into existing technologies.  In the case of mobile phones, these are gadgets that are far more than just phones.  They are lifelines, fashion statements, photo albums, texting devices, alarm clocks - and people don't leave home without them.

As radio loses its grip on portability to these devices and iPods, wouldn't it be wonderful if AM/FM stations could easily and conveniently be accessed by cell phones?»

fonte: «The Swiss Army Phone», 9/01/07, Jacoblog

Youtube lidera pesquisas na internet

«Segundo os dados do estudo Netpanel da Marktest relativos aos primeiros nove meses do ano, a expressão youtube continua a ser a mais pesquisada pelos portugueses na internet. A expressão sexo já não está entre as 10 mais procuradas. Entre Janeiro e Setembro de 2007, a expressão youtube foi a mais pesquisada na internet, por 683 mil portugueses de 4 e mais anos quando navegaram na internet em suas casas, um valor que representa 22.6% dos internautas nacionais. Este valor significa que mais do que um em cada cinco internautas faz pesuisas na internet usando esta expressão. Hi5 foi a segunda expressão com mais pesquisas, realizadas por 529 mil internautas, 17.5% do universo e gmail foi a terceira expressão mais procurada, por 417 mil utilizadores únicos, 13.8% dos internautas.» fonte: «Youtube lidera pesquisas na internet», Marktest.com, 9 de Outubro de 2007

«Rádio na internet: potencial é grande, ouvintes, poucos»

«Spring 2007 data shows less than 1% of diaries contain listening to Internet radio. But when listeners do tune-in online, they seem to favor local stations. In Fall 2006 66% of diary-keepers went to a webcast from a station they could also hear over the air. But they’re not replacing FM or AM with online —78% say they listened to the station via both mediums. According to Arbitron, 45% of stations are now streaming»

fonte: «Internet radio: Potential is great, listeners are few» Inside Radio 9/10/07
 

Ramsey: «(...)are you as alarmed as I am that so few radio stations actually have an online stake in their future? Granted, streaming the audio is not the only way to plant a flag online. But if distributing your content online isn't a main reason to BE online, then you need to go back to square one.»

Cuidado com as previsões sobre tecnologia

«Na rádio informativa, a etapa da individualização só serâ alcançada com a viabilização a nível comercial das tecnologias interativas atualmente em desenvolvimento, que poderão permitir que o ouvinte escolha não apenas os programas, mas até as notícias que lhe interessa ouvir. Uma etapa intermediária de fragmentação, mais avançada do que a atual, será possibilitada nos próximos anos, com a tecnologia da rádio digital (digital audio broadcasting), que permitirá a existência de um maior número de emissoras no espectro de rãdiofrequência» (Meditsch, 1999: 85)