Loosely edited notes from SanFran MusicTech Summit 2008.

Kurt Hansen is the host. He publishes a daily newsletter called RAIN and is generally active in the streaming radio space. Panel includes founder of popular Bagel Radio, Ted Leibowitz. Also Tom Conrad from Pandora, and KFOG program director Dave Benson.

First, Mr. Hansen’s presentation. The overall decline of the radio industry has been misreported. Traditional home and work listener numbers have fallen in recent years but the trend is offset by increases in newer areas, notably satellite, and streaming. In-car listenership has been stable.

Mr. Hansen states that new distribution channels are successfully redefining markets. He compares them to Starbuck’s success in changing peoples’ taste in coffee. Radio programmers are succeeding by offering depth, niche marketing, and allowing listeners to tweak the program to suit their exact taste.

Plus, successful new radio businesses understand online branding (user interface especially) and have good design sense.

Pleasure of personalization for every song is a big step for programming. Giving listeners the ability to skip tracks is important. Programs can be custom fit to any and every listeners’ preferences. Consensus is that Pandora is the best thing going in terms of mass audio program customization. Pandora is a radio station built on a recommendation engine.

Growth in alternative distribution methods is hand in hand with new consumer electronics products. Phones, home appliances, car appliances – Mr. Hansen says we should expect that fully networked in-dash PC’s are coming and they’ll redefine the in-car radio demographic.

Dave Benson from KFOG does a good job engaging the audience. Claims that KFOG has history of using the internet to build databases of listeners. They’re in the business of community building and relationship marketing. Music and entertainment allow them to develop and maintain contact with an audience.KFOG is only running one streaming station right now. In the past they’ve experimented with more.

Tom Conrad talks about how Pandora started as a technology for making music recommendations (if you like this, you might like X, Y, Z). The core software is a recommendation engine.

Initially Pandora’s business model was to license or sell the recommendation engine. But their was insufficient demand. VC’s funders encouraged the team to look for alternate sources of revenue that would build on their expertise. They adopted radio; that was 4 years ago.

Bagel Radio started as a hobby. Mr. Leibowitz built a site so that he could listen to his own music collection while away. Gradually people began tuning in. He describes it as falling into business. Word spread virally. No PR. His listenership is global.

You can help send Mr. Leibowitz to SXSW.

All panelists agreed that user feedback (primarily but not only server logs) is a huge part of streaming radio. They know their traffic patterns well. Many streaming radio listeners are office workers. They’re described as cube people with headphones. Pandora has a lunchtime spike in traffic.

Folks think that the role of a live radio DJ is important. Listeners want that human touch, presence, connection. Mr. Benson notes that companionship and authenticity are key to building an informed, intelligent conversation with the audience.

See also:
* SanFran MusicTech Summit Intro
* Artists, Copyrights, Technology
* Conversation with Claudio Prado
* The Paradise of Infinite Storage
* Promoting Music in the New Environment