New Arbitrary Arbitron Practices
From Today's Inside Radio --
"Include all your listening - AM, FM, Internet or satellite.
Arbitron's new instructions in the diary will specifically mention Internet and satellite - heralding a day when terrestrial radio will be sharing the ratings. And note that diaries will now say ''Listening' is any time you can hear a radio station - whether you choose the station or not.'"
Next it we'll have "Radio" defined as anything that plays audio. As a matter of fact, just make a diary entry everytime you HEAR the word 'radio.' No, wait! Record everytime you WALK past a radio.
...Just to be sure.
iZombie
Lots of comments popping up on the web regarding Apple's cease and desist actions against use of words and products incorporating the term "pod" and "podcast" -- even though their trademark is restricted to "iPod."
What's really hilarious is that their legal steps are taken a mere day before the release of a new version of Podcast Ready that is compatible with the iPod. God forbid someone should make a piece of software that might be used on a Mac!...
JaffeJuice is calling for a revolution -- My opinion?
Boycott the term.
The phrase 'MicroCasting' is very descriptive of the function, and may have the added value of pissing off Apple by the Microsoftian influence over the name.
Jay Conrad Levinson and his Guerrilla group "The Affiliate Nanocasting Network" have been trying to rebrand it as 'Nanocasting' for some time now - but I think that name has enough zip.
Microsoft itself may even have an opportunity to 'capture & release' a coined term to the public once their Zune Player hits the stage. Not that this is a winning name -- but let's say they use the phrase "ZuneCasting" or "Zcast" -- But instead of trademarking it in order to wall it off from the world -- what if they used a Creative Commons license to allow legal sharing and reuse of the name? I think their foresight to empower users would go a long way.
Hey Apple ~ kids hate to be told "No."
The children are going to misbehave.
Warner Music Group has kinda-sorta inked a deal with viral video giant YouTube, but it seems like they'll have their hands full getting permission from themselves in order to use their own music.
Read the scoop here.
Radio Zombies See Satellite Ghosts
Inside Radio reports "Nearly 500,000 Sirius subscribers are actually empty cars on the dealer lots."
It's not that I think Sirius CFO David Frear defense of their practice of counting cars on dealer lots as subscribers is fair or accurate, but until newspaper publishers stop bullying their own employees to subscribe and thereby increase their circulation and subscription numbers, and until Traditional Radio and Television use better means to track their own listeners/viewers, I can see why Satellite companies could be tempted to go down this road. The playing field certainly isn't a level one when it comes to comparing 'real' numbers to statistically inflated ones -- but this is where new media shoudl SHINE.
Provide numbers that are 100% accurate and beyond reproach. Good, bad, or ugly -- subscriber counts, site stats, and webcast audio streams should have the benefit of being "real" counts. Let old media find excuses and falsehoods for artificially protecting their ever-shrinking corner of the market. They NEED TO, simply in order to survive. There are scared and cornered animals.
New Media with its far superior ability to track REAL users is the evolutionary shift the Old Media dinosaurs fear.
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Brraaaaainnssss...
Focusing
primarily on terrestrial radio broadcasting, ZombieRadio.com is
dedicated to pointing out the mindless and brain-dead actions of the
mainstream media industry in general.
Don't
get too comfortable satellite, television, cable, and internet -- we
all know from seeing zombie movies that the contagion spreads quickly.
"They're
coming to get you..."
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