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This made me try to calculate something. If you're a radio station and want to allow your listeners to choose each song (in effect what you're saying), what wou

This made me try to calculate something. If you're a radio station and want to allow your listeners to choose each song (in effect what you're saying), what would be the cost per song listened? In the classic model it's very small, but this is only because the radio station pays per song bought, not per song listened. In the new model, the number of used songs would be much greater. How much exactly? This would probably depend on how many songs are chosen from the long tail. Anyways, what is clear is that the difference between a bought song (20-100c) and a listened song (0.0???c) is only a difference in freedom to choose. Sooner or later the two must come to a compromise.

Retric 17y ago
Last I checed a few years ago seting up a radio station to play songs over the radio costs 7c per user per song. So ~ 8 * 60 / 5 * 7 * 30 / 100 = 201$ / month for 8 hours a day. However, change that to 0.7c per song and it's reasonable. But, that's just a point of negotiation nobody actually pays that much. So finding the actual costs is rather hard.
- radu_floricica 17y ago
  Isn't this the cost per song played? If you have 1000 listeners the cost per user per song is 0.007c. But if you go and try the "request" approach, then you have 1000 users requesting god knows how many songs. The trick is to manage to pay about as much as before (0.007c), but let each user choose what to listen instead of broadcasting the same song. Problem is, if two users want the same song, but 10 seconds one after the other, will you pay 7 cents or 14?
ErrantX 17y ago
The difference is that if you publish a playlist your not a radio station and so have to pay big royalties.
JimmyL 17y ago
Broadcast licensing music (at the broad level that you need for a radio station) is a non-intuitive thing, and hasn't really adapted to the modern broadcast model. If you purchase a "radio" license you can play anything, but only if you follow certain conditions - like making it difficult to make perfect copies, allowing minimal amounts of fast-forwarding, and not explicitly allowing the listener to pick songs (that's why Pandora does/did all that - not just for kicks). If you want a license that allows user choice - as in allowing you to specify which song you want to hear and then have it stream directly - it costs a hell of a lot more in licensing. Having said that, this calculation is applicable for ASCAP licensing; if you were willing to get access to less (for example, only from a specific label), you could probably get a slightly better deal.

Retric 17y ago

Last I checed a few years ago seting up a radio station to play songs over the radio costs 7c per user per song. So ~ 8 * 60 / 5 * 7 * 30 / 100 = 201$ / month for 8 hours a day. However, change that to 0.7c per song and it's reasonable. But, that's just a point of negotiation nobody actually pays that much. So finding the actual costs is rather hard.

radu_floricica 17y ago
Isn't this the cost per song played? If you have 1000 listeners the cost per user per song is 0.007c. But if you go and try the "request" approach, then you have 1000 users requesting god knows how many songs. The trick is to manage to pay about as much as before (0.007c), but let each user choose what to listen instead of broadcasting the same song. Problem is, if two users want the same song, but 10 seconds one after the other, will you pay 7 cents or 14?

ErrantX 17y ago

The difference is that if you publish a playlist your not a radio station and so have to pay big royalties.

JimmyL 17y ago

Broadcast licensing music (at the broad level that you need for a radio station) is a non-intuitive thing, and hasn't really adapted to the modern broadcast model. If you purchase a "radio" license you can play anything, but only if you follow certain conditions - like making it difficult to make perfect copies, allowing minimal amounts of fast-forwarding, and not explicitly allowing the listener to pick songs (that's why Pandora does/did all that - not just for kicks). If you want a license that allows user choice - as in allowing you to specify which song you want to hear and then have it stream directly - it costs a hell of a lot more in licensing. Having said that, this calculation is applicable for ASCAP licensing; if you were willing to get access to less (for example, only from a specific label), you could probably get a slightly better deal.