UsingWordPresstosetupaninternetradiostation
RichardSchererWordCamp Brisbane28October2018
Goingtobetalkingabout:
• Whywebcast?• Creatingcontent• Usingotherpeople’smaterial• Gettingyourstreamontheinternet• PresentingcontentusingWordPress• Gettingpeopletolisten(andgivingthemareasontodoso)
MybackgroundwithWordPress:
• Mediacareerbeganasnewspaperjournalist
• Createdfirstwebpagesinearly1990s
• HaveusedWordPressformorethan12years,mostlyfornon-profits
AboutLivingArtsCanberra
• PartnerandIhadmorethan10yearsasvolunteersatanFMcommunityradiostation
• LivingArtsCanberralaunchedinJulythisyear
• EssentiallyaWordPresssitewithawebstreamattached
• Weusewebcastingtopromotewebsitecontent,ratherthantheotherwayaround
Ourrationale
• Toprovidethelocalarts,musicandcommunitysectorwithanoutlettheydonototherwisehave
• Atthisstage,wemainlywebcastinterviewsinterspersedwithmusic
• Musicisessential,butincidentaltothemainpurposeofthesite
Someterminology
• Podcastingison-demandaudio,whereuserscanselectcontent andthetimeofdelivery
• Webcastingisacontinuousstream,andusershavenocontroloverthesequence
• Periscopeandotherlive‘broadcasting’viasocialmediaisakintopop-upwebcasting
• Wedobothwebcastingand‘podcasting’
Whywebcasting?
• Butchallengeisthentomakeitaseasyaspossibleforpeopletolisten
Broadcasting WebcastingComplexACMAlicencingprocess NowebcastinglicencerequiredLimitedfrequenciesavailable NolimittonumberofstreamsRequiresexpensivetransmitterandotherinfrastructure
Needsonly reliableinternetconnection
Significantelectricitycosts NegligiblepowerrequirementsCoveragerestrictedtolicencedarea TheoreticallyworldwidecoverageListenerstatisticsdifficultandexpensive
Accuratestreamusagereadilyavailable
Receiversubiquitous (especiallyincars)
Requiresmobileinternetconnection
Changingnatureofmusicusage• Onaverage,peoplelistentomusicfornearly18hoursaweek• Carsarethemostpopularlisteninglocation• 86percentofuslistentomusicthroughonlinestreaming• 57percentof16-24yearolds useapaidaudiostreamingservice• Nearlyhalfofalltimespentlistingtoon-demandmusicisonYouTube
• LocalgenrestendtobethemostpopularSource:InternationalFederationofPhonographic Industry:https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-releases-2018-music-consumer-insight-report)
WeuseWordPressto:• Provideaself-serviceeventcalendar(All-In-OneCalendarplugin)
• Displayprogramschedules
• StreamviaanHTML5playerforthestream(WonderplugAudioPlayer)
• Createplaylistsofcurrentandarchivedinterviewsaspodcasts
Creatingcontent• Ifyoucancreateapodcast,youcancreateprogramssuitableforwebcasting
• Atitsmostbasic,youneedagoodmicrophone,audioeditingsoftware,andawaytoencodeyouraudio
• Inreality,youwillneedtohavemusicinadigitisedform(andmayhavetoconvertitto.mp3)
• Peopleexpectaradiostationtobeonair24/7,butthatdoesn’tmeanyouneednew contentfor24hoursaday
RecordingviaSkype
Liveorpre-record?• Thereisasubstantialtimecommitmenteitherway
• Liveinterviewingsavesalotofeditingtimeandcansoundmoreimmediate
• Pre-recordscangivemorepolishedresult,betterfornervousinterviewees
• Mosthostedserviceshavetheoptionofan‘autoDJ’service
• Youstillneedtouploadandretaincontrolofthecontent.
Encoding
• YourstreamneedstobeencodedforastreamingprotocolsuchasShoutcast orIcecast
• Freeencodersareavailable,suchastheNullsoft SHOUTcastsourceadd-ontoWinamp
• Youcanuse anaudiostreamingprovider,orhostyourownShoutcast/Icecast server
• Youneedtodecideonbitratesamplingrateandmonoorstereo- weuse64bitstereoat44100kHztobalancequalityandcost
Musiclicences• Youmusthaveappropriatelicencestoplaymost3rd partymaterial• Thisincludesmostcommerciallyavailablerecordedmusic• APRA/AMCOScoversrightsofmusiccreators• PPCAcoversrightsofartistsandrecordingcompanies• Feesvary,especiallybetweenindividualandcommercialwebcasting• YoumaynotbecoveredforcopyrightoutsideAustralia• Therecanbeseriousfinesforunauthoriseduseofcopyrightmusic
Licensedmusic- somethingsyoucanandcan’tdo• Youshouldtakestepstoavoidstreamripping
• Youmaynotbeallowedtoissuedetailedplaylistsinadvance
• Don’thavecopyrightmusiconhighrotation
• Trytokeeparecordofwhatwasplayedwhen– youmaybeaskedforit
Abriefdiversion:classiceditorvsGutenbergwithaudioplaylists
Presentingyourcontenttolisteners• ThisisthebitthatyourWordPresssitecandowell
• Vitalthatyoursiteisresponsivetocapturemobileaudience
• Makeyourstreamingplayerprominentforbothdesktopandmobile
• Putprogramguideonwebsiteandpublishittosubscribers
Goingtothenextlevel:playlists
Presentingyourcontenttolisteners
• Byallmeansusesocialmediatoremindpeoplewhat’son
• Ifpossible,displaycurrentandrecenttrackandartistnames(mayneedtousehttp://ratherthanhttps://)
• ManycarshaveBluetoothinput– encouragepeopletolistenthroughtheirmobiles
• Anoldtabletorphonecanbealow-costinternetradioreceiver
Oryoucanuseoneofthese…
Otherthingstothinkabout
• Hideyourstream’sURLbehindanHTML5player
• Unlikebroadcasting,livewebcastinghaslatencywhichcanvarybylocation,soavoidtimesignalsandprecisetimecalls
• Knowyourautomationsystemandhowitprioritisesplaylists
Referencesandlinks
• https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-releases-2018-music-consumer-insight-report
• http://apraamcos.com.au/music-customers/licence-types/
• https://www.ppca.com.au
• https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/7/17832320/twitter-periscope-ios-audio-only-broadcasts-podcasting-feature
Pleaselistenandgiveusyourfeedback
https://www.livingartscanberra.com.au
@richards27
Thankyou