The different types of broadcasting

I think it's very, very important to distinguish the different types of broadcasters.

Traditional Radio Style: this would include simulcasters, and stations like SomaFM, Radio Paradies, DI.fm, SmoothJazz.com, etc. Internet stations that work just like an over the air station would; with all listeners receiving the same programming.

Custom Radio Style: This would be the Pandoras, Yahoo Music, Slacker.com, etc. People who run a player on the client end, and each user is getting a (mostly) custom channel.

(Here's where it gets confusing: AccuRadio has both a "traditional style" format for some of their channels (like the ones available through iTunes and Shoutcast), as well as their WindowsMedia streams that allow you to skip through the playlists.)

Subscription Services: Like Rhapsody or Napster. These are more like satellite channels, and should pay the same kinds of royalties. (I think most of us agree on that).

Then we have these other "radio" channels that seem to only be radio because of a legal loophole. Like Mercora.

Mercora, if you're not aware, is potentially bad for all other webcasters. Mercora is basically an on-demand p2p system, where each user is a "DJ" creating their own "radio" channel (in reality, just a playlist of files), and Mercora has a system that lets you search for and instantaneously play particular artists or songs. They've changed a bit since I last looked at them, but in reality they're not a radio station. I think the CRB's $500 minimum per channel was largely aimed at those kinds of uses, SoundExchange's John Simson has in the past doubted that they were properly operating under the compulsory licenses. It would be interesting to know if and how much they paid SX for 2006.

Here's a few relevant articles about Mercora:

Online listeners become their own DJs

``On Mercora, DJs-in-the-making download software that identifies all the songs on their computers. From there, they can build as many as five channels of music from their personal library. The channels are streamed on Mercora's Web site. Mercora has 1 million individual DJs, contributing 3.5 million to 4 million tracks. The top DJ gets 7,000 to 8,000 listeners a week, Sampath said.``

P2P radio morphing into free music search

``Mercora's increasing moves toward a nearly on-demand service have drawn scrutiny from Web radio licensing authorities, but as yet there are no indications that the company has gone too far. ``"We're looking at their more recent offerings to see if they're in compliance with the (law)," said John Simson, executive director of SoundExchange, the group that collects and distributes royalties from Web radio stations. "We haven't come to a conclusion yet."

I am not deliberately trying to pick on Mercora but the way they seem to be exploiting loopholes is going to end up costing internet broadcasters, especially the more traditional ones.