[BC] Some economics of streaming

[Alex Hartman]

$40k/mo Net... They gross around 55. In the UK, they don't have to
deal with the money hungry unions like we do, thus their royalties
aren't even close to what ours are. They even buy time on
TV/Satellite/Radio over there to advertise these streams, that's how
they're getting the word out. And of course, a lot of the content
these stations "air" are locally produced content (electronic music is
pretty big over there), thus no royalties involved.

These stations are also "on location" at events, streaming live
audio/video sometimes and in the communities at large. Again, it's a
mindset thing. Bandwidth, contrary to popular belief, is relatively
cheap at the wholesale level. I know a guy in Chicago who is chomping
6Gbit/s 24/7 and only paying around 20k/mo for it. So, 100Mbit for me
to buy from him per month is around $200, next to nothing compared to
a power bill. Tack on a hundred bucks a month for a dedicated
colocated server to host them, and i'm off to the races. Now
SE/ASCAP/BMI fees notwithstanding, the cost of entry seems pretty low,
but like you said, a billboard in the ocean must be looked for... Or
you do massive marketing campaigns on several levels.

Again, it's a mindset issue, not a technology issue.

Pandora has a large pitfall. It's a Jukebox. No personality, no
localism, no nothing. It's an online iPod of songs you didn't buy, and
you might not like. Slacker, same thing. Some people do like the
interactions with people, interviews with the artists, etc. My streams
i run for the Oshkosh air show typically see around 1 million unique
listeners per year with a TSL of over 2 hours. The 1 week of the year
we are on-field for the show, i typically see around 70-110k people
connected over the week, about 15k per day, but the TSL is huge,
upwards of 4-6 hours. Again, local origination, no royalty problem. I
sell underwriting on it, bandwidth is donated in exchange for the
underwriting, and everything from there on out is cash money for my
little radio station one week a year. Granted it's not a lot of money,
around $2k/yr, but it's enough to get me by and pay for the hardware
on the streams the rest of the year.

I've been sticking my fingers in computers for the better part of 20
years, i just understand them. I'm kind of new to this marketing
thing, and even the radio thing comparatively. It's not a 100+ year
old technology like radio is, but the basic concept is the same. Even
if your potential audience is global, just like any other small
business you have to start somewhere before you become a globally
recognized name. (Apple? Microsoft? Clear Channel? CBS?)

You can't just jump in here and expect the whole world to like what
you have, or even the small town to like it, but hey, everyone starts
somewhere. :)

--
Alex Hartman