Radio Rebel to Offer New Approach to Digital Music Distribution
by Tim Wenger
Pause for a moment and think about the ideal situation for distributing your music to the masses. What would you want that platform to look like, and to feature? At the top of the list, most likely, would be 100% of all proceeds. Up there as well you might also list streaming of songs and a way to connect personally with the people who buy your tunes.
Radio Rebel, founded by recent Denver transplant Stan Price, is on a mission to do those things and more through an online free-to-sell platform where musicians keep all revenue from their gross sales. Though the site has been active and populating for two years, the business model and full services will be launched at the conclusion of an indie-go-go campaign on June 18.
The site will offer artists a place to stream and sell their music, promote their shows and other news, and interact directly with what Price hopes will be a constantly growing fan base. Time will tell if Price’s platform will be fiscally successful, but for the growing number of artists getting involved, it is purely a win-win situation.
“I got into radio in 2010 as a hobby because a friend introduced me to it by giving me a shout out online,” says Price, who had attempted to launch three business prior but had not considered radio. That friend, who was a dj at startrekradio.net, showed Price the basics of setting up an internet station. “I started doing it for fun, as a hobby, because it was something technical that I could figure out.”
Originally hosting nineties top forty, his personal genre of preference, Price learned the basics of web-based broadcasting and programming through his own experimentation. Then thinking that making some money with an internet station might be a good idea, he began brainstorming different formats and modes of operation. “I decided that one thing I’ll be able to do is go independent radio and (have) a home for musicians on my station, and have a unique sound,” says Price. “I started figuring out where I could go.”
Price had no connections in the vast world of music. In an effort to find artists to spin on his station, he began frequenting musician’s message boards and other interactive websites like Reddit and Craigslist offering the artists free internet radio airplay. “They came to me in droves, it was a hit,” says Price. “I started building up a little catalog of musicians.”
The next step was finding a way to really stand out from other websites providing similar services. “I started thinking, ‘Who are the people who really shape the music industry and have a huge impact,’” Price says. “People who sell music. They are at the very top, they direct the music industry. Not just people who sell music, but people who distribute it. I started formulating a business plan on how I would be able to take all of these independent artists that I’m bringing in and put together a distribution platform.”
For the past two years, Price has been building up a media network with his radio station, gathering music from around the globe. He is currently working on an online streaming catalog and music video network. Following the re-launch of the site this summer, RadioRebel.net will provide artists the platform to sell their music online for free, keeping all proceeds, as well a place for fans to stream songs in their entirety prior to purchase.
Price is in the process of finializing the website with business partner and development guru Stan Ince. “I met (Ince) about ten months ago,” says Price. “He heard about Radio Rebel and the free-to-sell platform that I was trying to build and he was like ‘I believe in this, I want to be a part of it, I’m a developler.’” Ince has since taken over the building of the website, under Price’s direction, a huge facelift for the site’s presentation. “I can go in there and make simple things, but he goes in and makes masterpieces. He programmed it.”
“It’s a place where music listeners and music creators can go and start a dialogue with each other,” says Price. “The main point of it is that artists can go on there, upload their music, set a cost, and 100% of the funds are sent directly to the artist’s account.” According to Price, his site is the only site in the world that is entirely free-to-sell. “We have no fees, we take zero percent of your cut, and you get unlimited downloads and streaming, if that’s what you want to give to your audience.”
Radio Rebel, as a for-profit business, plans on feeding its own mouth, too. In-house advertising will be one form of revenue. Bands can purchase ads to be displayed on the site to promote an album, a crowd-funding campaign, or show. Additional income will be generated through what Price calls “premium accounts.” These paid accounts, which artists can choose to purchase, will offer faster upload and download speeds. Prices for the premium accounts will be as low as $5 per month. “I’m estimating that we get 5% of our users to pay,” says Price. Users who choose not to purchase a premium account will still have access to all of the sites features and services.
His site does not ask for exclusivity, however. Price recognizes the value of other sites such as iTunes and Amazon. “We actually encourage any band that signs up with us, go sign up with all of the other ones too,” he says. “At iTunes, they have their own loyal fan base that only buys music from iTunes. Be at all of them. There are two different types of customers- there is customers that go to where they want to go, and then there is the customer that you can direct them where to go. Even though we are competing with these other services, it’s a symbiotic relationship and we all complement each other because the more music that we are selling online, the more power we are giving to the musician, the more the market will change.”
Online: radiorebel.net
Category: Buzzworthy2
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
 |
 |
