We catch up on news that’s important to podcasters and broadcasters. Soundcloud received emergency investment to keep running, but is it still a sustainable host for podcasts? The podcast patent troll is totally dead, finally. And, responding to reader and listener questions, Paul reviews the history of proposals to create a low-power AM radio service […]
We dig into the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision on new royalty payments for internet radio, looking for clues about the future of small and medium-sized webcasters. In our final review of the 20th anniversary of the Telecom Act of 1996, Matthew Lasar explains how the Act and the political environment of the time affected community […]
I presume that most 8tracks playlist makers got the same message in their email boxes on Friday. By the end of this summer, 8tracks users will no longer be able to access the SoundCloud API. That means that, as of Saturday, July 24, 8trackers won’t be able to search for and add SoundCloud tunes straight […]
I spend a lot of time rummaging around SoundCloud. Some of this energy goes into following the service’s engagingly sporadic use by community radio stations. WFMU in New Jersey, for example, has a SoundCloud page titled WFMU Marathon. “Share an MP3 only (for size & compatibility) telling us what you love about WFMU,” the account requests. […]
If you received a new Sonos then you’ve got a great portal for listening to radio, music and podcasts with nice sound quality. This is our recommendation guide to the sources available on the system. I’ve tried every one of them and provide a short capsule review for each. In addition to sound quality and […]
I received an email from 8tracks.com on Saturday with the subject header “You made an impact in someone’s life with your playlist!” It announced that yet another 8tracks subscriber has “liked” one of my lists, and continued: Hello Matthew, A powerful bonding moment just happened: 1 person liked your mix! The world can be a […]
WQXR-FM’s Meet the Composer podcast is now around half a year old, and it has already become a wonderful resource. I just finished listening to the latest episode, focusing on the Brazilian composer Marcos Balter. “As a composer, [Balter] writes an almost unthinkable amount of music, and not all of it works,” observes MTC host and […]
OMG I am totally, happily lost, wandering about NASA’s new SoundCloud channel, which is full of amazing audio. Check out this set of tracks, which begins with “Chorus Radio Waves Within Earth’s Atmosphere”: Next comes a Sputnik beep, a sample of lightening on Jupiter, and some Saturn based radio emissions from Casini. You can also […]
Several weeks ago I gave a rather bad grade to SoundCloud’s “explore” classical channel, but I’ve been checking out other channels, and the service’s “world” stream is much better. A lot of really marvelous Japanese, South Korean, Chinese, Arabic, and Indian content there. Among the best tracks I’ve heard: Time and Fallen Leaves. A fine […]
SoundCloud has a variety of “Explore” channels. These are basically very long playlists of whatever has been recently posted. They include Folk, Rock, Deep House, Trip Hop, and a bunch of other genres about which I know nothing. The service also has a “classical” channel. The problem is that most of the content on the […]
