In order for you to get your music or voice (your broadcasts) streamed out over the Internet, you need to align yourself with companies that specialize in making that happen. Companies that are liaisons between you and your Internet radio station website where visitors can go to listen … even from their mobile devices and other applications such as The Winamp Media Player, The VLC Media Player, and others.
Companies that will receive your stream (music or voice) from home (using SAM Broadcaster, for example) and pass it on to your website and the other devices I and applications I mentioned in the first paragraph.
Companies that will allow you to automate your radio station 24/7 on their servers. And, when you decide to do a live broadcast from home, they automatically detect that is what you want to do and “kicks” your remote “AutoDJ” off online. Conversely, when you are finished broadcasting live, their system detects that you have gone “offline” and it automatically “re-enables” your “AutoDJ” to play the songs loaded up in it. Your listeners will not experience “dead air” because your live broadcast is cached and the first song (or Station ID) queued up in your “AutoDJ” smoothly fades in.
These companies are called Stream Host Providers. There are many of them. Some good and reliable. Some are crappy. I have been with a few.
The best, in my opinion, is Live365.
They give you everything that allows you to get a radio station up and running in less than an hour. (Depending on how fast you can get songs uploaded to it). They even take care of your licensing so your station is legal.
Here is a taste of what you get with Live365 …
- Low-cost stream-host packages (paid monthly)
- A 7-day free trial
- Station Management Tools
- An Auto DJ that will build a DMCA compliant playlist for you
- An easy to use Dashboard
- Event Scheduling
- Playlists Creation Tools
- Clockwheel Creation Tools
- Song titling and Album Art
- A website page on their domain where listeners can listen to your stream.
- Radio Station Monetization.
- Listener statistics
- Licensing taken care of for you
- Entry into their radio station directory
Live365 covers your listeners in the USA (through SoundExchange, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC), in Canada (through SOCAN and Re: Sound), and in the UK (through PPL and PRS for Music).
Your station will be in front of a growing audience on the Live365 Radio Network.
You can check out Live365 stream host packages here.
