Threatening Radio

Web radio is taking off. In fact, it is starting to be seen as the biggest threat to FM stations since the rise of TV.

An article titled, Everyone's on the same wavelength now, writer Grant Robertson examines the rise of this new and popular technology.

Internet radio has been growing in popularity. With iTunes radio available to anyone who has iTunes on their computer, a user has access to a huge selection of radio stations varying by style available to them anytime.

Then there are the websites that started it all. Last.fm allows you to discover new artists and hear new music and Pandora claims it knows what type of music you'll enjoy by simply typing in a favourite song.

With the proliferation of WiFi, it is no wonder that companies have been reacting to these social websites and pumping in money to the technology.

Yahoo launched Yahoo Launchcast and then there's AOL Music. These websites do the same thing as Last and Pandora, but have more money and a recognizable name that draws in enough audience to compete with FM radio stations. Yahoo brings in 3.5 unique users a month!

The growth in bandwidth has transformed the access to this technology. Broadband has allowed companies to stream better quality music files. While recommendation engines, which stream songs based on claiming they know what listeners like, are threatening standard radio.

Instead of playing music that meets broadcast standards, these radio stations allow users the freedom to choose their music. And there aren't enough radio stations for every type of music. Web radio solves that problem.

Another plus is the lack of commercials, or if they do exist, it's promotional material for the radio station.

I wonder what will happen once advertisers will start tapping into this technology. I guess web radio listeners will go somewhere else for their music.