Radionomy

Radionomy has brought on former TuneIn Director of Content Scott Fleischer (pictured) as Premium Content Director (beginning in June). As he did at TuneIn, Fleisher will create broadcaster- and content provider-partnerships for the service. Belgian-based Radionomy provides a webcasting platform for professional and amateur webcasters. Fleischer's career experience includes a stint with this publication.

(Radionomy CEO Alexandre Saboundjian will speak at RAIN Summit Europe tomorrow in Brussels, on the Growing Your Online Audience panel.)

Meanwhile, music streaming service Slacker announced today it has named John Hayase its new Chief Product Officer. Hayase will oversee the development of Slacker’s digital music service across all platforms. Most recently VP/Client Solutions with ElasticPath, his career path includes time at EA and Boeing.

RAIN Summits included the "International Trends in Online Audio" panel in Sunday's RAIN Summit West program because of the positive response to last fall's RAIN Summit Europe (as well as to serve as a preview for this year's Europe event).

Turns out, what these online radio professionals viewed as some of their biggest challenges mirror those in the U.S.: high content costs and complex regulations (royalties), those costs' drag on their companies' profitability, revenue beyond ads and subscriptions, and the prospect of an Apple entry into the space.

CEO of Berlin-based webcaster AUPEO!, Holger Weiss (pictured right), admitted licensing across borders is a steep challenge. He said it's a long, arduous process, yet his service is licensed in 40 countries, so it can be done.

Radionomy VP/Business Development Thierry Ascarez agreed there are "solutions out there, it can be done." His company provides a platform for hobbyist and smaller professional webcasters to create and stream their own online stations.

Saavn co-founder Paramdeep Singh (pictured left) described the especially difficult circumstances in India: "We have deals with over 900 record labels, as there's no one-stop for licensing in India. Labels and artists think we're hugely profitable, so they want lots of money."

So what about that money? How do these business leaders intend to increase revenues?

Radionomy's Ascarez described his company's advertising platform in which it splits ad revenues with those webcasters whose audiences surpass a minimum threshold (incentivizing good content).

"There are unique opportunities for monetization beyond ads and subscriptions," said Singh, whose Saavn service streams Bollywood and Tamil Cinema music. He says his company partners with carriers as a "use case" and a benefit to upgrading to a data plan (of India's 800 million mobile customers, only about 50 million have data plans).

"Who'll finance (these types of services) until the ad revenues make it profitable?," wondered Weiss. "It's not great and fantastic yet. We're not profitable yet. We have to think beyond pure advertising and subscription. Advertising is not the only way to make money. We'll see this in 2013," he said.

The AUPEO! CEO teased a Monday announcement about his company "working with" Panasonic, saying services could create new revenue streams by bundling the service with device makers, especially for the car. What we learned Monday is Panasonic has actually acquired AUPEO! for its in-dash audio entertainment platform.

Live365 CEO Hong Lau, experienced in business in China, illustrated the opportunities in that country. "It's not a lot different there than here," he said. He explained that phones are considerably cheaper, and there are hardly any significant online audio services there.

Moderator Ali Abhary (right), CEO of Spectrum Medya in Turkey, concluded by asking his panelists how they view a potential webcasting competitor in Apple.

Saavn's Singh said his company's specialized music libraries aren't easy for a new competitor to relicate. "It took us years to aggregate our content."

Weiss agreed. "You can win in a fight (with Apple), which can't copy you, but "can only buy you if you're niche."

We'll continue to recap the content from Sunday's RAIN Summit West in the coming days here in RAIN.

In anticipation of our second annual RAIN Summit Europe (May 23 at Hotel Bloom in Brussels, details here), we're adding a global perspective to our RAIN Summit West program with the "International Trends in Online Audio" panel. And we're honored to have several leading Internet radio and digital music CEOs taking part.

In February we announced AUPEO! CEO Holger Weiss as a panelist (announced in RAIN here) to help us explore the realities of streaming radio outside North America.

To moderate the "International Trends in Online Audio," we'll be joined by Ali Abhary, CEO of Spectrum Medya, one of Turkey's leading radio broadcasters. Abhary (right) is also founder of Biletix, Turkey's leading entertainment ticketing company, and one of that country's first and most successful Internet startups (it's now owned by Ticketmaster/Live Nation). Abhary was a panelist at our first RAIN Summit Europe last year in Berlin.

Hong T. Lau is CEO of Live365, and will join the panel. A graduate of the London School of Business with an MBA, Hong (left) has held a number of senior positions in North America and Asia in diverse industries, including that of managing director with the Jim Pattison Group. He has extensive experience in finance, acquisitions, and corporate growth strategies.

Also on board is Paramdeep Singh, Executive Chairman and one of the co-founders of Saavn, a digital distributor of Bollywood and Tamil Cinema music. Under Paramdeep's leadership, Saavn has secured partnerships with the top film production and music houses in India, and amassed the largest legitimate Bollywood music catalog available directly to end users online. Singh (lower right) graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences at Tufts University with degrees in International Relations, Economics and Entrepreneurship.

Thierry Ascarez, Radionomy VP/Business Development, rounds out the panel. Ascarez has been based in San Francisco since the company's September U.S. launch, and was once the compnay's Marketing & Communications director. Prior to joining Radionomy (which also has offices in Brussels and Paris), Ascarez (lower left) worked in promotions and digital sales for the EMI music group.

RAIN Summit West is this Sunday in Las Vegas. The annual full-day Internet radio conference is a co-located education program of the NAB Show. Now in its 12th year, the Summit focuses on the intersection of radio and the Internet. Keynoting the event will be RAB president and CEO Erica Farber (more in RAIN here) and Rhapsody International president Jon Irwin (more here). Register today via the RAIN Summit West page. And look for the RAIN Reader Discount Code in the P.S. of your RAIN Daily e-mail (subscribe here)

Radionomy is the Belgian-based platform for enthusiasts to create and stream their own online radio stations. Radionomy has just launched its new app for Windows 8 or Windows RT.

Station managers and listeners can access their accounts via the app, and the interface enables new and helpful ways of discovering listening options.

"We are very proud of what our team has done," said Radionomy VP/Business Development Thierry Ascarez. "The help from Microsoft was priceless and we thank them again for welcoming us into their program." Ascarez will take part in the "International Trends in Online Audio" panel at RAIN Summit West in Las Vegas on April 7.

Radionomy is one of the largest user-generated online radio networks in the world with more than 7,000 internet radio stations and more than 45 million listening hours each month. The company officially launched in the U.S. in September, and has offices in Brusells, Paris, and San Francisco.

The new app is available in the Windows Store here.

Online audio ad network TargetSpot has added six new partners to its network, including Songza and Radionomy.

Songza is a webcaster that offers mood- and activity-focused playlists. Radionomy is a free service that allows users to launch their own webcasts.

In addition to those two services, TargetSpot will deliver in-stream audio ads for just hear !t, Thefuture.fm, Soundtracker, and HulkShare. TargetSpot CEO Eyal Goldwerger said, "Our research shows that Internet radio users switch between streaming sites multiple times a day. Our highly diversified network lets advertisers reach their desired target audiences regardless of the service they listen to or the device they use."

With today's news, the TargetSpot ad network now includes more than 85 radio groups and pureplay online music providers.

Entrepreneur Jeff Yasuda (he created the "Twitter for music" Blip.fm) has beta-launched Fuzz, the newest online radio service that enables users to create channels using their own music (see Live365, Turntable.fm, Radionomy).

Fuzz's marketing angle is that the stations are "user-curated, robot-free online listening experiences" created solely by human music fans, and not by cold, heartless computer algorithms. The positioning statement (which appears just below its logo on the front page) reads "Fuzz is great radio made by real people."

Setting his business apart from similar services, Yasuda says Fuzz won't be ad-supported. CNet wrote "Yasuda knows that's a losing path, that the numbers don't work." Rather, he plans to fund the business with premium subscription services, and then move into mobile and the app business. "Those are the breakout opportunities," he told CNet. They write, "He wants to take what he learns on Fuzz, create apps -- maybe games, maybe something different -- that he markets to his users."

Try Fuzz here; read CNet's article here.