A new spin
Internet streaming gives DJs freedom to play without a radio station
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It takes about a week of computer work in his Dorchester home for Tessil Collins to create the urban, gospel, classic soul, and jazz streams for his Internet radio station at www.sun-music.net. On nights and weekends, Collins uploads to his streaming media provider's server music that he gets from promoters or from his vast record collection. The tunes in the November urban stream ranges from "If You Leave," the tortured love song that unites Musiq Soulchild with Mary J. Blige, to "Chemical Reaction" by the up-and-coming soul singer-songwriter Chaz.
"It's a lot of work," says Collins, 56, a senior coordinator of the Arts, Media, and Communications Technology Industry Cluster for the Boston Public Schools, "and I do it all."
While most people rely on broadcast radio for their music, a growing number are turning to their computers for uninterrupted streams of songs. Collins runs his webcast independently, but many hobbyists choose to operate their stations by becoming paying members of Internet radio networks such as Live365 or Pandora. Internet radio listeners often hear artists who may never get radio airplay, and sometimes those artists ultimately achieve mainstream success.
Many believe that the fledgling Internet radio genre has the potential for exponential growth. According to an Arbitron/Edison Media Research report released this year, 33 million Americans listen to Internet radio each week. But some argue that Internet radio's development is being stunted by an increase in royalty rates that the Library of Congress's Copyright Royalty Board proposed last year, which would have more than doubled the old rate to 19/100 of a penny per song per listener by 2010.
The increase may not sound like much, but it would have made an already expensive hobby prohibitively so for some webcasters. Collins says SoundExchange, which collects royalties for digital music transmission, estimated that he would have had an annual minimum fee of $2,500 if the new royalty rates had stuck; he declined to say how much he was paying before the announcement. Copyright holders and Internet radio entities are negotiating the initially announced rates.
"Initially, I decided I was going to shut down my station," says Justin Scott, a 30-year-old Weymouth resident who started his emo, punk and ska station Angry Monkey Fight on Live365 two years ago, but has had stations at other sites for about 10 years. "I was concerned I was going to be nailed for previous fees. I got a lot of fan mail, had people donate money. There are a lot of people who want me to keep it going."
If the royalties issue is resolved, the number of Internet radio webcasters and listeners could rise dramatically. "If we can get this done in a logical and equitable way," says Paul Maloney, editor of the online Radio and Internet Newsletter, which has covered Internet radio for almost 10 years, "that will open things up. I think the potential is great."
SUN-MUSIC.NET
WEBSITE: www.sun-music.net
Hip urban soul, jazz fusion, classic soul, and gospel are the music genres on Tessil Collins's sun-music.net. His experience informs his station. Collins has been in the radio business since interning at WILD in high school; he also worked as a regional music marketing manager for RCA/A&M.
"He knows the really good old songs you don't hear on the radio every day," says Pamela Jones, 32, a Mattapan resident who began listening to sun-music.net two years ago at work and at home. "When I want to hear the R&B songs from the '80s and '90s, I can go there."
Collins started the website in 1999, after his dream of owning a traditional radio station fell through. He estimates he has an average of 1,000 to 5,000 listeners monthly from around the world. The website includes advertisements from
"There comes a point in time when you say, 'This is not cost effective,' " Collins says. "By that time I hope to have a radio property."
ANGRY MONKEY FIGHT
WEBSITE: www.angrymonkeyfight.com
LIVE365 ADDRESS: www.live365.com/stations/djknockout
MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/angrymonkeyfight
Justin Scott, 30, of Weymouth operates the emo, punk and ska station Angry Monkey Fight through Live365. The music stream, which Scott says attracts more than 200 listeners per day, has received an "editor's pick" citation from Live365.
Twice a month Scott, a data analyst for a market research firm, spends two hours updating his playlist. He devotes an hour daily to listening to submissions from music promoters, record labels, and fledgling bands. Since Live365 allows listeners to interact with webcasters, he also relies on fans. If Scott receives a suggestion to play a particular band, he'll listen to a cut to see if it's a good fit. He began playing Karate High School because a listener recommended the group. He didn't like the song suggested, but he did begin playing other cuts from the album. Scott will also remove songs to which listeners respond negatively. He most recently struck out when he added Copeland's cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun."
HITZ103.COM
MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/hitz103
WEBSITE: www.hitz103.com
Antwoine Alford was working as a weekend DJ at the downtown Boston club Aqua when he came up with the idea for Hitz103.com almost three years ago. He used the site to promote his DJ skills, but soon friends such as DJ Chubby Chub and DJ Dru Nyce wanted to get in on the action. Today Hitz103.com, based in Mattapan, attracts as many as 300 listeners a day clamoring to hear hip-hop and R&B, he says.
Alford has a live show at 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. DJ Al.Gee airs Mondays through Fridays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. DJ Big's program airs at 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. The project pays for itself since Alford charges the DJs fees to appear on the station.
Listeners chat online while the music streams. Aspiring musicians can upload their demos to Hitz103.com's website. The songs air daily at 10 p.m.
"Now I'm at the age where I need to start giving back to the community," says Alford, 32, who sees Hitz103.com as a way to keep kids off the violent streets, "but there are not people like that anymore. I think that's why the young ones are confused and don't know which way to go."
ROCK FROM THE BEACH
LIVE365 ADDRESS: www.live365.com/stations/jgrandmont
WEBSITE: www.rockfromthebeach.com
Buzzard Bay's Jay Grandmont grew up listening to Top-40 and progressive rock stations. "Music has always been my passion," he says.
Eight years ago he began Rock From the Beach on Live365. The music focuses on classic rock artists such as The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and John Mellencamp, and contemporary artists who mirror the genre such as Coldplay or Jack Johnson.
This isn't a doppelganger of the classic rock stations on broadcast radio. Grandmont's idea is to include songs that people won't hear on mainstream radio. He'll dig deeper into catalogs to play not only the Who but also tunes by lead singer Roger Daltrey.
Grandmont works for Cape Cod Broadcasting in Hyannis, announcing the news and weather on Sundays. Rock From the Beach, ranked 17th among Live365's 353 classic rock stations, allows him to take his radio aspirations one step further.
"I've always had a dream of owning and programming my own radio station," Grandmont, 53, says. "This seemed like a good way to start."
