What iTunes Radio Means For Traditional Radio

iTunes Radio will launch (in the United States only) on 18th September 2013. What are the standout features and what does it mean for traditional radio?

iTunes Radio Features

You Can Buy New Music Direct From iTunes

You’ll be able to discover new music you’ll like by listening to iTunes Radio and there will be a feature that will allow you to go ahead and buy the tracks direct from the iTunes store. This will be a decent income stream for iTunes Radio.

Advertising on iTunes Radio

Advertising will most likely be the primary source of income for iTunes Radio and one of the reasons it is launching in the US first with brands such as McDonald’s and Pepsi. As more advertising deals are secured worldwide iTunes Radio will undoubtably roll out to Western Europe, Australia and – in particular – the UK.

Ask Siri About Music

You’ll be able to ask Siri to “play more like this” or “who sings this?” Great for enhanced music discovery. Siri will be your on demand DJ!

Curated Playlists

It is our understanding that playlists will be curated by real human (DJs) as well as Apple’s fancy computer algorithms that base music choices on your likes and dislikes.

Who Owns A Music Playlist?

There has been a recent case on ownership of the order in which tracks are collected inside playlists. Dance label Ministry of Sound is seeking an injunction that would force Spotify to remove playlists using its  name or tracks in order from their compilations.

iTunes Radio vs. Traditional Radio

1. Playlists Are Dead

Advanced computer algorithms based on artists, songs and albums beat human intervention and creation of playlists for many. This has been the model for traditional radio since its inception but now listeners can access all the music they want to hear on demand and even skip tracks they don’t like on iTunes Radio

2. Create Great Content

You’d better be creating great content between music tracks if you’re a music radio station – that’s all radio has left.

3. Radio Is Instant & Live

This is a great plus of traditional radio but services will soon exist that will give you real time local weather and traffic. A good opportunity for announcers and voice artists to be early adopters of new technology as talent will be needed to read this information. iHeartRadio is already doing something like this (limited to the US only).

4. Mood Based Music

Music based on the mood you’re in. Technology that can detect our activity, feelings and emotions (Apple M7 processor, fitbit, Withings Pulse) will dictate music you hear. Spotify has been rumoured to be looking into this kind of integration.

5. Listening Becomes Easier

The Apple Podcasts App, Stitcher and other on demand services bring internet radio, music and spoken content to the masses. How do you listen to podcasts? What would be your ideal way of consuming content?

Adobe Audition Won’t Play

Jim Munchbach from The Social Business Podcast left some voicemail feedback about Adobe Audition (he can’t get it to play anything on one of his devices). I give some possible solutions including checking audio inputs and outputs and performing a hard reset on Adobe Audition.

Exciting New Things At Music Radio Creative

We announce these exciting new developments at MRC:

• Izabela is working on eBooks with script writing tips. The first edition will be for podcasters – get details first by joining our email list.
• Exclusive radio imaging libraries from Big Fish with royalty free sound effects and music beds are now available from MRC.
• We were talking about producing great podcast promos on The Audacity To Podcast with Daniel J. Lewis recently.

Finally, at the end of the podcast we give you a preview of our new podcast audio branding. What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know!