3.0.2 O consumo passivo

Afinal o iPod não é inimigo da rádio

A propósito da decisão da Apple de colaborar com as estações HD, eis as declarações de alguém com responsabilidade nas rádios dos EUA:

«Clear Channel President/CEO John Hogan said, "Apple has been a strong supporter of radio, previously making an FM tuner available for the iPod, and we view their support of HD digital radio as an enormous opportunity." Apple offers the iPod Radio Remote as an iPod accessory for $49.

Hogan continued, "With substantial gains in online and on-demand programming already under our belt, there should now be no doubt of radio's ability to constantly evolve and embrace new technology. The iPod is not a competitor to radio -- it is a collaborator in connecting with consumers on a continual basis."»

fonte: «Clear Channel Encodes For iTunes Song Sales Via HD Radio», Radio Ink, 07/09/07
 

iPod trabalha com HD (EUA)

«Apple has unveiled new technology that enables US high definition radio listeners to "tag" songs that they hear on FM stations for subsequent purchase via iTunes. iTunes Tagging technology, which was developed by Apple in conjunction with iBiquity Digital and major US radio broadcasting groups, was unveiled across the US this week together with the latest iPods.  Apple vice president of iPod product marketing Greg Joswiak said: "When a song plays on your HD Radio that you like, a simple push of a button will tag it and later give you the chance to preview, purchase, and enjoy it with iTunes and your iPod." The US initiative follows a similar scheme in the UK put together by UBC Media. The Cliq service displays the tracks playing on the radio and allows consumers to buy them immediately. Cliq is available on new DAB radio sets and also via Java enabled mobile phones. UBC Media chief executive Simon Cole welcomed the introduction of the iPod tag service: "This is great news for us and for the digital radio industry globally. "Importantly, it confirms our very strong and long-held belief that radio has a huge part to play in the future of digital music sales and that those sales represent new revenue opportunities for radio". »

fonte: «Apple launches radio tagging system», Broadcastnow.com, Yvette Mackenzie, 07/09/07

Mas, atenção, é preciso que as estações emitam um código hertziano: «and Clear Channel has already announced that it will encode all its FM HD broadcasts for the service». E ha tambem que garante, como se lê na newsletter da Inside Radio de 06/09/07 que: «Polk's HD Radio connection with the iPod will require stations to encode their HD signals to allow consumers to use the "tagging" feature for buying music on iTunes. Inside Radio has learned eight radio groups have already committed to encoding. Insiders say this alliance between radio, receiver manufacturers and Apple puts radio on the forefront of music delivery and turns would-be competitors into collaborators»

Outra chamada de atenção: a tecnologia não permite a compra, mas apenas marcar determinadas músicas, que poderão ser compradas, quando se ligar o iPod ao computador (ou seja, depois). «Well, it's not exactly a "push-to-buy" function... it's more of a "push to 'bookmark,' so later, when you hook your iPod up to your computer, you're reminded of the songs you tagged, and then you can buy them through iTunes" service. In fact, the iPod itself is really only used to carry these "bookmarks" from the radio to the PC»

Já Mark Ramsey chama atenção para outra questão (com a tradicional ironia, quando fala de HD): «HD radio has been reduced to being a storefront for iTunes? So I listen to my HD radio, tag the songs I like, download them to my iPod, and listen to my iPod rather than my HD radio, right?And who makes the money in this transaction? The people who own the store, the people who license the music, or the station that tags the songs?»

(5.2) Quando poder está a rádio disponível para ceder?

«Nadie puede asegurar qué sucederá en el futuro, pues la audiencia tiene mucho todavía por decir. La variedad de plataformas de distribución de audio que tan sólo hemos apuntado supera el ámbito de la tecnología y plantea interrogantes sobre los límites de la escucha radiofónica, los nuevos contenidos y las potenciales nuevas audiencias, para redundar en definitiva en la posibilidad de nuevas líneas de negocio. Los oyentes empiezan ya a tomar sus propias decisiones en cuando a programación y sobre su entorno de escucha (USADO), aún siendo evidente que los productores de esta industria cultural todavía mantienen el control sobre los contenidos. Sirva como ejemplo, entre otros, el podcasting, gracias al cual los individuos eligen contenidos, no emisoras, lo cual plantea ciertas dudas sobre las formas de identificación y diferenciación de empresas o el control de los contenidos»

fonte: BONET, Montse, «La radio digital, estándares tecnológicos y plataformas de distribución», Portal de la Comunicación In-Com-UAB, A modo de conclusión

Riscos e oportunidades: Os novos iPods terão ligação wifi? E a rádio?

Mark Ramsey alerta para os riscos e as oportunidades para a industria classica de rádio:

«This could work in one or both of two ways: Either you would be able to buy and download songs via WiFi (most likely) or you would also be able to stream or cache content via the iTunes strreaming "radio" channels (perhaps less likely - since a station streamed or cached on an iPod is not a song purchased, thus making the transaction less profitable for Apple. On the other hand, anything that drives the purchase of iPods is more profitable than anything that drives the purchase of songs). The ability to stream iTunes stations means, of course, that YOUR station could be one of those. But your 30 market competitors just became 3,000 worldwide competitors. And counting. (...) This is an obvious evolution for the iPod - WiFi is already popping up on iPod alternatives - and makes them even more of a substitute for radio than they've been in the past since any iPod could be updated wirelessly and on the fly. And anything which makes an mp3 player easier to use and more valuable to own makes it a more potent radio substitute. As I have said many times in the past, stations which live and die on a steady diet of music will be facing stiff competition from devices like these over the long run.
When these devices do not need a computer and feature a music discovery component, that's functionally equivalent to the best music radio station you can imagine: One which matches your tastes exactly.»

É isto que a rádio vai deixar de ser...

«Apesar de o fonógrafo ter elevado a música a mais do que um simples desempenho, foi a rádio que criou o ídolo pop. Nos anos 40 e 50, o programa 'Your Hit Parade' tornou-se um evento das noites de sábado, anunciando-se como 'uma classificação rigorosa e autêntica do gosto dos EUA pela música popular'. Depois, com o aparecimento e atracção da juventude pelo rock'n'roll e pelo R&B, chegaram as listas de músicas elaboradas por personalidades e a celebridade dos DJ de rádio. Na década de 50, Alan Freed e Murray "the K" Kaufman ajudaram a transformar a rádio na mais poderosa máquina de criação de sucessos musicais que o mundo alguma vez conheceu» (Anderson, 2007: 31)

Castells e a rádio (optimismo e a net)

«A rádio está a viver um renascimento, e está a transformar-se no meio de comunicação mais difundido do mundo» (Castells, 2004: 226)

«As emissoras de rádio estão a experimentar um grande auge na Internet, tanto as que emitem através de ondas como as que o fazem só através da rede. A lista de emissoras de rádio nos EUA, elaborada pelo MIT, indica que há mais de 10.000 na Internet. Há dois factores determinantes nesta transformação. Por um lado, a dificuldade de satisfazer o interesse pelos assuntos locais a uma escala global, fora do alcance das redes locais de informação. Se quer saber o que se passou na sua cidade a partir do outro extremo do mundo, só a Internet pode proporcionar-lhe essa informação, tanto em formato texto (jornais locais) como em formato áudio (emissoras de rádio locais). Portanto, a liberdade para ultrapassar a cultura global em busca da identidade local própria é possível graças à Internet, uma rede global de comunicação local. Po outro lado, o êxito comercial experimentado pela rádio resultou no seu controle oligopolítico por parte de grandes conglomerados mediáticos em cada país - como consequência directa da desregulação, que na realidade resultou em muitos outros sectores da economia) numa concentração cada vez maior. Assim, enquanto a rádio está dirigida ao local (você precisa de conhecer o estado do trânsito da sua cidade e não de outro lugar), o seu conteúdo está cada vez mais empresarializado e homogeneizado. As emissoras de rádio alternativas, de alcance local, encontram na Internet uma forma barata e fácil de emitir, sem ter que depender da concessão de licenças de transmissão, limitadas pela capacidade do espectro» (Castells, 233) 

Traduzir e legendar o que diz a rádio (em simultâneo)

«HANNOVER - Quem precisa ouvir notícias de rádio e TV em línguas desconhecidas pode ver a luz no fim do túnel em pouco tempo. A empresa austríaca SAIL LABs, especializada em inteligência artificial e linguagem, criou um software, o ROSIDS (Rapid Open Source Intelligence Deployment System), que ataca o problema de frente. O ROSIDS produz legendas tanto de rádio e TV quanto de dados da internet através de um sistema de reconhecimento automático da fala. O que se diz é transcrito na linguagem de preferência em tempo real. O programa foi premiado na CeBIT, feira de tecnologia da Alemanha. A qualidade da tradução ainda não foi avaliada por INFO.»

fonte: «Software traduz rádio e TV com legenda no ato», Info on line, Quarta-feira, 21 de março de 2007

 

«É como um iPod, só que as baterias nunca se esgotam» (programar como um...)

«Radio industry consultants, explicitly pandering to the millions of people perpetually zoned into the permanent shuffle of their own music collections, have tried to answer this challenge with the first major new broadcast format in years. It is dubbed "Jack'. The name comes from the buddy-buddy moniker assigned to the ocasional voice-over interspersed between tunes - though some staions call their voices Bob or Hank or Dave or Max. Instead of ticking to a playlist of a couple of dozen carefully chosen songs, a Jack station draws on a selection of hundreds, spanning several decades and multiple genres. The unofficial motto of Jack is «If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. "The almost anything - goes eclecticism of the format, sometimes called adult hits, seems to appeal to listeners accustomed to scanning through thousands of MP3s at a time", explains a New York Times reporter. WCBS, the New York City station that adopted the format, puts it more blatantly in one of its promos: "It's like an iPod, only the batteries never run out". But why accept someone else's version of your iPod when you have the real thing?» (Levy, 2006: 248) 

estratégias para as páginas web das rádios

« (...) For many listeners, their favorite radio station Web site is like home—literally, their home page... "...Rocco Macri, president and founder of Promosuite, a software and interactive services provider for radio... says, 'your Web site is an opportunity to build a relationship with listeners. The first thing you need to do is to give them an incentive to give you personal information. The best way to accomplish this is to offer many different entry points. And your best opportunity to get listeners to give you information is the first time they sign up.”

"These entry points include loyal listener clubs, Web site contesting, text messaging alerts, Web site surveys and music testing...

"One of the most common uses of a database is e-mail marketing. Stations also use databases to do online music testing and perceptual studies. Previously, direct marketing was conducted through the mail and was a costly option. With an e-mail database, the cost is much more efficient, if there is cost at all. And you can reach listeners more consistently..."More recently, with Web sites becoming a greater generator of revenue for companies, the database can also help sales teams sell Web site advertising."»

fonte: Radio&Records, via RAIN, «Programming station web sites keeps AM/FM listeners on line», 27/02/07

Procurar integrar a rádio nas novas plataformas

«THE BBC is in talks with technology companies to develop a plug-in device that turns MP3 players into digital radios. While the BBC last night refused to name its potential partners, Apple, maker of the iPod, is understood to be one. The device would be a small tube containing a DAB digital radio chip that clips on to an MP3 player. Users of the iPod already use tiny bolt-on transmitters, such as the iTrip, to play their MP3 collections through car radios. BBC officials stressed last night that talks were in their early stages. However, the corporation believes part of its public service mission is to make digital radio as available as possible. Simon Nelson, controller of radio and music interactive at the BBC, said: "We need to ensure there are devices that can enable people to listen to radio - especially on something they already carry around." The BBC is also looking at a digital plug-in that could work with car radios. Apple recently signed deals with Mazda, Ford and General Motors, which will manufacture 2007 models with a docking system for iPods»

fonte: Scotsman, Britain's 'wired generation' shuns traditional media for a life online, 11/08/06 FERGUS SHEPPARD

A rádio está a tirar partido? A reagir? (telemóvel)

«(...) For younger audiences, daily entertainment options now include visits to online sites like YouTube, and video has become part of radio's outreach strategy. WKST's Web site, for example, features on-demand music videos in addition to podcasts of some of its "Morning Freak Show" bits. Younger listeners are using cell phones as the new request line connection, text-messaging song requests to their favorite radio stations instead of phoning them in. Some cell phone companies now offer the capability to see a radio station's recent playlist, download audio or take part in contests. A terrestrial station's cyberspace presence has become an important programming tool. "We're really tuned into the audiences that utilize our sites" says Clear Channel's Rohm. "We know who they are. They tell us what they want. We've begun to develop a tremendous amount of proprietary content. In a variety of platforms, we're trying to make the best entertainment value to consumers. No matter how much on the go they are, we're accessible to them." "What comes out of the speakers over your radio is the most important thing," adds CBS Radio Pittsburgh's Clark. "But there is content that comes out of those speakers that people might want to hear again, at a more convenient time. Making a lot of our content available in short Webcast form is going to be an important part of the future."

fonte: «Radio competes against downloads, file-sharing, satellite broadcasts», Wednesday, January 10, 2007, Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A rádio resistirá sempre?

«Historically, radio has been good at adapting. When Franklin Roosevelt gave his “fireside chats”, radios were in the living room and families gathered round them during prime time. Then television came along, and radios migrated to the car for use during rush hours. Podcasting may herald yet another migration, to a place and context yet to be determined»

fonte: «Heard on the street», Economist, Apr 20th 2006

Uma rádio a criar canais de música na net

Até agora tivemos empresas fora da rádio a criar canais de música em streaming (PAndora, Cotonete, LAst Fm, Yahoo); agora é a vez da rádio criar ela própria esses espaços, integrando-os. Diz PAula Cordeiro: «O projecto procura fazer frente e assumir-se como uma alternativa ao sucesso da Last.fm e representa, de acordo com o director de marketing da Xfm, uma primeira fase da estratégia que o grupo vai desenvolver, no sentido da criação de serviços de rádio personalizados e interactivos. Será que a rádio está finalmente a perceber que o caminho é o da ligação dos seus ouvintes numa comunidade online de partilha de interesses, com serviços personalizados e interactivos?...» (Net fm).

«The move comes as GCap, the UK’s largest commercial radio broadcaster, is looking to interactivity and social networking tools to help it offset declining ad revenues and respond to the popularity of online radio outfits like last.fm.» («XFM to launch personalised internet radio station», e-consultancy)  

O que a rádio tem de bom é o que está entre as músicas

diz Mark Ramsey:

«(...) In a 1,000-person national study that his company did of people ages 12 through 54, just 11 people said they didn't listen to radio. "That's not altogether different than what Arbitron shows," he says. In fact, the national ratings service's numbers "are a little higher than that. But, still, more than 90 percent of people listen to the radio." He says a lot of people – in radio, other media and even in the audience – think that radio is like an iPod on shuffle. But he disagrees. "One of the key things that makes radio different from all these others and makes it stand out, and valuable, is the fact that there's stuff between the songs that people value," he says. "In fact, the loyalty to the stations, preference for those stations, is driven very much by what's between those songs. It's about connecting with other people. "That you cannot find on an iPod, you cannot find it on Internet radio, and, to a large degree, you cannot, with certain exceptions like Howard Stern, find that on satellite." (...)». 

Several other factors favor radio in the media wars, he says. Commercial radio is free and easy to access. It's a place where people tend to turn for new music. And the radio usually comes with something else such as a car, a clock or a stereo.

Uma visão optimista sobre o futuro da rádio

Diz Kurt Hanson, do RAIN:

«Despite continuing press reports of radio's 'death,' the truth is that radio is in the middle of the most amazingly fertile period of innovation and growth in its history! 

In addition to the thousands of traditional AM and FM stations broadcasting in markets across the U.S., new forms of radio are now coming to consumers — to over 10 million people a week via satellites, to over 30 million people a week via their PCs, via cable TV systems, and increasingly via 3G and WiFi wireless signals that can be picked up on PDAs and cell phones — and soon on MP3 players and in-dash car audio system).» (fonte: «Book launch party at NAB Radio Show!»,

 

A rádio morre se não se adaptar ao segundo choque

«The UK's radio industry will die unless it embraces multiple platforms and technologies like mobile DAB, according to a BBC executive. In an interview with industry newspaper Broadcast, BBC controller of interactive radio and music Simon Nelson said he feared for the future of radio in Europe and across the world unless it embraces new technology.  He said he wants to see DAB chips in mobile phones and portable devices so that digital radio can be accessed by more people. "If we don't change quite radically as an industry we will die,” said Nelson. “It's imperative that we have a digital transition for radio, a transition across multiple platforms. Radio is the most flexible of all mediums and has the potential to exploit what is going on in technology."

fonte: «Radio must adapt to technology or die», Jane Hoskyn, vnunet.com 04 Aug 2006

Um futuro «cor de rosa» para a rádio?

«The internet delivers thousands of traditional stations and even more music streams and podcasts - downloads for personal MP3 players.

With these broad changes afoot, delegates at the International broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam have been considering what it all means for the future of radio.

They conclude that radio has a rosy future as it enters a new era, where sound is accompanied by pictures, textual information and other content.»

fonte: «Future looking 'rosy' for radio», BBC News, 11 September 2005, By Ian Piper and Chris McWhinnie
BBC Monitoring, in Amsterdam

 

Cenários sobre o futuro da rádio

feitos pelo «guru» norte-americano em marketing, Seth Godin:

«I see three or four alternative futures and they depend on some technology and marketing bets.

Scenario A: Everyone has Wi-Fi or WiMAX in their car. Once that happens, we're not talking about 200 XM radio stations, we're talking about 2 million, and all bets are off.

Scenario B: The aftermarket people get very focused on putting hard drives and iPod docks in cars. If that happens, again, radio is in trouble, because people are gonna bring their own pre- recorded content with them.

Scenario C: We end up in the satellite world, they figure out how to get a little bit more content through those pipes and we end up with 300 or 400 channels in the car. I had XM radio for a year to check it out. What's interesting is it doesn't matter how many stations there are, sooner or later you end up with four. And so the thing is, what do you have to do to be one of the four, and how do you live in a world where you've got hundreds of competitors a click away, but if you spend all your time not offending anybody, you'll never get anybody.

Scenario D: A hybrid of what we've got now: Traditional analog radio combined with HD combined with satellite. This scenario will, I think, not make anybody particularly happy, because the advertisers are going to be faced with an increasingly splintered audience that's hard to address, and as a result, it will be hard for that local car dealership or that politician to do a sensible radio buy»

fonte: «Seth Godin on Radio's Future», Hear2.com, por Mark Ramsey, 23/8/06

O formato «Jack» imita o iPod? (programar como um...)

«Mp3 files, iPods, Satellite Radio, SmartPhones, PDAs, and other technology is forcing commercial Radio to take a long, hard look at what it has become and how it can stay relevant. If a station pops up in your city named “JACK” or “DOUG” or any other number of names don’t be surprised. This past October 7, 2004, the former KFME-FM (105.1) in Kansas City became JACK-FM. Their slogan? “Playing What We Want”. The Susquehanna owned radio station has taken a cue from the changing challenges of what listeners really want: a library of music that offers real variety and an irreverant but fun attitude. That’s what you get from JACK. (...) The JACK stations are using the iPod “shuffle” metaphor. In other words: don’t expect the same 150 songs over and over again (...)» (fonte: Corey Deitz, (”Maybe Commercial Radio Didn’t Know JACK All These Years“, 20/7/05)

«ll it "whatever" radio, because the programming philosophy is to play hits from the 1970s, '80s and "whatever we feel like." It's part of the latest wave to hit broadcasting in the era of the iPod.  (...) "Take that and contrast it with the amazing success of the iPod. A lot of folks, myself included, have a diverse selection of music on the iPod and put it on shuffle." Put that format on radio and you have a new phenomenon. (...) The variety format is seen, in part, as a way to appeal to listeners used to loading their own iPods with music from different genres or to keep the loyalties of those thinking about switching to satellite. More than that, it's a mea culpa to music lovers who started tuning out as their favorite stations shrank their playlists in the 1990s, playing the same old songs hour after hour. The stations tell listeners "we play what we want" or "we play anything." But they're really carefully crafted to keep advertisers happy, observers say. Song choices target a lucrative but musically hard-to-define demographic, 25- to 54-year-olds who want to hear new music but not rap and bubblegum pop and who declare themselves too young to listen to the oldies (...)» («Random format comes to radio Stations try varied approach to please iPod generation«, San Francisco Chronicle, 31/05/05)

«A empresa Paragon Medias Strategies estudou o impacto do formato JACK nos ouvintes de seis mercados norte-americanos (Denver, Dallas ou Kansas City, entre outros três).
Foram analisadas 12 rádios que aderiram a esse formato e estas são algumas das conclusões:
- 63 % têm entre 25-44 anos;
- mas os 35-44 prevalecem (36%) sobre os 25-34 (27%)
- comparando com outros formatos, a sua fatia de 25-44 é a mais elevada;
- 54% são homens e 46 mulheres
- 8% são ouvintes com idades entre 18 e 24 anos;
- 45-54 anos: 20 por cento;
Conclusões aqui: http://www.paragonmediastrategies.com/rfax/111.pdf»

Mais aqui

Um software que grava da net e faz ficheiros de mp3

«RadioTracker operates under to allow users to stream practically any Internet radio station and automatically grab the music and write it to mp3 files for your iPod or any other digital player.

RadioTracker “rips” the music as it “listens” to the stations you choose either by: Genre, Favorites, or your “Wishlist”.

Finalized cuts are placed in separate folders by genre, artist, station if you choose or all in your main music directory.

RadioTracker has a built-in database of over 13,000 Internet radio stations (updatable) you can select from. You create your own Favorites list from the stations you’d like the software to rip from.» (Corey Deitz)

O software aqui (a pagar...)