3.4.3 Canais de streaming

Slacker, a nova next big thing do audio streaming?

«(...)The ad-driven beta program at www.slacker.com resembles Pandora. But when the full-fledged release becomes available in early summer, Slacker will have several components. Slacker was founded by former chief executives of Musicmatch and Rio, so it is only fitting that Slacker will offer a free software player, like the once-popular Musicmatch Jukebox, and sell a portable iPod-like device, like those Rio made. One twist is that, like Last.fm, the Slacker jukebox will enhance the radio stream by paying attention to the songs you choose. (D.J.’s will aid in programming as well.) Another twist is that, in addition to MP3s, the portable player will carry personalized radio streams that will be automatically freshened. For $7.50 a month, users get access to more features, but even if you do not pay, you will be able to buy the portable device and have access to free — though ad-rich — radio streams. Most radically, sometime this year Slacker says it will introduce a satellite receiver dock for the portable player. The Slacker team plans to blast individual song files to listeners from a satellite several times an hour. As each song is sent, the player itself will determine whether the song is a good fit for its particular user. If so, it will be saved. If not, it will be rejected. Because of the controversy over royalty rates, and because of its unique portable properties, Slacker made its own licensing deals directly with the four major music groups plus several hundred independent labels. Last.fm recently announced content deals with the Warner Music Group and EMI for tracks on its new, ad-free $3-a-month premium radio service.»

fonte: «A Radio Station Just for You», NYT, By WILSON ROTHMAN, March 29, 2007

Em busca da rádio pessoal

«Web sites like Pandora.com personalize the music you stream to your desk, while satellite radio offers portable listening but little personalized track choice. Slacker, a music service unveiled this week, hopes to merge the two concepts into something new: personal portable radio for the computer, car and coat pocket. Aimed in name and concept at the music lover who does not want to fritter away hours creating playlists, Slacker offers millions of songs grouped into radio stations by genre or artist. Music can be streamed on the Web using the company’s music player at www.slacker.com. To indicate their preferred types of music and bands, listeners can flag tracks they like and dislike. Slacker has a free version of the service with advertising, as well as an ad-free edition with enhanced personalization for $7.50 a month. It plans to release hardware offerings later this year. Portable devices will download songs over a Wi-Fi connection and store them for later playback, while car stereo units will receive music over a satellite link. The standard buck-a-song downloads are on the way as well.»

fonte: New York Times, «Now, a Radio Station for (Your Name Here)»,  J. D. BIERSDORFER, 15/07/07

«Slacker will release an iPod-like device this summer that will let you take your favorites with you — it stores a certain number of songs on the player. In the second half of the year, a car dock will go on sale that will receive updated radio information for the player via satellite signals. Because the online service is free, there are commercials and you can’t skip more than six songs. If you want total control and no ads, that’ll cost $7.50 a month, well below the $12.95 Sirius and XM charge. The company says it can afford the price because it isn’t paying for a dedicated satellite, like the other two. We’ve been listening to Slacker pretty much non-stop for the past day and love the song selection, channel choices and customization. The quality is about MP3 level, but much better than FM, and we didn’t experience any skipping or technical snags.

canais na internet (EUA) podem acabar por causa da nova lei dos direitos?

Continuam as ondas de choque provocadas pelo anuncio de novas tabelas no pagamento de direitos de autor para os canais de streaming (basicamente: os aumentos podem chegar a mais de 100 por cento; antes o valor era calculado por uma lei de 2002, cada rádio na net pagava, por musica e por ouvinte, 0,07 centimos; lei essa que deixou de valer em 2005; a nova proposta fala em aumentos -retroactivos - de 00,7 para 0,08 centimos de dolar, crescendo até atingir os 0,19 centimos em 2010; mais a taxa fixa anual minima de 500 dolares; é citado o exemplo da AccuRadio, com mais de 300 estações, que gerou em 2006 receitas de 400 mil dolares; terá de com esta proposta de lei 600 mil dolares em direitos)

Há que os que resistem, para contrariar: «Faced with last week's Copyright Royalty Board decision, which threatens to shutter the huge majority of Internet radio operations in the U.S., webcast audiences are rushing to respond, signing online petitions and calling the attention of their elected officials to the Webcasters' struggle. There are already a number of destinations for Internet radio listeners to support Webcasters in their fight against this latest ruling. Below is a list of sites where Webcasters and audiences alike can discuss the ruling, contact members of Congress, and generally contribute to helping to keep Internet radio online» e há os que fazem contas: «Larger services that offer thousands of channels, such as the free Pandora, are also facing a huge spike in royalty costs. Kurt Hanson, publisher of RAIN and CEO of AccuRadio, went so far as to speculate that Pandora, which is based in the United States, could "disappear" as a result of the new rates. Overseas competitors like Last.fm, which is based in London and removed from the board's restrictions, could easily claim Pandora's market share» (fonte: Wired News, By Eliot Van Buskirk 08:00 AM Mar, 06, 2007)

Na Business Week: «The decision, due to take effect sometime during the next two months, could raise royalty fees paid by some online radio stations more than tenfold—enough to put many smaller stations out of business, Hanson says. Currently, most small Webcasters have paid royalties calculated as a percentage of revenue. Under the new rule, those outfits will begin paying on a per-song, per-listener basis. "The more intensively an individual service is used and consequently the more the rights being licensed are used, the more the service pays, and in direct proportion to the usage," according to the 115-page ruling.  Here's what the change will mean for AccuRadio. The station employs six full-time staff members and records about $500,000 in annual sales, mostly from advertising. Of that, Hanson pays record labels about $50,000 in royalty fees. The rule change, which will impose fees retroactively, will jack up royalty fees to more than $600,000 for 2006. Other Webcasters will be in the same boat. "I don't think any of the operators would break even," Hanson says. "Internet radio is in danger of becoming extinct," shouts a headline posted on the company's Web site, urging listeners to sign a petition or send a message to Congress. "The rates are so high that they exceed 100% of most Webcasters' total revenues!"»

Sobre o Pandora

«So we have companies like Pandora, seeking to, as its founder, Tim Westergren, puts it, "understand the DNA of music'. His company, which now contracts with Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, AOL, and Tower Records to make music recommendations for their custamers, employs thirty "music analysts" with a minimum requirement of a four-year degree in music theory. Every time a song arrives in this musical DNA shop, an analyst will devote twenty to thirty minutes of intense concentration to identifying as many as our hundred distinct variables, or "genes". Just to capture the emotional metrics of the singing voice, there are thirty-two variables: things like timbre, vibrato, pitch, and range. "Any voice can be understood as the combination of these genes", says Westergren. When this system is applied to all the instruments as well as the traits of the song - tempo, amplitude, etc. - the analyst produces a précis. If done right, says Westergren, another analyst can look at and virtually play the whole song in his or her head. More to the point, using this Music Genome Project, you can automate what a disk jockey does to customize a set according to your tastes» (levy, 2006: 252) 

«And for people who don't have the time to go out and find music? There's Pandora, an online streaming music service that suggests new songs based on ones you already like. "We would like to be the best radio station in the world for everybody," claims Tim Westergren, the founder. Professional musicians at Pandora have spent the last six years analyzing songs based on 400 different musical attributes called the music genome project. "We have this DNA of music and when you come to Pandora you type in the name of a song you like. Pandora takes a looks at that song's DNA and tried to find musical neighbours."» (http://www.cbc.ca/theend/radio.html)

Direitos sobre a música podem pôr em causa streaming (EUA)

«The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has announced its decision on Internet radio royalty rates, rejecting all of the arguments made by Webcasters and instead adopting the "per play" rate proposal put forth by SoundExchange(a digital music fee collection body created by the RIAA).
RAIN has learned the rates that the Board has decided on, effective retroactively through the beginning of 2006. (...) A "performance" is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 "performances" for each song it plays. The minimum fee is $500 per channel per year.  There is no clear definition of what a 'channel' is for services that make up individualized playlists for listeners.  For noncommercial webcasters, the fee will be $500 per channel, for up to 159,140 ATH (aggregate tuning hours) per month.  They would pay the commercial rate for all transmissions above that number.

Participants are granted a 15 day period wherein they have the opportunity to ask the CRB for a re-hearing.

Within 60 days of the final determination, the decision is supposed to be published in the Federal Register, along with any technical corrections that the Board may wish to make.

Within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register, it can be appealed (but only by the participants) to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.»

comentário de Kurt Hanson (RAIN): «Because a typical Internet radio station plays about 16 songs an hour, that's a royalty obligation in 2006 of about 1.28 cents per listener-hour. In 2006, a well-run Internet radio station might have been able to sell two radio spots an hour at a $3 net CPM (cost-per-thousand), which would add up to .6 cents per listener-hour. Even adding in ancillary revenues from occasional video gateway ads, banner ads on the website, and so forth, total revenues per listener-hour would only be in the 1.0 to 1.2 cents per listener-hour range. That math suggests that the royalty rate decision — for the performance alone, not even including composers' royalties! — is in the in the ballpark of 100% or more of total revenues. —KH»

fonte: RAIN, webcast royalty rate decisiob announced» 2/03/07

ACT : já há quem decrte o fim da rádio pela internet: «The royalty increases are so high that many Web-based radio stations will have to go out of business or dramatically increase advertising to cover the royalty fees. "It's the end of Internet radio as we know it," one broadcaster fumed. "The RIAA wants to put us all out of business."»

Canais de streaming cada vez mais poderosos

Chama-se Oboe Free

«MP3tunes is announcing free, unlimited storage music lockers for everyone. Oboe - our music locker technology - has been out for more than a year. We've refined the process and are ready to invite the world to come create an Oboe music locker. Sign-up now to realize the benefits of online storage. Here's a Q & A about Oboe Free, our new music locker with free unlimited storage.

Q: Why is the Oboe Free music locker a significant development?
A: This is the first time a free music locker with unlimited storage has been made available. Users sign-up with a valid email address and then load their Oboe Locker with their music using the free Oboe Sync software for Linux, Macintosh or Microsoft Windows. Once loaded, users stream their music from any browser or from a growing list of mobile devices - and can also sync to another computer. Oboe Sync will even add cover art for all your albums at the end of the sync process. We've also added our number one feature request of scheduling so a locker sync can happen in off-peak hours when your computer is normally idle. (...)»

fonte: «Unlimited Storage Free Music Lockers», February 12th, 2007

NOta: primeiro sinal: afinal não é ilimitado (alegadamente por excesso de adesão), apenas 1GB; depois: a ideia é venderem-nos um serviço «praemium»; é preciso optar pelo grátis; ao contrário de outros, exige pelo menos um software proprio, que tem de ser instalado no nosso computador

Podemos fazer o que quisermos com a música que «compramos»?

«Several U.S. senators have reintroduced legislation that would require some digital and streaming Internet radio stations to use digital-rights management technology if they acquire licenses through U.S. government-mandated copyright plans. According to opponents, the legislation would jeopardize TiVo-like audio recording devices, such as the Inno from XM Radio, as well as businesses like Live365 and ShoutCast, which stream radio over the Internet using the open MP3 format.

The Perform Act, which died in Congress last year, was reintroduced Jan. 11 by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. It requires satellite, cable TV, and Internet broadcasters to pay "fair market value" for digital music performances. It also requires "the use of readily available and cost-effective technology to prevent music theft," according to a press release from Feinstein's office. The law would apply to stations that license music from the government program created by Section 114 of the U.S Copyright Act.

It specifically allows some recording and time-shifting of radio. Consumers could record music by program, channel, or time period. "For example, if a listener chooses to automatically record a news station every morning at 9:00; a jazz station every afternoon at 2:00; a blues station every Friday at 3:00; and a talk radio show every Saturday at 4:00; that would be allowable. In addition, that listener could then use their recording device to move these programs so that all programs of the same genre are back to back," according to Feinstein. "What a listener cannot do is set a recording device to find all the Frank Sinatra songs being played on the radio-service and only record those songs," according to Feinstein. The RIAA welcomed the law. "Under the current system, satellite radio has been allowed to morph into a digital distribution service-- shorting the creators of music, displacing licensed sales, and threatening the integrity of the digital music marketplace in the process. We love satellite radio. But this is simply no way to do business. It's in everyone's best interest to ensure a marketplace where fair competition can thrive," the association said in a statement.

fonte: «U.S. Reintroduces Law Requiring DRM For Digital, Internet Radio». By Mitch Wagner, InformationWeek ,Jan 16, 2007 05:22 PM

Reacções:

«But the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge oppose the legislation. The bill would be a "backdoor assault on your right to record off the radio," the EFF said. The Perform Act would prohibit digital and satellite radio services from offering TiVO-like recording options, the EFF said. The Perform Act would prohibit streaming music formats that don't use DRM, such as the MP3 format used on several Internet radio services, including Apple Inc.'s iTunes streaming radio stations, said Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property lawyer at EFF. The bill sets a "bad precedent for our copyright laws," von Lohmann wrote on the EFF blog. "Over the course of a century, our copyright laws have responded to changing technology not with government technology mandates, but rather by letting new business models evolve ..." Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, said she agrees with parts of the bill that streamline music licensing fees. But the DRM provisions place limits on consumers, she said. "This bill looks to the past rather than to the future by limiting the ability of consumers to use material to which they have subscribed and by limiting future innovations in electronics," Sohn wrote on the Public Knowledge Web site. "It confuses a radio service, in which a consumer can only record what is currently being played, with a download service, in which consumers pick the material to download.» (fonte: Computerworld, «Groups criticize proposed music DRM legislation», 18/01/07)

Notas para o sucesso das emissões streaming de música

«(...) analysts say that streaming audio's defining promise will be personalization: empowering listeners to tailor their own content. "Personalization is a real hot button," says Kurt Hanson, publisher and editor of RAIN (Radio And Internet Newsletter). "The technology is there. It's very complex and no one's doing all of that right now. But different people are doing different pieces of it already."Personalization opens the door to new collaborations, just as the Internet has in other e-commerce arenas. A recording company, for example, could conceivably work with an Internet broadcaster to develop new releases tailored to the tastes of individual consumers»

fonte: «Streaming audio takes on radio challenge», Infoworld.com, 22/05/2000

Utilizadores do Pandora não querem publicidade

DE acordo com relatos diversos utilizadores do Pandora estão a reclamar pela introdução de publicidade on line antes das músicas. Como utilizador regular não só não me apercebi como até compreendo que o serviço tenha de ter contrapartidas, mas este texto remete sobretudo para uma característica da internet: quem utiliza de borla não quer começar a pagar...

«Pandora, a VC-funded Internet radio property that garnered huge amounts of media and popular attention in 2006 with its unique personalization and recommendation engine, is now coming under fire from fans who aren't pleased with the service's recent addition of in-stream audio ads.
The nine second audio ads, which according to Pandora CTO Tom Conrad, are being heard by "10%" of Pandora's audience, are being met by many bloggers with an overwhelmingly negative response.»

Como diz Kurt Hanson, do RAIN: «As noted in Dan's article above, they're vociferously objecting to the presence of a single nine-second-long audio spot per day! And if Pandora's venture capitalists are ever going to recover the more than $20 million they've sunk into the venture to date, Pandora is going to have to run a lot more advertising than that. (Or be more succesful with subscriptions than other webcasters have been.)--KH»

fonte: «Pandora's problem: fans won't tolerate in-streaming advertising», RAIN, 11/01/07

Como funcionam os canais de audio streaming

«(...) Básicamente, un sistema de recomendación se parece a un motor de búsqueda como los de Google o Yahoo, pero enfocado a contenidos de un tipo determinado. En el caso de la música, estos protocolos se unen al reproductor multimedia del ordenador, sea el que sea, y registran qué tipo de temas se escuchan y con que frecuencia. Paulatinamente, el software busca estilos musicales similares a los que gustan al usuario y los incorpora a la programación. El oyente puede vetar o definir determinados géneros en función de lo que le apetezca escuchar en cada momento. Este tipo de sistemas son especialmente atractivos para los jóvenes que se muestran muy activos en la escucha de música.(...) Muchos considerarían una intromisión casi orwelliana el hecho de que un programa espíe el tipo de música que escuchamos, pero, en realidad, los sistemas de búsqueda no saben qué tema concreto está sonando o cuál es su procedencia. El corazón de estos protocolos es un programa inteligente que analiza el sonido de la música en función de parámetros como la intensidad, el ritmo, el timbre, la progresión de los acordes o las octavas.

El software registra cada dato y los compara, mediante ecuaciones, con otras composiciones musicales en busca de similitudes. El desarrollo de estos programas inteligentes ha avanzado mucho en la última década y ha traspasado el umbral de los consumidores privados para llamar la atención de la industria discográfica. Numerosas emisoras de radio ya utilizan sistemas de recomendación para ayudarse en la programación diaria de un menú musical variado»

fonte: el comercio digital, Radios que escuchan, 25/10/06

Canais de música (tipo rádio) na internet

«Depender de amigos ou de lojas de CD para descobrir novas bandas já faz parte do passado. Uma revolução que começou com o site de relacionamentos MySpace (www.myspace.com) agora ajuda os fãs de música a aumentar a lista de artistas favoritos. Três sites – Pandora (www.pandora.com), Last.fm (www.last.fm) e TagWorld (www.tagworld.com) – aperfeiçoaram a idéia e criaram ferramentas para ajudar as pessoas a conhecer músicas novas.

Com mais de 66 milhões de usuários, o MySpace foi o primeiro a criar uma seção especial de música. Qualquer artista pode fazer um perfil e colocar canções e clipes para download, além poder criar blogs e dar informações sobre álbuns e sobre as datas dos próximos shows. Os fãs podem ficar "amigos" dos artistas ou postar comentários. Ter uma página no MySpace Music virou quase obrigação para as bandas norte-americanas e européias. (...)

Os sites que aprimoraram a idéia do MySpace são em inglês, mas o Pandora é mais fácil de usar. Desenvolvido em Flash,logo na tela inicial, você digita o nome de uma banda ou música do seu gosto, e o site cria uma estação de rádio com canções parecidas, porém, de artistas diferentes. Se a seleção do Pandora não agradou, você clica em "Don’t Like it". Mas, se você adorou vá em "Like it". O acervo é grande: estão cadastradas 400 mil músicas de 20 mil artistas. (...)

Além do Pandora, o Last.fm, que está na web desde 2003, também quer ajudar as pessoas a encontrar novos sons. A diferença é que, depois de criar um perfil no site – uma comunidade similar ao Orkut –, você pode baixar um programa que funciona como um plug-in no tocador de música que você usa no PC, como o iTunes ou o Windows Media Player. (...) Depois de 200 músicas ouvidas e enviadas, o Last.fm “encontra” pessoas que ouviram as mesmas canções que você. O perfil dessas pessoas, que o site chama de neighbours (vizinhos), aparece na sua página. (...)

Com tantas possibilidades , fica até difícil lembrar de todas as bandas que você viu em um só dia. Mas, o outro site, o TagWorld, com mais de 1 milhão de usuários, tenta resolver esse problema. As músicas das bandas que você encontrou e gostou podem ser guardadas em um arquivo do seu perfil chamado My Tunes. Com isso, você pode ouvir as favoritas sem ter que entrar na página das bandas. Outra vantagem é o player chamado de Music Discovery Engine. Não é preciso instalar nada. Mesmo sem ter cadastro, você escuta as bandas que quiser. O problema é que o repertório não é grande e não há muitos artistas diferentes.»

fonte:Filipe Serrano, «Sites acham novos sons para você», Estadão, 03/04/2006

Isto é outra coisa que não rádio!

«Internet radio stations have long been popular because of the wide variety of music they offer and the relative lack of commercials. But for those who crave musical playlists tailored to their personal tastes, it might be difficult to find a service more useful than Last.fm.

Last.fm is an online radio site -- but with a twist. It works hand-in-hand with Audioscrobbler, a small software plug-in that works with popular software music players like Winamp and iTunes. The plug-in scrutinizes the music files on users’ computers and sends the information to a server. From that, Last.fm creates a personalized Internet radio station based on each user’s taste.

fonte: «Internet Radio, Without Drudgery, wired News, 2/8/04